THE Swans had a point to prove on Saturday, and despitefailing to come away with the points against Geelong,Luke Ablett is satisfied that Sydneyis headed in the right direction.

Ablett admitted he and his teammates had been stung by theirlacklustre performance against the Magpies at Telstra Stadium the previous weekand a desire to make amends had driven their comeback against the Cats after ashaky start.

“Last week was one of the worst performances we’ve had sinceRoosy took over so we had a bit of a point to prove, more to ourselves thananyone else,” Ablett said.

“We wanted to get out there and just be hard at the footyand really match them because they’ve been really good in that area with their contestedpossessions and their tackling.

“While we’re still disappointed that we lost, there were afew guys who ran into a bit of form.

“Collectively I think we ran into a bit of form towards theend of the match and managed to kick a few goals, so there were some positivesigns out of it for sure.”

Statistically, Geelongis right up there with West Coast as the competition leaders in winning contestedball and Ablett felt the Swans matched the Cats for most of the day in tryingconditions at Skilled Stadium.

“I think both teams had a real dip today [Saturday], theball was on the ground a lot and they’ve been tackling really well, but I thinkover the last few weeks we’ve really lifted in that area as well, so it washard and tough football,” he said.

“I think in general we hit in pretty well, and based on theconditions, I think we were really having a crack.

“It was just our ball use and a few little mistakes whichwas costing us early, but we took that intensity into the second half and ourball use started to pick up.”

Playing against his two cousins, Gary and Nathan, Ablettgathered 19 touches and kicked a goal to be amongst his side’s better players.

Despite some promising signs, he said the real task now wasto take it to the next level against Fremantle at the SCG on Sunday.

“There were a few positives but it all means nothing if we throwit all away next week,” Ablett said.

“We’ve really got to try and capitalise on it and try anduse some of that good form that we ran ourselves into today.”