THE SYDNEY Swans will head into Saturday's clash against Geelong at Skilled Stadium as overwhelming underdogs but coach Paul Roos says his side isn't without a chance of winning.
However, Roos said the in-form Cats would punish any lapses in intensity from the inconsistent Swans, who are yet to win successive games this season.
"Sometimes you can get away – with poor sides – not putting pressure on for 15 minutes or 30 minutes," he said before training at the SCG on Thursday.
"If you don’t put pressure on Geelong, they’ll kick 10 in 15 to 20 minutes.
"That’s the focus for any team that plays Geelong – you realise it's 120 minutes of really hard footy."
Roos did concede that his men needed the Cats – who he described as a "humble group of champion players" – to perform below their best to have any chance of stealing the four points.
"If they play at their best and we play at our best, they’ll win. Mick Malthouse mentioned that about three weeks ago. That’s just the reality," Roos said.
"What you try and do is focus on yourselves. [Our guys] are fully aware that you could play really, really well and not win, but the task is to go away and play as well as you possibly can and that’s what we hope to do."
Roos added that the Swans were determined to give Geelong a run for its money.
"There’s no pressure on us because everyone expects us to lose but we put pressure on ourselves," he said. "These guys are professionals and they’ve got pride in their own performances.
"We’re not going to be the last team that goes down to Skilled Stadium and gets rated $6.25 to win, I can guarantee you that.
"[The Cats] deserve the respect they get and they deserve to be favourites by a long way because of their record. I mean, they’ve lost three games in a hundred years. It’s a pretty impressive record."
Much of the talk about Saturday’s clash has centred on how the game will be affected by the absence of Geelong star Gary Ablett, who's battling a groin injury, but Roos said it was of little concern to him.
"The fact that he’s out makes no difference to their team, as silly as it sounds, because they’ve got so many other good players," he said.
"You could keep two of their good players under control and they’ve got another six that could come and beat you. Their top-end evenness is probably the biggest challenge."
Roos was unsure whether this year's Cats were better than the dominant outfit that dropped just one game en route to the grand final loss to Hawthorn, but said they were certainly no worse.
