Sydney vice-captain Luke Parker has found a big plus in the side’s loss to Geelong at the SCG on Thursday night, underscoring the strong games of youngsters Oliver Florent and Harry Cunningham.

Some of the brightest young talent in the competition came to a head in the Round 16 opener, with Florent, Cunningham and a host of other Swans facing the likes of Quinton Narkle and Jamaine Jones.

Parker said the performances of Florent and Cunningham couldn’t be underestimated.

“Ollie’s been standing up all year and he’s taken his game to another level,” Parker told SwansTV post-match.

“You can see his confidence growing. He’s such an important player for us when he’s up and going.

“Harry is another one who’s always playing such a big role for us, whether it’s a tagging role or getting involved on the wing. He’s been really strong.”

Florent finished with 14 touches and a goal, withstanding a mountain of pressure to thread a major from just inside 50 midway through the final term to reduce the deficit to two points.

The ability of the Round 11 Rising Star nominee to work into space, find the ball and dish it off effectively was again on show.

Cunningham collected 19 disposals and his searing pace was again enormous on the outside of the contest.

Backman Aliir Aliir raked in 19 possessions of his own and collected eight marks and six rebound 50s, while he operated with 84 per cent efficiency.

Lively small forward Ben Ronke again applied tremendous pressure on the ball-carrier, and Zak Jones gathered 21 touches and took the game on with his trademark dash.

Jake Lloyd reeled in a game-high 33 possessions, including 15 in the opening term, as he continually cut off Geelong’s go-forward at half-back, while young forward Tom McCartin competed well in the air and kicked a goal.

But despite the promising games of a host of youngsters and another inspirational performance of captain Josh Kennedy, the Cats ran in three last-term goals to the Swans’ two to claim a 12-point win.

Parker said the Swans were left to rue a number of downfalls.

“I think we just lost too many one-on-one contests and their spread from our poor turnovers really cost us at times,” Parker said.

“Their spread and work rate was much better than ours.”

Sydney is now set for a clash with another genuine finals contender in North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.

“We’ll go down there and try to rebuild the confidence,” Parker said.

“There are still a lot of games to be played. We know our best footy is up there with the best and we look forward to next week.”