“The reason why we’ve had a lot of success over the years is because we’ve had a consistent team and we’ve been able to gel together really well,” he said on Tuesday.

“Not having both Mick and Hally has made it difficult at times ... They’re not going to be here forever, so we’ll have to do something about that in the future anyway, but if those two guys come back this week it’ll be very good.”

O’Keefe has played a variety of roles this season ranging from deep forward to midfield and he expected a return to his customary high half-forward position when Hall and O’Loughlin resume.

“When you’ve got guys like that, it makes the workload a little bit easier for everyone else,” he said.

“You know you’ve got two very good key forwards who take marks or make opportunities. You can bring the ball forward with confidence… and hopefully I’ll benefit from it just as much as everyone else will.”

The Swans reviewed the tape of their 21-point loss to Fremantle on Tuesday morning and O’Keefe said the lack of intensity and effort was noticeable, particularly in the first term.

But despite all the analysis, O’Keefe said the reasons for the Swans’ patchy form remained a mystery.

“That’s something we’re trying to figure out, really. We know we can do it – we’ve had two really good games where we’ve shown we can do it really well – and we’ve had three pretty disappointing games,” he said.

“You look at Geelong and St Kilda – they have a consistent effort each week and that’s why they’re winning, that’s why they’re standouts. It’s a battle of consistency for this year for the teams to be real contenders.”

Richmond travels to the SCG on Sunday, fresh from its first win of the season and O’Keefe said the Swans expected a similar intensity to that produced by Fremantle.

“[Freo] were under the pump and we faced a pretty formidable opponent in the first quarter and I think Richmond will be the same,” he said.

“They’ve had a lot of pressure on them this year and we’ve got to make sure we don’t let them get the jump on us.