Swans coach John Longmire has labelled Port Adelaide as one of the competition’s biggest improvers.

Longmire, who will lead the Swans in their first interstate game of the season on Saturday, said the Power are a much greater force this season.

“We see Port Adelaide as huge improvers,” he said.

“They are number one in the competition at stoppages at the moment and they’re plus-10 in their contested ball, which is 20-up on where they were last year on average per game.

“We’re really aware of their improvement both through their contested ball, which has been enormous, but also in their depth.

“They’ve got some significant depth now, that they’ve been able to add over the pre-season, so they’ll take some beating.”

Following last weekend’s close contest with the Dockers, Longmire said the Swans will need to play out four quarters of football to secure a win at AAMI Stadium this Saturday afternoon.

He added his team will also need to avoid lapses like that of the third quarter last week if they are going to get on top of the Power on Saturday.

“We thought it was really the last ten minutes of the third quarter last weekend that we dropped away and unfortunately they were able to kick five goals in that last ten minutes so we need to improve on that,” Longmire said.

“We understand we have to get better across four quarters and we can’t have lapses for ten minutes like we did on the weekend.

“We see (Port) as a tough team to beat, and they’ve got their tail up a little bit and they’ll take some handling.”

Despite the Swans winning their last seven matches against the Power, defender Rhyce Shaw said the team won’t be taking Port Adelaide lightly this weekend.

“We have got a good record but every year is a new year and Port have shown that this year from where they have come from last year,” he said.

“They are looking really good and I think they have really improved from last year.

“They’ve got a lot of players (who have) stepped up as well as young guys who have come into the side and have really made an impact.

“There’s no doubt we’re going to be up against it this week.”

Swans ruckman Shane Mumford will face a test at training today to determine whether he will make the trip to Adelaide this weekend.

Mumford, who was a late withdrawal from last week’s match against the Dockers, will test the mobility of his back at the SCG today.

Longmire said if he makes it through training unscathed he will board the plane to South Australia for Saturday.

“He is coming out to train, so the plan is for him to hopefully get through training today and then pull up OK tomorrow,” he said.

“If he gets through training we’ll obviously name him in the side, and prepare to play him like we did last week.”

Swans defender Nick Smith has already been ruled out with a virus, while Swans utility Lewis Robert-Thomson will miss the match with a fractured cheekbone.