THE SYDNEY Swans have finally got back their intensity after Sunday's win over Fremantle but co-captain Leo Barry has warned the side still has many hurdles to jump to get to the finals.
The 2005 premiers enjoyed a much-needed 28-point win at the SCG and have now moved to a 7-7 (win-loss) record and 10th spot on the ladder.
Barry attributed the Swans' comeback to a strong run and attack, consistent defence, the return of injured Barry Hall and the ability to take risks.
But he warned the finals were still a long way off.
"It's almost been a week by week assignment at the moment," Barry said.
"I think we're keeping in touch (but) it's still a difficult month we've got coming up and it's sort of too hard to look forward.
"And top four that's something that will be determined by the end of the year.
"I still think we've got a good enough team to definitely get up there, it's just a matter of how many more games we can string together."
The 11.23 (89) to 9.7 (61) victory over the Dockers came after consecutive losses and kept the Swans' finals chances alive, with a favourable draw over the next eight rounds.
The draw includes four home matches and a clash with Melbourne in Canberra.
As they look to the future, the Swans will continue concentrating on their attack, basic kicking, and will look closer at how they use Hall, who's set to be examined on a week by week basis.
"Our run and attack really created a lot of scoring opportunities and if we were able to kick a bit more straight it would've been a pretty easy win," Barry said.
"He (Hall) is such a focal point and he demands the footy so much that he's such a ball man that you tend to kick it to him a lot, so opposition teams do play him really heavily.
"I think it's just a matter of our ball use, being able to hit the free guys and definitely that will help us as a team going forward."
Asked what had gone wrong up until now, Barry said: "A lack of intensity, the guys don't realise it until we get behind and we start taking a few more risks and flick the ball around a bit more.
"So hopefully we realise that straight from the start of the game that we're able to do that."
The Swans next take on Carlton, and despite the team being ranked in 14th spot, Barry has labelled it a "danger match" with the return of Brendan Fevola after his week suspension.
"Brendan [Fevola] has shown that he's a really good player and obviously he didn't play on the weekend so he'll be wanting to return and really make amends for his dramas he's had over the last couple of weeks," Barry said.
"They've shown they can score really heavily, Carlton, so it's going to be a real danger game for us."
