Adam Goodes surged back into top form and Sydney strengthened their hold on a spot in the eight with a five-goal win over North Melbourne on Sunday.

Things hadn't been working out for Goodes in a forward role and coach Paul Roos felt he owed it to his dual Brownlow Medallist to give him another run in midfield.

Goodes responded with 33 possessions at the SCG and also slotted home three goals in a stunning performance.

The win keeps the Swans in the AFL's top eight with an 8-7 win-loss record ahead of ninth-placed North (7-8).

Sydney scored only 0.3 in the third quarter but two goals from Rhyce Shaw in the final quarter and two more from Goodes delighted the home crowd of 23,856.

Roos was thrilled with the effort of Goodes, which included 11 marks, five tackles and eight inside-50m entries.

"It hasn't been working for him as well as we'd like forward for the last two or three weeks, so it just gives him a chance," Roos said.

"Certainly on this ground you can get away with perhaps playing a bit more of a makeshift forward line and get him around the ball and get him involved early.

"He was able to go forward. He took a nice contested mark in the last quarter which he hasn't been doing so he got some real confidence by getting a lot of the football early."

In addition to Goodes, Roos drew attention to strong work by Ted Richards up forward, with regular key forward Daniel Bradshaw out injured.

Roos also praised a desperate lunging tackle by Kieren Jack which halted Brent Harvey's late shot at goal, when the margin was only 12 points midway through the final term.

Roos told the Swans at three-quarter time to show some fight, unlike last week's shock fade-out and four-point loss to Richmond.

"We can't expect Jude Bolton and Kirky (Brett Kirk) to do it all the time," Roos said.

"That's the really good thing today, some of the young players playing really important roles."

Matthew Campbell and Todd Goldstein kicked two goals each for the Kangaroos, while midfield veterans Brady Rawlings and Harvey stood out.

North's forward structure was all over the place, with Drew Petrie struggling to run properly in his first game back from a broken foot and Lachie Hansen also having no impact.

This allowed Nick Malceski and Tadhg Kennelly, with 34 possessions each, to run the ball out of defence for Sydney.

North coach Brad Scott described the loss as "bitterly disappointing".

"We knew the enormous ramifications of this game. We felt really well prepared and really let ourselves down," he said.

Petrie's latest injury drama only added to North's problems.

"He got medical clearance from the surgeon to play. We had training sessions with him when he looked really good, really strong, but clearly he wasn't right today," Scott said.

Both teams have a seven-day break before Richmond host North Melbourne at the MCG and Carlton are at home to Sydney at Etihad Stadium.

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