The Swans all sat down and watched a horror movie on Tuesday.

It didn't involve vampires, people in hockey masks or Hannibal Lecter - it was Sydney's performance in last Saturday's "embarrassing" AFL loss to Fremantle.

And they know a similar display against Richmond at the SCG on Sunday will put their hopes of a seventh straight season of finals football in serious jeopardy.

Widely tipped to cruise past the previously winless Dockers at Subiaco Oval and shore up their place in the top eight, Sydney instead slumped to an insipid 21-point defeat.

It left them in a logjam of six teams with a 2-3 record heading into Sunday's tussle with the Tigers.

"After a pretty horrible loss on Saturday night we really have to come back and have a good game and get into some winning form and get players into some good form also," midfielder Jarrad McVeigh told AAP on Thursday.

"We went through (the Fremantle game) on Tuesday and you pretty much want to forget about it as soon as possible, the footage was that bad.

"We've got a few things in place this week and we're coming up against a Richmond team that had a good win on the weekend and they'll be looking forward to another good contest this week."

After a poor start to the season that put plenty of pressure on coach Terry Wallace, Richmond have forced the critics to look elsewhere this week after notching their first win, against the Kangaroos last weekend.

Sydney have an outstanding recent record against the Tigers, winning their past five matches by an average of 66 points, including an 82-point thumping at the SCG last year.

But they are wary of taking Richmond lightly and suffering a second straight defeat in a match the Swans are expected to win.

Matthew Richardson is carrying a knock from last week's victory and will need to pass a fitness test, but the Swans are expecting him to play.

"I don't think he's been training much this week but we'll still plan for him to play," McVeigh said.

"He's obviously a very good player, very fit and been in super form so he's a player we'll have to try to cut out of the game and the defenders will have their work cut out with Richo."

One thing the Tigers can certainly expect is a Swans side hell-bent on showing they still possess plenty of their renowned hardness.

"It was pretty much our hardness at the footy which has been an issue this year," McVeigh said.

"We are embarrassed about it.

"That was the main thing, just our hardness and our effort, which we'll be looking to rectify this weekend."

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