In-form Sydney star Ben McGlynn says the Swans are setting themselves for a big second half of the AFL season after discarding the selfishness that marred the early weeks of their campaign.
Thursday night’s 110-point SCG shellacking of Geelong made it six straight wins for the Swans, who soared above the Cats into second spot.
Next up are games against fellow top four aspirants Gold Coast and Port Adelaide, followed by battlers Richmond and GWS.
“You always want to improve and we’ve set ourselves for a big second half of the year,” McGlynn told AAP.
“It was a good win, but you want to improve as players.”
“We’ll keep each other accountable and be honest with our feedback and hopefully we can keep improving.”
Sydney showed no obvious weakness in their crushing win over the Cats.
Their defence held Geelong’s forwards in check, they overwhelmed the Cats in the midfield battle and potent power forwards Kurt Tippett, Lance Franklin and Adam Goodes combined for 12 goals.
The only blemish was some inaccurate kicking in the second quarter when five successive shots failed to produce a single goal.
“You’re always aiming for Utopia I guess as far as finishing the work off,” Sydney coach John Longmire said.
“But the work in general was pretty strong.”
It was a far more formidable side than the one that stumbled to three losses in their first four games.
“I think blokes started to have a bit of a crack and not being so selfish,” McGlynn said.
“Early days , we weren’t playing team football and our effort wasn’t there and (we showed a) poor attitude really.
McGlynn, who has been one of Sydney’s most consistent players, was again among their best against the Cats.
He supplemented a personal season-best 26 possessions with a match-high 11 tackles.
Primarily a small forward in past seasons, McGlynn is relishing spending more time in the midfield this year.
“I’m really enjoying it in midfield, it’s good to be able to add a different part of my game,” McGlynn said.
“I developed that over the pre-season,fitting in there, and (I’m) really enjoying the challenge.”