SYDNEY Swans spearhead Barry Hall starred as his side produced its best performance of the pre-season, downing the Western Bulldogs by 27 points at Rouse Hill in Sydney’s north-west on Saturday night.

The Swans controlled the game from the outset and booted six goals to two – including three from Hall – in the second term to take a 45-point lead at the long break.

Swans coach Paul Roos rested several experienced players, including midfielders Brett Kirk and Jude Bolton, in the second half and the Bulldogs came back into the game with Ryan Griffen and Jason Akermanis prominent.

But the home side held its nerve to win the first elite game at the AFL’s newest venue, 16.12 (108) to 12.9 (81).

Roos said the team was ‘building nicely’ towards the round-one clash against St Kilda at Docklands on March 28.

“Individually, players are starting to get into good form and I thought collectively, we played a lot better tonight; back to some real hard, tough footy and we moved the ball a lot better as well,” he said.

Roos said Hall set the tone for the Swans before reaping the rewards of his stunning second quarter.

“His first half probably shows the way he plays his best footy, and that’s [putting] the team stuff first and the goals tend to come after that,” he said.

“He probably set the tone for the whole side early with his tackling and the way he ran up the field.”

Roos attributed his side’s improvement to a combination of a greater output from the club’s younger players and the benefit of adding more experienced members to the squad.

Patrick Veszpremi, Jesse White and Heath Grundy all came in for praise from the Swans’ coach, with Roos hinting White was likely to edge out Canadian rugby convert Mike Pyke for the second ruck spot in the season opener.

“The advantage Jesse has over Pykey is that he just knows the game better. You can put Jesse forward and he kicked two goals [tonight],” Roos said.

“He’s probably got a slight advantage over Pykey at the moment because he’s a natural footballer compared to a guy who’s coming over from rugby.”

Others to impress included Jarrad McVeigh and Jude Bolton, before they spent much of the second half on the bench. Craig Bolton and Kieren Jack, who tagged Jason Akermanis, also produced strong games.

Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Luke Ablett boosted their match fitness by completing the game out without incident, while rookie Kristin Thornton made a successful return from knee surgery.

The Swans play Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Friday night in their final NAB Challenge game. 

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.