Veteran midfielder Jude Bolton is a training session away from making his return from injury in this weekend’s match against Geelong.

Swans coach John Longmire confirmed this morning that if the 32-year-old pulled up well from today’s final training session, he would line up against the Cats at Simonds Stadium on Saturday.

“Jude pulled up pretty well from training the other day and he bounced in as he normally does and put his magnet up on the board and said he is a chance to play,” Longmire said.

“Jude is feeling really fresh, and he said the benefit of having a few weeks off at this time of the year, which he’s never had, means he is jumping out of his skin.

“If he trains today, we’ll play him.”

Bolton was instrumental in the Swans round 23 win over the Cats in Geelong last season, kicking two goals, collecting 21 possessions and laying 13 tackles.

Longmire said, if selected, Bolton would bolster the Swans’ side in this weekend’s final round clash.

“Jude Bolton is a quality player, we know that, he’s experienced and he’s able to play forward or midfield so he gives a bit of versatility to the team,” he said.

“He’s obviously going to be a plus, but we don’t expect him to perform miracles this week, but we expect him to play roles for us.

“At this point, we plan on playing him as we normally do. He’s only missed three weeks and he’s been running for two … so we’d expect him to play full game time if he gets the tick today.”

In other news, Longmire said despite the Swans’ near misses against two top sides in the past month, he believed the Swans are still in strong form.

The coach said the team took a lot from last weekend’s seven-point loss against Hawthorn, and believed the Swans were playing a competitive brand of football.

“We firmly believe that our form has stood up OK and last week against a team that has been red-hot favourites for most of the year in regards to the premiership,” he said.

“I think (last week’s game) was an amazing game of pressure football and in the end the lead changed six times in the last quarter.

“I’m actually pretty pleased with the way we’re playing because it’s the sort of pressure footy that we want to play.

“I don’t think we’ve been in bad form at all, I think our form has been pretty solid against absolute quality opposition and that’s what we’ve just got to try to continue to do.”

Longmire added that this week’s clash against the reigning premiers was another opportunity to prepare for the upcoming finals’ series against one of the top sides in the competition.

“The good thing about playing Hawthorn last week and playing Geelong this week in Geelong is you get that opportunity against absolute A-grade quality,” he said.

“They are an absolute quality team and we know they will be a hard proposition to beat.”