Sydney Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh says the team is disappointed by coming agonisingly close to reigning AFL premiers Collingwood at ANZ Stadium on Saturday, but the narrow loss confirmed his belief they can challenge the top teams in the competition.

After overhauling a deficit that stretched to five goals midway through the third term to hit the lead in the final quarter, the Swans eventually fell to the Pies by six points. 

“You can’t fault the boy’s effort. I thought the effort that we put in throughout the whole game was one of the better performances we’ve had over the year,” McVeigh said.

“We’ve still got a bit of work to do to beat those top teams, but we know we can match it with them.

“The stats show we haven’t beaten a top four team for a while but we thought we matched them (Collingwood) and we’ve got a lot of confidence that we can beat anyone if we play a four quarter brand of footy,” McVeigh said. 

The Swans kept Collingwood to their second lowest score of the season and beat the Pies in the key areas of contested possessions, tackles and clearances.

McVeigh said the team would come away from the match with a number of areas to improve.

“We’ve still got a lot to work on with our ball use and our kicking, so that’s one of the main areas we have to keep working on.

“It was a real eye opener for us to see where we can get to. The way they work and the confidence they have is something that we will try to emulate.”

The match also heralded a return to form for McVeigh, who by his own admission has struggled to produce his best this season.

Playing predominantly as a half forward, McVeigh booted four goals, gathered 17 disposals and laid four tackles in a season best performance.

“I’ve been really struggling this year, form wise. I’ve been trying to work hard and I know the only way to get out of a bit of a slump is to work hard and train hard and eventually things will turn.

“I just haven’t been able to find the footy over the last month…but it’s good to be in a bit of form (against Collingwood) and get back to the way I want to play,” he said.

The Swans will be looking to improve an already impressive record on the road this season with back-to-back road trips over the next fortnight, starting with the Adelaide Crows this Saturday night at AAMI Stadium, followed by Gold Coast Suns the following Saturday.