Sydney Swans Coaching Co-ordinator John Longmire gives an insight into why the Sydney Swans team has been so competitive so far this season...

It's very early days but we're obviously happy to be on top of the AFL ladder and playing pretty good footy.

We have a huge challenge this Saturday night against Brisbane, and a tough month ahead because after the Lions we play Geelong, the Western Bulldogs, a rejuvenated Fremantle and Hawthorn.

Those games will tell us a lot about the team, but at the moment there are good signs, and a few simple reasons why we're travelling better than we did in 2009.

Firstly, our ball movement has improved. Compared to last year, our kicking efficiency has gone up and at the moment is better than most other clubs. In short, we're hitting our team-mates more often than we did last year, and more often than most other teams.

Because our ball use has improved, that has had a positive flow-on effect. We've increased the number of times we're getting the ball inside our attacking 50m zone. That has gone up to about 51 times a game, and once we get it near the goals, we're scoring more often than we were last year.

So, basically, when we've won possession, we've been more efficient and more dangerous with the ball going forward, and we're posting higher scores than we did last year.

Like anything in life, you want to make the most of your opportunities, and so far so good in that department for the Swans.

There are a couple of related factors, including personnel changes.

It's made a real difference having Tadhg Kennelly back in the team, and seeing Nick Malceski back to his best running off the half back line, because they both kick the ball better than most players.

When you add in players like Lewis Jetta who can obviously move the ball pretty well, those changes have helped improve our ball movement and efficiency.

Skill execution and decision-making were a major focus during the pre-season, as they are every year. We always want to improve in those areas because they are such important parts of the game. But in the pre-season just gone, we had more time, because we missed out on the finals last year.

We also introduced some different drills, because we had that extra time. We got the boys to do a lot of running early on to make sure they were super-fit, but we maintained that running even when we started more ball work, and got the players to do skill drills when they were fatigued.

That's what it's like in a game, so we believe that pre-season training under duress has paid off.

While our ball movement and attack has improved, we haven't lost focus on the defensive aspect of our game. We've been really happy with our defence from round two onwards. We've restricted the number of times the opposition has got the ball, and that has cut their scoring opportunities.

We've really been able to limit the effectiveness of the opposition, while improving our own.

So far we've had 350 points scored against us in five games this season, which is the second lowest in the AFL (behind St Kilda who have 315 against), and on average we're scoring 106 points a game, which is the third highest in the competition.

Things are tracking well, but Brisbane looms, and they've been in great form apart from last weekend against Melbourne.

The key to beating Brisbane is to make sure their big forwards, Jonathan Brown and Brendan Fevola, don't get too much ball supply. It will be a major midfield battle.

We think our forward line has been going ok, and their forwards are top of the pile in terms of what they are capable of, so when it comes to the crunch, the game will be won and lost in the midfield.

We're well aware that against the Western Bulldogs two weeks ago, Brisbane players pumped the ball into their forward line 72 times. That gave Brown and Fevola ample opportunity to post a winning score. We'll definitely be trying to stop that happening this Saturday night.