If Sydney utility Rhyce Shaw was still at Collingwood, he'd almost certainly be playing in the reserves right now.

During a stop-start AFL stint at the club of his father Ray, 28-year-old Shaw always seemed a fringe Magpie and a recent run of poor form at the Swans had him certain the axe was near.

But unlike at Collingwood, where Shaw often dropped out, he was retained at Sydney and bloomed with a strong display in the home win over Hawthorn that suggested the Swans might still be a force this September.

"I definitely felt as though I wasn't getting a kick and I was under the pump," he said before training at a wet SCG on Tuesday afternoon.

"The coaching staff, they're really good and they really give you the confidence to go out and play well each week. I probably wasn't lifting my weight in that regard.

"I couldn't get a kick for a while but it wasn't necessarily about me.

"It was about the side and I wasn't helping the side. We were getting beaten in some positions and I'll take full responsibility for that."

Shaw said he had far more confidence under head coach Paul Roos at Sydney to see through a rough patch than he had ever been afforded at the Magpies.

"Roosy's really good like that and (assistant coach) John Longmire and all the coaches have been really keen on giving me heaps of confidence and just going out to play my game and keep it simple," he said.

"That's why I love it up here, it's a fantastic club to be at, they're really player-orientated like that and they do give me the confidence to get out there and get a kick."

Collingwood are carrying all before them in 2010 and Shaw admitted to some satisfaction at seeing his former club advancing so strongly.

"Yeah they're flying aren't they?," he said.

"I'm still pretty close with a couple of the boys and it is good to see them do well, but hopefully not too well and we can come up against them in the finals at some stage if we get there.

"But they're a fantastic side and what they did to Geelong was pretty amazing."

The Swans were less amazing in a 37-point home loss to Fremantle in round nine and Shaw said this week's trip to Perth to face the Dockers would require a far more concerted effort.

"To be honest they were just the better side, we weren't really up and going and we really do need to lift, and especially with our last month of footy we've been so inconsistent and we really need to improve on that," he said.

"That's probably been a bit of a theme over the last month, we have been inconsistent and on the weekend with 22 contributors we came away with the win."

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