Sydney defender Marty Mattner says the Swans are desperate to preserve their No.1 spot on the AFL ladder.
As well as earning them a home final and two bites of the cherry in the playoffs, Mattner said there was a sense of pride in holding onto first place for the rest of the year.
The Swans returned to the top with a hard-fought 29-point victory over St Kilda on Sunday at the SCG.
Despite a slow start and a scare in the fourth quarter, Mattner said the Swans were encouraged by their ability to kick away under pressure.
The 29-year-old said Sydney are determined to continue playing from first for the remainder of the AFL season.
“Definitely, you always want to finish the season on top to get that double chance home final and those sort of things,” Mattner said at the Swans’ recovery session on Monday.
“It’s hard to win from outside the top four, that’s been shown from the last few years.
“If we can finish in the … top two to get a home final it would be great.
“You don’t know what other teams are thinking (in the chasing pack) but as a team we are trying to get better.
“We’ve got to improve every week. We still want to keep that top spot … so we’ve got to keep improving and working on the little things.
“The thing out of the weekend was our start and our goal kicking (accuracy).”
Sydney are sweating on the results of scans on ruckman Shane Mumford’s injured knee.
The club is confident there’s no ligament damage and he’s simply jarred the knee – which isn’t the same one he had operated on in the 2010 off-season.
Sydney face the lowly Gold Coast this week, and Mattner said he’s confident the Swans have the depth to cover Mumford if he is to miss matches.
“Also we’ve been lucky with injuries. We haven’t had guys out for long periods of time. Other than Mummy (back injury earlier in the year) and Adam Goodes, everyone else has been pretty fit for the whole season.
“Our twos have been going alright and we have to have that pressure coming from below.
“It makes us play better and means everyone has to be on their game.”
