Sydney coach Paul Roos had a word with his star midfielder Adam Goodes on Friday, asking him to go forward and give him five goals against Fremantle.

But the dual Brownlow Medallist ignored his coach's instructions and instead came up with a career-best eight, steering the fourth-placed Swans to a four-point win, 17.10 (112) to 15.18 (108).

The Swans kicked the last three goals of the AFL round-19 game at the SCG, two to Goodes and one to Barry Hall who finished with four goals.

Goodes, who was rested last week with a groin strain, said he was merely filling in at full forward while regular spearhead Michael O'Loughlin was unavailable because of an ankle injury.

"He (Roos) did ask for five," Goodes said.

"I think it was on Friday when I saw him. I was pretty happy with myself at halftime. I had four goals in so I only needed one in the second half.

"I thought I played my role tonight. I was a bit lucky a few times when it got over the back.

"They were playing a bit of a zone defence. I thought we really exploited that well with getting the longer ball in to myself and Hally."

Goodes said the week off had helped him get his head around how to manage his groin injury.

"I think mentally it was really getting on top of me. I really wasn't dealing with it at all very well," the 28-year-old said.

"I had the week off and did a bit of work off-field with it, which really helped.

"I feel really confident going into the next three weeks.

"Knowing it's going to be sore on a Sunday after a game and just really dealing with that. I probably wasn't dealing with that very well early on and I think now I've overcome that."

The win gives the Swans some much-needed breathing space in fourth spot after four losses in their previous five games.

O'Loughlin is unlikely to return for next week's round-20 clash with premiership favourites Geelong at ANZ Stadium, giving Goodes another chance up forward.

"With Michael out, it really suits our team structure," Goodes said.

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