Sydney Swans coach John Longmire has called on his senior midfielders to stand up in the wake of their poor start to the season.

Dan Hannebery and Luke Parker are averaging 22 disposals a game so far (their lowest output since 2011 and 2012 respectively) in a midfield that currently ranks 16^th in disposal differential.

They’ll also be without former captain Kieren Jack who’ll miss this weekend’s clash against Carlton after being sidelined with a hip injury suffered during the pre-season.

Longmire said his senior midfielders needed to improve if they are to bounce back and change their fortunes this weekend against Carlton.

“That’s the standards that’s required to play regular AFL finals footy ... and we’ve been able to do that on a consistent basis,” Longmire said.

“We’re clearly behind the eight ball in that area (contested football) to this point.

“Hanners’ and ‘Parks’ haven’t had a consistent run at it just yet in regards to form, there’s a few others in that boat as well.

“We’re confident they can get back into that form but there's clearly no shying away from the fact that we haven’t been great in that area of the ground.”

Longmire did not shy away from the Swans’ worst start to a season since 1993, but remains confident his group can turn things around.

“Obviously the players aren’t happy as the staff aren’t ... clearly we aren’t used to being in the position that we’re in at the moment, being zero and five,” Longmire said.

“We’ve been obviously up the other end of the ladder and we’d like to be there again.

“But acknowledging where we are is important and the areas that we need to fix — which are quite a few at the moment — but it’s also having the faith in the team and the playing group that we can get going again.

“Getting that balance right from week-to-week is what we’ve been focusing on and we believe that it’s not far away but we clearly need to get going.”