JARRAD McVeigh says the Sydney Swans won't be facing mission impossible in their match against unbeaten St Kilda at the SCG on Saturday night.
The white-hot Saints enter the clash as clear favourites to win their 18th game of the season but McVeigh rejected the idea that victory was out of the 11th-placed Swans' reach even before the first bounce.
Pointing to the fixture's history, he said the Swans' five-goal-to-one first quarter in their round one encounter at Docklands showed they were every chance though the Saints eventually overran them to win by 15 points.
"St Kilda's had a double-digit winning streak one time (in 2004) and we've beaten that before. So I don't think it's mission impossible," he said from the club on Friday morning.
"I think we match up well against the Saints and we had a pretty good contest against them in round one. We started really well in that game before they got on top of us.
"We’ll stick to our game plan [and] we’ve got faith in it. It's similar to St Kilda: hard, accountable footy."
McVeigh will take on one of the best midfield divisions in the competition, now coached by the man who was in charge of those players at the Swans, Ross Lyon.
The 24-year-old, who's averaging close to 22 disposals this season and has kicked 12 goals, is likely to be rotated on the Saints' midfield threats.
McVeigh said the Swans would need to shut down the Saints at every opportunity and predicted the game would be a stoppage-driven, low-scoring scrap.
Consider too it will be played on one of the smallest grounds in the AFL; a venue where the Swans have only lost once this season.
"Lenny Hayes, (Nick) Dal Santo, (Leigh) Montagna – they're very, very good players," McVeigh said. "We’ll probably shut down on a few of their players then look to work off them as well. I think that'll be where it's won.
"We’ll be looking to close the game and have a lot of stoppages like we normally do [and] really just fight it out.
"We have to be on our game, or we could be flogged."