Sydney defender Tadhg Kennelly says the Swans have put away their Janus impersonation and turned into Cyclops as they prepare to tackle runaway AFL leaders Geelong on Saturday night.

The Swans are clinging to fourth place and must win at ANZ Stadium to retain any hope of securing a double chance in the finals that a top four spot offers.

In their last six rounds the Swans have lost to four top eight sides, and scraped home against bottom eight teams Carlton and Fremantle.

Janus was a Roman god with two heads - one looking backwards and one looking forwards.

Kennelly admits their focus has been everywhere except on themselves.

"I think we fell into that trap in the last month and it has cost us, worrying about opposition teams' results," Kennelly said.

"We've gotten away from our own focus of winning games of football and started looking behind our back a bit.

"We looked ahead too and we can't do that any more because there's no bigger game than Geelong.

"If you start looking ahead against a team like Geelong you've got a problem."

Should this weekend's results go according to ladder position, the Swans will drop to sixth.

Then they are away to Collingwood - and a loss there would mean a further fall to seventh and a likely sudden death final in Adelaide, who have beaten Sydney in their last five encounters.

Sydney's fourth spot on the ladder really flatters to deceive - the Swans have the worst record among fellow top eight clubs with just one win and a draw from nine contests.

That hasn't stopped Kennelly talking up the Swans' prospects against a Geelong side that has lost just once.

"It's a good time to be playing them," he said.

"Coming into the finals you can test yourselves.

"Last time we played them we stuck with them for three quarters and then Gary Ablett blew us away in the last quarter.

"It does give you confidence to know you can go with them.

"Last week (Fremantle) was a game where we just wanted to get the win and get our confidence up to give us that momentum going into this week so we could play like we did against Geelong earlier in the season."

While Geelong seem unbackable favourites for consecutive flags, it must be pointed out they have had one of the easiest draws so far with just seven matches against fellow top eight sides.

After Sydney, the Cats host fifth-placed North Melbourne and lowly West Coast.

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