Andrejs Everitt stepped up for his 50th AFL game, kicking three goals for the Swans in their 36-point win over North Melbourne at the SCG yesterday.

Everitt, who played 36 games with the Western Bulldogs before joining the Swans last season, produced one of his best all round performances in Sunday’s match, contributing both up forward and in defence.

Speaking from the Swans recovery session this morning, Everitt told SwansTV that Gary Rohan’s horrific injury inspired him to step up his game to compensate the team’s loss.

“Seeing Gazza go down early, he is one of the main (players) who gets our tackling pressure up, so I thought I’d try and fill a bit of a void and get that tackle pressure up and put the pressure on the North Melbourne boys down back,” Everitt said.

“I suppose over the last couple of weeks what’s kept me out of the side was my intent to tackle and really put the pressure on so I knew I needed to step it up.”

Everitt’s accuracy in front of goal also improved in this weekend’s match, with the 23-year old finishing with a perfect score card for the first time this season.

Following Everitt’s omission from the senior squad in round two, coach John Longmire cited goal kicking as an area of improvement for the young player.

“He had a few shots at goal over the last couple of weeks and probably hasn’t put the score on the board yet,” Longmire said.

“If he was able to finish off those opportunities and if he was able to finish off his work he probably would have had a good couple of weeks.”

Everitt said he took the chance to work on his goal kicking, and was pleased with his three-goals this weekend.

“I’ve done plenty of (goal kicking practice) with Jetts as well and it helps (with your confidence) if you kick 3.0 straight rather than 1.2,” he said.

“Obviously (goal-kicking) is a focus for the whole team to try and score some goals and obviously it came off on the weekend.”

While some commentators have suggested the player’s 50th AFL match could have been his best game since joining the Swans in 2011, Everitt said he was just happy to play his role for the team.

“Obviously it is a good achievement to get 50 games, but more importantly it was a good win for the boys,” he said.

“It was just good to be a bit of a contributor to the game and help the boys get over the line.

“If it was my best game, it was, but if it’s not, it’s not.”