Sydney Swans senior coach Scott Gowans spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of his side's clash against Adelaide on Sunday.

On perspective after back-to-back losses

“We think we're still on track. We're sitting in the top eight so, that's a good thing, we've lost a couple of games, but we've won four as well. So, I think it's a bit of perspective this week for us. There's some stuff that we've got to fix and adjust, which we've worked on really hard today, which went really well. So, yeah, perspective, we've played two sides that have had a good crack and played good footy and beaten us and that's the competition.” 

On the challenge of facing Adelaide

“There's some key things we need to do, in our game plan, which we've adjusted, and that'll help. The other thing is, to be honest with you, is just to play four quarters of footy….they're a great club, and they're a good bunch of girls, too. It's always a hard-fought game, but it's done in the right way. We're just looking forward to the challenge, and no better. You have a couple of losses in a row, and it just puts a bit of fire in your belly to come out and have a really good crack at it.”

On today's training message

“The main message of training today was to get our structure stuff right off ball. Everyone knows we want to move the ball. Last week, we won the contest, the ball and got territory off that, but it's ideally not the way we want to play. So it was all about the field set up today.”

On the evenness of competition

“To be honest with you, I think it's just more the competition's evened up, which is a great thing for the competition. North are probably out there in a division of their own at the moment. But other than that, you saw Gold Coast take it up to Adelaide. We've seen us go down. We've seen lots of different things. St Kilda have been up and down all year. There are so many fluctuations in performances that you'd say, outside of North Melbourne at the moment, that the rest of the competition's really even. If Brisbane can get beat a couple of times in the year, it's good for the competition. But it also gives us hope that our next month of footy, we've got some belief knowing that upsets happen.”

On the defining month of footy

“We love it. It's a great challenge. We had this next four weeks pencilled in a long time ago. There's nothing better than testing yourself against the best. Particularly after the fortnight we've had. It's really clear to us internally what we need to do to adjust. Today was the first session at trying to adjust a few things. Really confident that over the next few weeks we'll give a little good of a count of ourselves. Just might throw some different scenarios at the opposition.”

On turning numbers into scoreboard impact

“We're just not setting the field up properly. We've done a lot of work, we cut a lot of vision on it, and had a really good review. Just to set the field up allows you to defend the field if you do turn it over. But in our case, it's been more about we've won turnover, we just haven't been scoring off it. Last week was a classic case of that. Those numbers that we delivered last week, if you didn't know the score and just threw the numbers at someone, you'd say that we probably won. But we didn't, and that's a fact. It's just getting that right, which will help both defensively and offensively."

On whether they will tag Adelaide's midfielders

"In the past, we have, but we've gone away from that a bit this week. We've got match committee tomorrow. We'll have a good chat about it. The problem with doing that, of course, is that you're taking one of your players out of your movement. I think the discussion will be around do we want 16 on the field, playing our way, structured up, set the field up properly, and go our way. But if you make that 15, that's a big difference, particularly in the midfield. So that'll be a decision. We'll make it match committee tomorrow. But it'll be a really good discussion."

On the return of Sofia Hurley

"Hopefully, we get her back next week. If not, it'll definitely be the week after…she's a reigning best and fairest for a reason. Her presence, whether it's forward or mid, just gives us that extra bit of balance from a pressure point of view, but also her speed and her decision-making forward of the ball. That's a particular area that we worked on today.”

On potential team changes and selection calls

"That'll be the big theme of the match committee... it's a pity you all can't come and have a listen, but it'll be a decision we make. My gut feel is that we do need to make some adjustments to the team just to tidy up where we're getting hurt."

On the team’s mindset for the month ahead

“This next month of footy is like a mini finals. We get a great opportunity. You're just not going to get knocked out, that's the thing. It's a great way to play a month of footy that's really tough. Carlton's in there as well at Henson, which will be great. They're playing great footy. It's tough, and that's what finals are going to be. If we want to be a finals team, it's a perfect opportunity to have a practice over these next four games, starting with Adelaide.”