Sydney coach Paul Roos insists the Swans are a good away side despite their shocking record on the road this season suggesting otherwise.

While the Swans have won games in Sydney, they have lost all five fixtures outside of NSW.

The closest margin in that run of interstate losses was 15 points in their first away assignment of 2009 against St Kilda.

Since that game, the Swans have suffered four convincing interstate defeats, losing by an average of six goals over that period.

Roos emphasised Sydney, like many other teams on the congested AFL ladder are suffering from inconsistency rather than a dose of the interstate blues.

The Swans won five and drew one of their first eight interstate clashes last year, but have lost eight successive games outside NSW since their last interstate triumph against Carlton in round 16 of last season, just over ten months ago.

"If you look at our history over six years rather than over a course of four or five games playing away, we are a good away team," Roos said on Monday.

"At the moment we're just an inconsistent footy team, like a lot of other teams in the competition."

The long serving Sydney mentor found it hard to believe his erratic side occupied a top eight position, just one win off third.

"It's an incredible year, we are five-five and we're seventh, which I think at the start of the year if you said we were five-five you would probably see yourself as tenth or eleventh," Roos said.

"But everyone is having trouble finding consistency."

The Swans head to Melbourne for a Saturday MCG clash with reigning premiers Hawthorn, who they thumped by 38 points in Sydney back in round two.

"I don't tend to worry too much about the past, I think their personnel will be a bit different," Roos said of Hawthorn.

While he would like to give more of his youngsters a run, Roos lamented the fact that some of his up and coming players were currently injured.

"Unfortunately it's the older blokes that have been more resilient this year, which has allowed us to stay at five-five and very much in the competition," Roos said.

"It would be nice to have those young guys at least putting pressure on the senior players."

Midfield Craig Bird is in line for a recall this week after he played in the reserves last weekend following a bout of concussion, while another youngster, Nick Smith, is also pushing for promotion.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP