Sydney's impressive AFL form has given coach John Longmire the chance to be patient with the return of star pair Shane Mumford and club champion Kieren Jack from injury.

The Swans' 65-point demolition of Brisbane on Saturday night at the Gabba puts them in a solid position to hunt a top four spot.

For Longmire, it means Mumford (knee) and Jack (ankle) will not be called for their services before time.

Mumford is an outside chance to play against Richmond at the SCG next Sunday although Jack is most likely at least another match away from a return.

"I saw Mummy on Thursday and he was pretty confident he would be back and Kieren ran really well on Friday so his next step up in his preparation is to do the agility work," Longmire said.

"Once again we are not going to push them over the limit.

"They are very important players for us, Kieren in particular."

In Mumford's absence, defensive rock Robert Lewis-Thomson has successfully been engaged as a forward and a pinch-hitting ruckman.

He kicked three goals against the Lions while making sure Lions fullback Daniel Merrett was fully accountable and assisting big man Mark Seaby in the ruck duties.

"He's been doing reasonably well for us on-ball as well so the bonus was that he was to play forward and keep Merrett out of the game to a large degree," Longmire said.

"So to get the goals was a bonus."

Sydney crushed the Lions spirit with a 13-goals-to-two first-half, effectively killing off the game which petered out to a numbing 17.14 (116) to 7.9 (51) victory at the Gabba.

Even Longmire admitted he was not expecting to be 12 goals up at the long break.

"If someone had asked me at halftime, I wouldn't have predicted that," Longmire said.

"From our point of view, it was pleasing to see the way we combined as a team."

Brisbane coach Michael Voss had no answers for the inept first half which was even more galling considering the Lions were coming off two solid wins and were fielding one of their best sides for the season.

"If you're not winning the ball at the contest, you cannot get your hands on the ball and you are going to have trouble," Voss said.

"We were just out played.

"The cold hard fact is you have to win the ball."

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