SWANS coach Paul Roos says his players will try to stifle the Hawks' midfield to nullify the double threat of Hawthorn's power forwards Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead on Sunday.

The clash between Hawthorn in third and the fourth-placed Swans pits Hawks Lance Franklin (66 goals this season) and Jarryd Roughead (46) against one of the league's toughest defensive units in Craig Bolton, Martin Mattner and Leo Barry.

"Everyone talks about Buddy [Franklin], and he's a terrific player, but any team that has a dominant power forward is very reliant on the midfield use of the ball and the pressure through the midfield and the game style," Roos said on Friday.

"If they're [Hawthorn] able to play at their absolute best and we let them do the things that they do well, then it doesn't matter who plays on Buddy.

"And Jarryd Roughead been good for them as well. We can only stop those two power forwards if we play well as a footy team."

Coming off a defeat last round to Collingwood, Roos sees the Hawks as a different proposition, although possessing a fairly similar type of player in the midfield.

"They have a pretty strict game plan that they stick to each week so we've got our job cut out for us,” Roos said.

"I think [Sam] Mitchell is a terrific player. I think their inside onballers aren't super quick so they're a bit similar to us.

"They're really good players Mitchell, [Luke] Hodge and [Brad] Sewell. They're probably similar to Kirky [Brett Kirk], Jude [Bolton], Luke Ablett, and like us they've got really good pace on the outside.

"We've got to play a lot better this week but they are a fair bit different to Collingwood. We've got to focus on doing things a bit differently regardless, which we've addressed this week."

Hawthorn is 12-2 going into this round while the Swans are 9-4 with one draw. However, the Swans are Hawthorn’s bogey side. The Bloods have won the last three matches on the MCG and the last six against Alistair Clarkson's side.

"They've [Hawthorn] been a developing team for a few years now and their players are getting better and it's part of improving. They've only lost a couple last year so clearly they've improved individually and collectively."