It may have been a loss but the Sydney Swans can take a lot away from their performance against the Western Bulldogs earlier in the season ahead of Thursday’s rematch at the SCG, according to up-and-comer Nic Newman.

Newman, who debuted in the Round 2 clash, echoed the sentiments of both his coach and AFL commentators when describing how there was plenty to like in that display despite going down by 23 points at Docklands.

After a disappointing loss to Port Adelaide in the season-opener, the Swans hit back with an improved effort against the Dogs.

Coach John Longmire said his young side – which saw another three players make their AFL debuts – return to their hard, ferocious best for patches, but just couldn’t sustain the effort for the duration of the contest.

“The way they went about it for the majority of the game our boys, I was really happy with,” Longmire said post-match. “To keep going for as long and hard as what we did in that final quarter … I thought the intensity and effort was pretty good.”

It was a mixture of Sydney’s lack of composure in the final quarter and the Western Bulldogs’ dogged nature which let the game slip away.

The defeat was the Swans’ third consecutive loss to the Dogs which Newman hopes is all the motivation his side needs to hit back strongly and buck the trend.

“The last few times we’ve been on the end of a loss, we’re not happy with that, we’re really out to rectify and get one back on them,” Newman said.

“Round 2 was a pretty fierce game and we expect nothing less (this week) and we want to get on top of it and start the back half of the year in the right way.”

He believes contested possessions will be crucial to upending the reigning premiers, while Sydney’s hierarchy will also be mindful of the opposition’s outside run.

The Swans lost the contested possession count (131-150) against Hawthorn in Round 10 which led to a -100 differential in uncontested possessions, a stat Newman and his teammates will look to fix on Thursday night.

“Contested footy will be huge,” Newman added.

“That’s what we pride ourselves on and if it’s not up to scratch then we don’t win.

“We’ve got to get our contested footy right, get them on the outside and display our hard brand of footy.”