Sydney Swans forward Tom Papley is relishing his time in a healthy forward line.

With Lance Franklin and Isaac Heeney back playing consecutive games after being plagued by injury, Papley believes the Swans forwards are finally finding their rhythm, and it's only going to get stronger.

“It was probably two years ago when Lance [Franklin] and I started to build a connection before he got injured. Now, we’re slowly getting that connection back, as well as [Isaac] Heeney and the other forwards," Papley said on SEN this morning.

"It takes a long time to build a connection. Lance was speaking about the Hawthorn forward line back in the day and how long it took him to gel with Cyril (Rioli), (Luke) Breust, Jarryd Roughead and all those guys. It does take time, but we’re slowly getting there and it’s good.”

The small forward was back to his electrifying best against Carlton, booting 3 goals as the Swans dug deep to deliver a 22-point victory over Carlton.

“Over the last few weeks, and certainly over the weekend (against Carlton) we worked really well as a forward group. We’re always looking at how we can work better as a team in the forward line and help each other out more. We always feel like we can win when we’re all up and going.”

This time last year, the Swans sat 15^th on the ladder with four wins to their name. Fast forward 12 months Sydney find themselves in sixth spot, and looking to go back-to-back when they take on St Kilda tomorrow afternoon at the SCG.

“We’ve done well, we’ve beaten some good sides this year. We’ve dropped some games where we were a bit inconsistent for maybe a quarter or two, and that’s cost us a game which is disappointing but we’re learning as a team.

"Last year if a team was beating us by three or four goals we would lie down, we wouldn’t fight back. This year we’ve done it a number of times and that’s what I’ve seen the most in our growth in the team this year.”

One player making a difference within the squad in more ways than one is Tom Hickey, and Papley admits he’s been pleasantly surprised by the veteran ruckman.

“He’s been amazing – not only on the field but off the field with his leadership but on the field he’s been incredible," Papley said.

"To be honest, I didn’t expect it and I don’t think many other people expected how good he would be. He’s been a back-up ruckman his whole career and now I think to be that number one man he’s really taken it with both hands. I’m loving him, he’s a great bloke and he’s a good energy within the team.”