SYDNEY Swans coach Paul Roos said a misfiring forward line was one of the main reasons behind his side's 29-point loss to bogey side Collingwood at ANZ Stadium.

"Probably our forward line tonight really, really struggled. That was probably the difference in the game," he said after the match.

"They got some really good goals from [Dale]Thomas and [Travis] Cloke; we just couldn't seem to get anything out of our forwards."

A frustrated Swans spearhead Barry Hall ended with 1.1 and fellow forward Michael O'Loughlin with 1.4 was also disappointing on the scoreboard. Henry Playfair chipped in with 1.1.

By contrast, Thomas and Cloke kicked three each – two of Thomas' after speccies.

Roos said the mid-season break ahead of this game was hard to assess in terms of the result.

"You never know, sometimes your best training session is your worst game. We thought we'd planned well but obviously it didn't work well tonight as was the same script as the last three.

"At the moment, clearly they are pretty comfortable playing against us."

Roos said he felt defensively the Swans held their own, with Craig Bolton coming in for particular praise.

"He plugged just about every forward who was on fire. He had a really, really good game and [Brett] Kirky dug in."

Midfielder Craig Bird was the Swans' only goal scorer in the first half, and Roos said on a different night the team could have put more scoreboard pressure on the Magpies.

"It could've easily been something like four goals in the first half. They took their opportunities and we just couldn't take many of ours. They were just too good for us."

Collingwood shaded the Swans in the overall tackle count 51-49 and beat them in disposals 359 to 309.

However, the Swans' four- goal final quarter performance was a positive, according to Roos.

"I think we started to take our chances and get the ball moving forward and quicker.

"(In) the last quarter we did a lot better in the stoppages, so we were winning it around the contests and getting it going forward. So that was the big difference. In the last quarter we just didn't take our chances."

Roos said there had been no injuries for the Swans.

He added he did not see an incident involving Barry Hall which was picked up by TV cameras, in which the Swans full-forward appeared to take a swing at, but missed, Collingwood defender Shane Wakelin.