The Swans surprised many pundits by topping the ladder after round six on the way to earning a home elimination final against Carlton. They eventually dropped out of the finals race with a narrow semi-final loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Malceski was among the key drivers of the Swans' improved results, joining Shane Mumford, Kieren Jack and Josh Kennedy as important contributors.
He attributed his good 2010 form to an outstanding pre-season and he looks set to repeat that preparation after running a personal best 3km time trial in his first session back on Monday.
Malceski said his desire to improve reflected the Swans' need to up the ante if they wanted to progress further into the finals in 2011.
"Last year, we did do well and hopefully we can keep doing that but every team keeps improving throughout every pre-season," he said.
"We've just got to step it up and make sure we do more than the other 16 teams."
To that end, a large group of Swans players undertook a gruelling running session in the giant sand dunes at Kurnell on Wednesday morning.
Malceski joined the likes of Lewis Johnston, Heath Grundy, Mike Pyke, Jarred Moore and Kennedy in a taxing two-and-a-half hour program of running circuits in hot, windy conditions.
The Swans are no strangers to the sand dunes, having trained there several times last pre-season, but Wednesday's session came much earlier in the schedule.
"It was much more solid this year, especially when you do it this early in the year," Malceski said.
"Last year we were training for a month prior to this [session], so it was pretty tough."
Senior coach John Longmire was another participant in the session and Malceski said he had made a smooth transition into the top job after Paul Roos' departure.
"I've been here with Horse the whole time and I've got a good relationship with him," he said.
"John's been working under Roosy for eight years and obviously Roosy would have been teaching him all the tricks of the trade."
New recruit Matthew Spangher was among the standouts in the sand dunes while the club's other draftees Jed Lamb, Luke Parker and Alex Johnson are still some way off taking part in full pre-season training.
