New Sydney co-captain Adam Goodes and Melbourne onballer Colin Sylvia starred as the Swans won their AFL practice match by eight points on Saturday.

Paul Johnson had a chance to put the Demons in front late in the match at Princes Park, but his shot for goal went wide for a behind.

Nick Smith then goalled to seal the win for Sydney, 9.9 (63) to 8.7 (55).

Goodes was outstanding, particularly with his clearances, and Demons coach Dean Bailey later rued that the Demons probably lost the game at the stoppages.

Sylvia kept improving as the game progressed, kicking two second-half goals and picking up 25 disposals as he showed the benefits of a solid pre-season.

It was a scrappy match, but Roos saw it as an important hitout against young, eager opposition.

"It was good, we got more out of it this week," he said.

"One thing with Melbourne, even though they're a little bit undermanned at the moment as well as us, you know they're fit.

"They're a young team, they're running, they've been training for a long time, so the important thing today was probably more to test our fitness.

"At times, they looked fitter than us ... but then obviously the senior core were able to claw it back and work through, that's what you want to see at this time of year."

Roos said it was now vital for the Swans to lift their fitness further in the next fortnight, ahead of the start of the regular season.

Sydney key forward Barry Hall had his first match for the year and he was in the midst of some scuffles.

He finished with 10 disposals, three marks, three frees against him and 0.1

Roos said Sydney had always planned to keep him off for the last term.

"He was just going to go 10 (minutes) on, five off ... and then do that for three quarters, have a spell in the last quarter," he said.

Canadian Mike Pyke again impressed for the Swans, kicking a goal in the last term and rucking well.

"He's made some significant advances for a guy who never played the game up until two weeks ago," Roos said.

Bailey was pleased his team stayed competitive and managed to reel in the Swans when they threatened to kick clear during the third term.

Apart from the stoppages, Bailey said the Demons could also have done better when kicking into the forward 50m.

"But the players are working hard, every opportunity we get to play, we're starting to get a bit better," he said.

James Strauss, Neville Jetta and Jamie Bennell all showed encouraging signs in their first games for Melbourne, while Jack Grimes had 26 disposals and Cale Morton picked up a game-high 27 disposals.

Defenders such as Matthew Warnock and Stefan Martin particularly impressed Bailey.

Melbourne midfielder Brent Moloney had his first game back from injury, while Daniel Bell suffered a corked leg muscle.

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