SWANS veteran Jude Bolton says the AFL club's old hands have talked to their younger cohort about the dangers of complacency, for some time a foreign concept at the Swans.

The Sydney Swans have been a model of consistency, making the top eight in 14 of the past 17 seasons. And Bolton is keen to keep it that way in the face of pressure associated with being the league's reigning premiers.

"We've had chats as a group, and certainly that's what you do when you have training camps and all those sort of things," Bolton said at Tuesday's community camp.

"You talk about your expectations and certain things. But it's more about just the intensity at training and the way you approach each session.

"... Training session after training session, not accepting any mediocrity. Certainly we'll be jumping all over that when we see it."

Bolton, gearing up for his 15th AFL season, is one of a handful of players at the Swans who featured in both the 2005 and 2006 grand finals.

The 32-year-old suggested it was too early to answer the question 'can they go back to back?'.

"That's something that is so far away. Our focus is just on really performing early on and getting off to a good start," the 301-game midfielder said.

"Many things have to go right and we're all on level pegging at the start."

Bolton admitted his teammates battled early on after the highs of their 2005 success, which broke a 72-year flag drought.

"I don't know whether complacency had set in a little bit, it just took us a while to get going before we got into a good grove and started playing good footy - and got to the grand final," he said.

"We don't want to take time to get off to the start that we want."

Bolton will be rested from the Swans' pre-season opener, against Carlton and Greater Western Sydney, on Sunday.
"You just have to try and manage your minutes and prepare for round one," Bolton said.