SYDNEY Swans captain Brett Kirk says his teammates will need to step up this week if they're going to account for the absence of Daniel Bradshaw and Tadhg Kennelly.

Bradshaw, who leads the club's goalkicking with 25 majors from Adam Goodes (18), will miss the next three weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

Kirk admitted the loss of Bradshaw - and Kennelly to a three-week medial ligament injury - would force the Swans to be a bit creative in filling the gaps.

"When you lose a forward, it's difficult, but you just need to have other guys chipping in," he said on Thursday.

"We don't want to rely on one player and we're less predictable when we haven't got a designated full-forward down there.

"There will be a few guys rotate through there - [Adam] Goodes and a few other guys might go through there and hopefully Ryan O'Keefe, Jude Bolton and a few midfielders chip in and we'll be able to kick a score.

"Any injury unsettles you and unbalances you a little bit and they're both great players but we played without Bradshaw a few weeks ago and Tadhg has been very good for us since coming back.

"(Nick) Malceski and (Marty) Mattner and Rhyce Shaw and those types of guys will help steer us down back."

Kirk also turned up the heat on some of the Swans' older players by telling them they needed to be mentally prepared this week after three consecutive losses.

"There's no doubt that over the last three weeks, we've been really inconsistent," he said.

"We started off the season quite well and then we came up against some opponents over the last few weeks that have been playing some really good footy.

"For us, it's pretty simple. If we play our role and get everyone contributing, we'll give ourselves the best opportunity but over the past few weeks, we haven't been able to do that.

"It's still only early in the year though, and as Hawthorn showed last week, you can turn things around pretty quickly."

Kirk praised the recent performances of youngsters Dan Hannebery, Lewis Jetta and Gary Rohan, as well as last week's debutant Campbell Heath.

"All of them showed their going to be great players for us and they were the four players last week that I thought really stood up and contributed and their effort was really consistent," he said.

"They're four players that have come into the side with relative inexperience but they've showed some wares early on."

He also said Swans fans could yet see a few more fresh faces in the side in the second half of the season.

"There's Daniel Currie who plays in the ruck. He's been playing in the reserves and has been injury-free and might get an opportunity at some stage during the year," he said.

"Lewis Johnston has just come back from injury. He's another early draft pick.

"Matthew O'Dwyer is another who played some pre-season games and has been playing some good footy in the reserves as well."