So many numbers went against Sydney in their AFL clash against North Melbourne on Saturday, except for the one that counts most.

The masters of the arm wrestle again held their nerve in a frenetic last term at Etihad Stadium, beating the Kangaroos by one point.

After Ben McGlynn kicked his third goal to put the Swans ahead, there was no score for the last 10 minutes of the match as Sydney held on 10.12 (72) to 9.17 (71).

Apart from more scoring shots, North also won contested possessions 155-132, clearances 40-30 and inside 50s 53-48.

The other crucial statistic is that after 10 rounds, Sydney have three wins and a draw by a combined margin of 14 points.

The Kangaroos have now lost four games by a total of 28 points.

Sydney are in the top eight with five wins, while North are languishing in the bottom four with seven losses.

"There is a whole pack of teams in the middle rungs of the ladder and sometimes you need to win some of those close ones," Swans coach John Longmire said.

"We can be better ... we can be a lot more consistent over the period of four quarters.

"Sometimes you just have to dig in - they had a lot of inside 50s in the last quarter, they might have had 18 or something like that, and I thought defensively we withstood that pressure pretty well.

"That was a really pleasing sign."

Just as the Swans showed the toughness and poise that have earned them universal respect for so long, North again paid for skill errors.

It is becoming a constant refrain from coach Brad Scott that they must use the ball better and that the improvement will take time.

As he noted, if a team wins inside 50s, contested possessions and clearances, it should win the game.

North started superbly, kicking the first three goals of the game inside 10 minutes.

Had Lindsay Thomas converted a simple set shot, they would have been 4.2 to no score.

But his goalkicking yips continued - Thomas now has 10.22 for the season - and Sydney quickly goaled shortly after.

North only kicked another six goals for the match as the Swans steadily worked their way into the match.

"We've got to keep working and working and working," Scott said.

"I'm really confident the players have the capabilities, they perform really well in those areas at training, but when the pressure comes on we are not quite good enough at the moment."

Swans key defender Heath Grundy was best afield with his superb work on Drew Petrie, who was dangerous early, while Rhyce Shaw shut down Brent Harvey.

Sydney substitute Lewis Jetta also gave his team much-needed run when he came on in the last term and laid a crucial tackle on Petrie late in the match.

North key defender Scott Thompson was his team's best and he kicked two goals in the second term - bringing his career tally to three.

Michael Firrito will come under video scrutiny for a late challenge on McGlynn in the third term that gifted Sydney a 50m penalty and goal.

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