Sydney Swans coach John Longmire says the side will take plenty of confidence from their Round 15 performance against Port Adelaide on the weekend, however will need to be able to take the next step and find a way to finish off the close games.
The Swans again showed that they travel well and can compete with fellow finals contenders away from the SCG, losing to the Power by 10 points after dropping their previous games on the road to Fremantle by two points and Melbourne by nine points.
In all three matches the Swans were in the contest until the dying stages of the game but allowed the opposition to kick the final goal or two and claim victory.
The Swans hit the lead with minutes to go before the Power were able to secure the four points after a late goal to injury sub Sam Mayes.
"We still need to find a way to finish off those close ones. We've got to make sure that when we get ourselves into those spots that we're able to capitalise, keep our foot down and score to keep the momentum and the pressure on the opposition," Longmire said.
"That ability to be competitive against a lot of those top eight, top 10 teams has been a real positive to come out of the year and we're still to take that next step.
"That's probably where we are as a team, is to be able to take that next step, to be able to capitalise on giving ourselves an absolute opportunity to match it with some of the best teams in the comp."
The Swans will be able to test themselves against another finals contender on Sunday when they take on West Coast in what is now a home-away-from-home match at GMHBA Stadium.
They will again be without Sam Reid, Chad Warner and Lewis Melican who are still sidelined but will each step up their training this week.
Reid will train for at least a couple more weeks before being considered for selection, especially given his long list of past injuries, while Warner and Melican will look to increase their intensity from next week.
“Sam Reid is back training so we would like to give him a couple weeks at training at the moment, so he is coming along quite well but is still probably a week or two away from getting right into it,” Longmire said.
“We would like to give him a couple of weeks given his history.
“Lewis Melican is a bit the same, and is probably a week behind Sam in that aspect.
“Chad Warner is feeling really good so we will build him up slowly over the next week, introduce him back into the running and making sure his leg is feeling really good and hopefully he gets back in pretty quickly,” he added.
“That’s what we are hoping. We will see how he goes over this week and next.”
West Coast suffered a 55-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs last week, but Longmire is not underestimating the upcoming opposition.
“I am always respecting West Coast. You look at their line up, it is very experienced with quality players all over the place,” Longmire said.
“Some of the their players that came back in from injury last week got another game under their belt, so all those things come into it and obviously they are rebounding.”
“But so are we so in the end, we will take it as it comes.”
The Swans kick off against West Coast in Round 15 on Sunday July 4 at GMHBA Stadium from 1:10pm.
