As new Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh gazed onto the SCG and reflected on the days of Tony Lockett, his offsider Adam Goodes delivered a harder message about the upcoming AFL campaign.

Fifth last year was better than most expected of the Swans, but clearly not good enough for Goodes and McVeigh, who are chasing premiership success as they seek to place a new stamp on a club that lost so much with the departures of Brett Kirk and Paul Roos.

"The thing that Jarrad and I have to do is make sure we keep driving the leaders, keep driving the blokes underneath the leadership group to keep wanting the same success that we want," said Goodes.

"To finish fifth last year, from people looking outside they'd probably say the Swans had a really good year, but for us we were disappointed.

"We want to improve on that this year, we definitely should've won a lot more games last year, we had some really terrible losses during the season.

"Hopefully we can learn from that and really push the group to get better this year."

McVeigh's addition as co-captain marked a pinnacle of sorts for someone often noted as the ideal example for a young player growing out of the AFL nether world of Sydney.

As a youth he was often at the SCG to watch Lockett, Paul Kelly and others deliver consistent performances, even rushing onto the field when Gordon Coventry's all-time goal-kicking record fell to "Plugger" in 1999.

"I think I actually ran out onto the field, I think I was behind the goals and ran out, I was probably standing beside Goodesy at some stage," McVeigh said.

"I've seen a lot of great moments here, when Tony Lockett kicked the point after the siren to get into the grand final (in 1996).

"I've grown up watching the Swans, being from NSW and watching the guys go through I played junior footy with."

Former Swans captain Stuart Maxfield, a key architect of the strong culture at Sydney, was a favourite of McVeigh's and provided the ultimate introduction by billeting the young draftee.

"Stuey was my favourite player at the time and then when I first arrived at the club I actually moved in with him so it was a little bit surreal," said McVeigh.

"But just having those older guys around, Paul Williams, Kirky and Leo Barry, watching and learning from them has made me the type of player I am today."

Swans coach John Longmire had intended anointing McVeigh alongside Goodes when pre-season began, but waited until summer confirmed his intuition.

"Really it was my gut feel when I took over as coach that I'd like to go with Jarrad and Adam and that's just been confirmed over the pre-season," said Longmire.

"While we've lost a lot of great leaders over the last couple of years I'm really excited about the next batch coming through."

Longmire expected the club's wider leadership group to be finalised over the next two weeks.

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