SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire has backed his midfielders to rebound from a disappointing performance against Richmond when they return to the MCG to face reigning premiers Hawthorn on Friday night.

Star Swan Luke Parker had his quietest game of the season with 20 possessions on Saturday night, while sidekick Tom Mitchell (16) was also well down on his season average of 28.6 disposals.

Longmire lamented a large contingent of Swans who were off their game, but he backed them to quickly return to the form that drove the team to a 6-1 start to the season.

Five talking points: Richmond v Sydney Swans

"I don't think we had a lot of good players," Longmire said on Saturday night. 

"(But) they've generally been pretty good this year, so we refer back to what their general form over the season has been like rather than tonight.

"We come back next week and we need to play better over the four quarters, we need to be more consistent.

"We've got faith in our blokes to be able to do that."

The Swans had victory snatched from them after the siren on Saturday night, with Richmond moving the ball the length of the ground in the final 30 seconds and into the arms of Sam Lloyd, who converted the match-winner.

Longmire said there were "a couple of things we normally do better" in that final passage, but admitted the Swans had been down for other extended periods of what was a thrilling game. 

"If we look at the match in its entirety, they took 19 marks inside forward 50 and kicked five goals from centre bounces," he said.

"I think they kicked five goals in the first 10 minutes of the last quarter, including three walk-outs from centre bounces.

"We should have still won it in the end, as far as having our noses in front, but did we deserve to win it? We left it up to a bit of luck I think.

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"We weren't consistent across quarters and they were a bit better than us."

The Swans will be boosted by the return of gun midfielder Josh Kennedy against Hawthorn on Friday night after the former Hawk was withdrawn from Saturday night's clash with a minor hamstring issue.

Longmire said the clearance specialist had been touch and go to play this week but the Swans had taken a conservative approach given his history, having played on and suffered a hamstring injury in 2014.

The coach said the Swans should have been able to cope with his absence better.

"We were beaten out of the centre but we've got plenty of other blokes in there who are good enough to get the ball going our way," he said. 

"We just had them all down at once tonight, but you can't take anything away from Richmond.

"You've always got an opposition to play and (if) you're not at your absolute peak, that's what happens."