SYDNEY veteran Kieren Jack says the Swans are "better placed than last year" for a tilt at a premiership, thanks to the improvement of their younger players.
The Swans have been strengthened by the improvement of players like Ollie Florent (13 games this season), Will Hayward (13) and Ben Ronke (eight), which has them second on the ladder after Friday night's defeat of West Coast.
It also has the 30-year-old bullish about their chances after they fell at the semi-final mark last year.
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"We're certainly better placed than last year, and we've spoken about that," Jack told SEN.
"I've been really impressed with our young guys that have come in, it's a credit to first of all them but also our development team and what they go through.
"You probably could say they're very inexperienced and whether they're ready but you just sort of let them go at some point and they're really producing at the moment, they're making some big plays.
"As far as this year, we've just got to just keep it going. That's the mentality.
"We'll have a couple of days off now, refresh, recoup, and I know we've got a big back half of the year coming up."
Jack agreed Florent, who played nine games last year after being drafted by the Swans in the first round of the 2016 NAB AFL Draft, had become more than just a "bit-part" player this season.
"He's really controlling that wing/half-forward role now and he's an elite runner, and he's really crafty with his hands and his feet and we're starting to see the fruits of that now," he said.
"I think it takes kids 20 to 50 games probably before they [find] their feet and they can understand the pressure and how much time they've got, and he seems to have picked it up really quickly this year.
"Will Hayward had a great year last year and he's continued on in that fashion and Benny Ronke is coming on as a small pressure forward.
"There's some good, young talent coming through the Swans that will be here hopefully for another 10 years."
Jack, who played his 241st game on Friday night, said they had been cautious last week when deciding to rest him because of a hip pointer injury.
He said the week off, combined with this week's bye, would help set up the rest of his season.
"We just wanted to manage that knowing we've got the bye now as well," he said.
"It's a period for me to really freshen up a bit.
"I played 11 games straight and the body is feeling pretty good … it's just about maintaining and managing during the week, and making sure I can bring my strengths on the weekend."
