Twelve rounds into the season, the Swans have climbed to fourth spot and seem to be re-visiting the form that saw them play in three preliminary finals in four years, including successive grand finals.
"I think a lot of people underestimated our depth at the start of the year," Bolton said.
"A lot of the younger players have really stepped up. Guys like Jarrad McVeigh, Kieran Jack and Jarred Moore are having good seasons. Also some of the older guys are really in form.
"Michael O’Loughlin is playing some good footy and Ryan O’Keefe is in All-Australian form also. So the guys are really starting to get some chemistry together and get a bit of momentum going."
With Barry Hall resuming against the Saints on the weekend, after seven weeks on the sidelines through suspension, Bolton believes the benefits of the star forward's return are yet to come.
"It was great to get our structure back," he said. "It will take a while to get it back working exactly how we want it but it’s just good to have such a prominent target up there and take the heat off the rest of the forwards."
Despite optimism in the camp, Bolton isn’t thinking beyond his 200th game against Melbourne in Canberra on Sunday.
"We’re only looking at this match against Melbourne," he said. "We’ve got a break after that.
"We just need to focus ourselves and get ourselves to nine-and-a-half wins which would put us in a great position for the second half of the year. We’ve got a really tough job ahead so it’s going to be a really big ask."
The 28-year-old also insisted that the speculation throughout the 2007 trade week that he would leave the Swans was a distant memory.
"I think it’s been blown out of proportion a little bit," he said. "Obviously we sat down at the end of last year and we knew we had to freshen up our list. That was where it was at.
"We needed to re-inject some life into our list …other clubs were interested so there was a number of factors.
"I’m just rapt that I’m still here."
To read Bolton's full interview, click here.
