SYDNEY SWANS coach Paul Roos says he will prepare his side for the best football that Fremantle can produce when the two teams clash at Subiaco Oval on Saturday.

Mark Harvey's side is yet to win a game this season, and was uncompetitive against a red-hot St Kilda last weekend, going down by 83 points.

But Roos said a team that contained the likes of Matthew Pavlich, Luke McPharlin and Paul Hasleby was always dangerous.

And despite the Swans’ superior 2-2 record, the two teams weren’t all that different in their approach to this season, he added.

“I think what Mark’s trying to do is pretty clear. They got 14 new guys last year and they’re going into a different phase of their footy club,” Roos said on Monday.

“They’ve played some good footy and they’ve played some not so good footy. They haven’t been too dissimilar to us, other than our record compared to theirs.

“Sometimes, I think what happens the week before can be irrelevant. We’ve all seen teams turn it around and play really well the week after they’ve had a bad loss, so we’ll just prepare for Freo’s best.”

Roos said Michael O’Loughlin remained some chance to play his first game of the season against Fremantle after an encouraging return with the Swans’ reserves on the weekend.

O’Loughlin was sidelined for much of the pre-season as he recovered from ankle surgery, but the Swans coach said the mercurial forward was nearing full fitness.

“It’s really about how Mick feels ... ideally we’d probably like to give him another week in the seconds, but Mick’s pretty honest in terms of how he feels,” Roos said. 

“He looked fine (in the reserves), he looked really good, but obviously it’s a different level going from playing the Canberra league to playing AFL football, particularly at Subiaco.

“If he put his hand up, we’d seriously consider taking him over there.”

Running utility Amon Buchanan is another possible inclusion for the team to play Freo after a strong performance in the reserves.

However, Roos all but ruled Barry Hall out of the trip to Perth, saying the big forward was unable to run without pain from the groin injury that forced him to pull out of Saturday's 17-point win against Carlton.

He said Hall may return for the round six game against Richmond at the SCG, but he would be closely monitored for the time being.