SWANS midfielder Nic Fosdike has lamented his side’s poor opening quarter in their 16-point loss to the Kangaroos at the Telstra Dome on Saturday night.

While he agreed it was a good sign that the team was nearly able to pinch a victory after being down by almost seven goals midway through the third term, he said the Swans probably didn’t deserve to get over their opponent at the end of a tense final term.

"I suppose it was good to fight back but realistically they worked a lot harder than us early in the game. In all reality, you can’t expect to start like that and win too many games, it’s as simple as that.

"They worked so much harder than us at the start of the game, so we were probably able to get back into the game because they were tiring at the end there. They had too much of a lead and we couldn’t quite catch them at the end."

Fosdike said the Swans appear to have generated a nice little rivalry with the Roos in recent years, whom they have played twice every season since the Melbourne-based club decided almost a decade ago to play a handful of home games in Sydney and, more recently, in Canberra.

"We’ve had some good battles over the years and they were a lot harder than us in the early stages of the game. We’ve always respected the Kangaroos and they are always a team that continues to fight on regardless of the score."

Fosdike said he could take little consolation from the fact that he was adjudged by many to be among the Swans’ best on the night, saying that like all his midfield colleagues, he prefers to look at how the team’s running group have performed as a whole.

"When you’re playing in a game like that and you’re getting smashed like we were early, you don‘t really worry about how you’re going personally.

"As a midfield group we were down regardless of who got touches. We speak about working as a team so regardless of who gets the possessions, if we are getting beaten as a team it’s disappointing.

"It’s usually better if we’re getting an even contribution from more players rather than having one or two individuals getting big numbers."

One of the major positives for the club was the first-up performance of rookie-listed midfielder Kieren Jack. Fosdike said everyone at the club was rapt for the hard-working Sydney native to get his chance after spending all of last year on the rookie list.

"Kieren is a real good find. He’s one of those honest players we really value at the club – but apart from that he’s quick and agile and he’s a bloke you know is going to have a crack for you."Obviously everyone knows his rugby background with his dad and all, so you sort of expect he’s going to be pretty hard at it. And you could see that every time he was in the vicinity of the ball he seemed to smash in for the hard one and that’s what you know you are going to get with Kieren.

"Full credit to him because his is a fantastic story and I hope he can continue with it."