Swans to exorcise demons against Saints

Sydney on-baller Luke Parker says his AFL side needs to get back to their best against St Kilda before starting a testing run to the finals.

Swans to exorcise demons against Saints

Sydney on-baller Luke Parker says his AFL side needs to get back to their best against St Kilda.

Sydney midfielder Luke Parker is adamant the AFL's reigning premiers aren't looking further ahead than Sunday's clash with St Kilda.

The Swans are fully expected to account comfortably for the Saints at the SCG, with pundits more interested in how they fare against top-two sides Geelong and Hawthorn in the following two weeks.

Parker noted Sunday's opposition was largely irrelevant to his teammates, saying they were more worried about righting the wrongs of a last-start 29-point loss to Collingwood.

"It's going to be a tough match. It doesn't matter who you play - each week, if you're a little bit off, you're still going to get beaten," Parker said.

"The main thing is we want to get back to basics; we want to get back to our Swans trademark.

"We went through the vision (of the loss to Collingwood) and you could see some signs that stood out - it just wasn't Swans' footy.

"The boys want to bounce back from that, and I'm very sure they will."

The recently re-signed Parker, who debuted at the age of 18 and won a premiership at 19, has played every game this season in the middle for the Swans.

With the likes of Tom Mitchell, Jed Lamb and Brandon Jack debuting in 2013, 20-year-old Parker is no longer Sydney's boy wonder.

That suits him just fine.

"I'm hoping that I'm looked at now as a senior player and a bloke who can come in each week and dependably play his role," said Parker.

Mitchell and Jack were axed for the Saints clash, with Lamb and Gary Rohan promoted.

It will be an emotional comeback for Rohan, who will play his first AFL match since breaking his leg in round four last year.

Sydney coach John Longmire shot down suggestions the 22-year-old had been brought back for a relatively easy game before the side knuckles down for finals-like blockbusters against the Cats and Hawks.

"There are no easy games in AFL footy - there's no such things," Longmire said.

"We played the Bulldogs two weeks ago and, if you saw our group getting iced up afterwards, you'd understand there's some truth in that statement."


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Source: AAP


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