Sydney veteran Ryan O’Keefe says the Swans’ youngsters will benefit from the finals-like ferocity in their narrow AFL loss to Hawthorn at the SCG on Saturday.

The Swans led by 38 in the second quarter but found themselves down in the last two terms as Hawthorn launched a powerful comeback.

O’Keefe kicked a goal with under two minutes to go, but majors to Shaun Burgoyne and Brad Sewell enabled Hawthorn to win and knock Sydney off top spot.

A veteran of several September campaigns, midfielder O’Keefe said the fiercely-contested game definitely had the feel of a finals encounter.

“It was a ferocious game, it was really hot early and we’d rather that coming into finals – playing these types of games,” O’Keefe said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that probably haven’t played a lot of finals and, just to give them that experience and that taste, it means when it comes to the crunch that it’s not a huge jump in intensity.”

Sydney coach John Longmire revealed veteran midfielder Jude Bolton was a chance of playing at Geelong next Saturday after missing the past three games with a knee injury.

“He trained really well this morning, the doc was even saying ‘why don’t you put him in as a late sub?’.

“He was bouncing around today. He had a really hard training session, and his movement was terrific.

“He needs to train this week under a bit more intensity with a few more players around and he’s a chance.

“He’s no certainty. He’s got a few hurdles to jump over yet.”