Sydney coach John Longmire is looking to squeeze more out of his developing forward line, while putting the squeeze on Hawthorn's potent attack in Sunday's AFL clash at the SCG.

Just one position and two spots in the lower half of the top eight separated the two teams heading into the round.

Hawthorn has won just two of their past 12 SCG fixtures and last tasted victory there nine years ago.

The return of livewire Cyril Rioli adds further thrust to their forward line, although Jarryd Roughead will likely spend some time in the ruck.

Sydney piled on their biggest score of the season against Port Adelaide last week, and Longmire is looking for further improvement against Hawthorn.

Longmire is trying to manufacture a side capable of kicking winning scores without veteran spearhead Daniel Bradshaw, whose ongoing knee issues have prevented him playing so far this season.

Sydney's leading goalkicker is small forward Ben McGlynn with 13 and, like another former Hawk, midfielder Josh Kennedy has flourished since joining the Swans.

Young centre half forward Sam Reid enjoyed a breakthrough game against Port, kicking three goals, and Longmire saw plenty to like about the way his forward structure was developing.

"Our forward 50 tackles have improved now to number two in the competition, which is a big jump up from last year," Longmire told AAP.

"We need to keep developing our ball use and really extending what we do going forward, because this time last year after round seven, Daniel Bradshaw had kicked 24 goals.

"We know that without Daniel there, we've got to develop some other options.

"Last week having 12 goalkickers I thought was a really good sign for us.

"Sam Reid has been fantastic. He's only a kid still and Andrejs Everitt has played there as well and Lewis Roberts-Thomson.

"We have got some options there, but we are still developing that part of our game."

Down the other end, Sydney faced the challenge of trying to minimise the influence of the Hawks' celebrated trio of Lance Franklin, Roughead and Rioli.

"It's a real challenge, but that's where our focus is on making sure we stop the ball getting to them. It's not just about our back six," Longmire said.

"It's making sure the players in the middle of the ground and our forwards are putting enough pressure on when the ball comes in to give our defenders a chance.

"We've got to maintain the pressure for four quarters to give our back six players a chance."

Returning to Sydney's back six is Nick Malceski, little more than 11 weeks after a second LARS knee operation.

Also back from a serious knee injury is Hawthorn ruckman Max Bailey, who hasn't played a senior game since 2009 and has tallied just six senior appearances in five and a half seasons.

Roughead and 206cm Bailey are expected to do most of the Hawks ruck work against Shane Mumford and Roberts-Thomson.

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