Josh Kennedy answers questions from Swans fans, which were posted on our website on Monday.

Sandra asks: “How are you enjoying playing with the Swans and how does your role differ from when you were at Hawthorn?’’

Josh says: First of all I am absolutely loving playing with the Swans. I’m loving having a role to play every week in the side. The way it differs from Hathorn is that there is more responsibility placed on me within the side.

Rather than just being a back-up or a second tier player in reserve at Hawthorn, I’ve been given more opportunity and more responsibility, which I’ve always felt I’ve been capable of handling.

It’s been great to have the support of the coaching staff and most of all my teammates in playing that role here at Sydney.

Being a bigger-bodied player through the midfield, my role is to win the ball in congestion and try to help with the clearances and feed the ball out to our runners, our quicker more agile players on the outside.

When I was at Hawthorn my role was probably the same but they only required it if Mitchell wasn’t playing and Sewell wasn’t playing and Hodge wasn’t playing, which put a ceiling on my development because no matter what I did in the reserves, my only opportunity came from an injury.

It’s about confidence, I’ve always believed that I can compete at the level, but I just needed the opportunity and luckily I’ve been given it.

Timothy Nigel Knowles asks: “During Sunday’s against Carlton we saw a commitment and hunger that we haven't seen enough of this season. Did the team just seem to click into form or did Roosy make conscious efforts to really mix the game plan up from previous weeks?’’

Josh says: So I guess the question is, what’s changed in the past couple of weeks, as opposed to the couple of weeks previous. It has been a real conscious effort to play for each other. We’ve identified that when we play our best footy we can compete with the top sides and we believe that, though we’ve let ourselves down at times this year in that regard.

Beating Carlton, who are a top eight side and on the rise, has helped our cause and there is no doubt that our confidence levels have grown because of it, and that effects the way you play. You don’t become too negative or too worried about mistakes so now we’re confident going out and playing for each other, we’ve got a lot more direction now and that’s perhaps what we were lacking.

Michael Coombes asks: “What part of your game do you think you could improve on?’’

Josh says: As an elite athlete in any sport, you are always looking to get that edge and to improve because as time goes on, if you don’t the game will go past you.

For me it is about focusing on my strengths and making sure I maintain them - for me that is my inside work and my hands and my decision-making, but also developing other parts of the game which can take me to the next level. For me, working on my outside effectiveness in terms of my run and carrying the ball is part of the plan.

Craig Tonkin asks: “What sort of cultural differences have you noticed at the Bloods?’’

Josh says: Coming up to Sydney the first thing you notice is the camaraderie amongst the players. It stands out far and above anything else when you walk in the place.

The main reason for that is that a lot of players here aren’t from the city of Sydney. For most of us, our family and old friends are not here, so all you have are teammates and coaching staff and you rely heavily on them and everyone is in the same boat, so it builds a bond.

Christian asks: “In regards to Roos' retirement, do you think John Longmire will try to use Roos' style as a base for his own coaching?’’

Josh says: They have developed the culture and the coaching style together over the past eight years. No doubt John or Horse as we call him, will add an element of his own style but the essence of what has made this club great over the past eight years will remain the same.

Ken asks:  Did Rhyce Shaw play in the forward line previously in his career, before arriving at the Swans?

Josh says: I read in the paper that he had played forward as a junior, but at Sydney and previous to that at Collingwood, I’ve always known him as a backman.

But having been in the game as long as he has and with a family as strong as his is football-wise, he is definitely a smart player. He has developed something which is hard to teach and he has brought it to the forward line. I know he is very happy being a born-again forward pocket!

Thanks to all the fans for sending in questions for me. Go Swans!