The Sydney Swans defence will aim to quell Geelong’s dangerous forwards in tomorrow night’s clash at the SCG.

Cats’ forwards Tom Hawkins and James Podsiadly have notched up 25 and 23 goals respectively for the season, and have proven to be one of the competition’s most potent key forward combinations.

Young Swans defender Alex Johnson said the battle between the home side’s defence and the Cats’ big forwards will come down to team support.

“I think it’s just about what we can do this week and what we can control and how we can shut down those two, and any other Geelong players who come through the forward line down,” Johnson told sydneyswans.com.au.

“It’s about support in the air. We’ll try to never have a one-on-one battle. If Teddy and Tom Hawkins are wrestling it out, we’ll try and get someone over there for support.

“Also, just with the contested marking, Hawkins and Podsiadly are just two, big focal points in their forward line and they can take a number of strong marks, so for us it’s about trying to combat that with numbers and getting more numbers around the ball.”

In the round four match last season at the SCG, which Hawkins missed with a back injury, Podsiadly was kept to just one goal but was extremely instrumental up forward with 15 disposals and four strong marks as the Cats won by 27 points.

But in last year’s round 23 win over the Cats at Skilled Stadium, the Swans backline were able to keep both of the Geelong’s twin towers goalless for the match.

Johnson said the Swans success in that match late last season was a result of pressure and team work.

“I think it was a combination of the pressure and just us working together as a really tight back six,” he said.

“Between myself, Teddy (Richards) and Heath Grundy we sort of took their two key talls and their resting ruckman as well and just managed to keep them out of the game and keep them goalless, which was a great effort.

“If you keep two key targets like that goalless, then it goes a long way to winning the game.”

Experienced Swans defender Ted Richards said in tomorrow’s clash with the Cats, the Swans’ back six must again work hard to not give away easy scoring opportunities.

“(Podsiadly and Hawkins) are premiership players and quality players, so myself, Heath Grundy and Alex Johnson will be sitting down with Johnny Blakey and doing our homework,” he said.

“These guys are fantastic contested markers, which is really hard to stop.

“We can’t be giving them marks inside 50 and easy shots on goal.”

Richards said the Swans expect the Cats to be at their ferocious best this week.

“They had a little bit of a slow start I think, but they are such a quality side that you know what you’re going to get with them and they are the reigning premiers so you know they are going to bring a contest every time,” Richards said.