A self-professed drop in form saw Swans small forward Ben McGlynn push into the midfield towards the latter stages of last season.

Used to being on the receiving end of a tag, McGlynn was cast as the tagger and benefitted from being lured to the contest by playing on some of the games’ top ball-winners. Combined with his natural attacking flair and ability to win his own footy, McGlynn became a key player in the Swans late season run.

Now in the early stages of a new year, the 26-year old has his sight set on building on that late-season foray into the midfield, while also maintaining the forward line form which saw him finish as the Swans second highest goalkicker in 2011.

“I’m feeling fit and I really want to get into the midfield this year,” McGlynn told SwansTV following this morning’s training session in perfect conditions at Lakeside Oval.

“Not just as a tagging role as well, I want to be a midfielder who goes both ways, and also plays up forward.”

McGlynn was one of the last Swans to join pre-season training prior to Christmas after being the club’s sole representative in October and November’s International Rules Series.

Named as one of the Australian team’s best players, McGlynn said he relished the chance of being in a different environment and mixing with premiership players such as James Kelly and David Wojcinski, and coaches Rodney Eade and Andrew McLeod

“It’s definitely a hard game with the round ball, but I really enjoyed it,” he said.

“It was a great experience to meet players from other clubs and learn from them, and also the coaches involved. It was great being around a lot of blokes with experience and premiership players as well.”

Fresh from the Christmas break, and sporting a new aerodynamic hairdo, McGlynn said he is fully focused on playing every games for the Swans this year, having got a taste for it last year following an injury interrupted 2010.

“I really want to get another 24 games under my belt and hopefully finals as well,” he said.

“(Last) year I played every game and that’s what I had my focus on because in my first year I only played 14 games.”

McGlynn and the rest of the Swans playing group have their final main training session of the week on Friday morning where skill and game plan work will continue ahead of their NAB Cup series opener on February 24.