The Sydney Swans enter Round 17 with a 9-6 record, coming off a dominant 92-point victory over West Coast in Geelong last week.

Whilst many outsiders have been surprised with the Swans season to date, experienced defender Jake Lloyd says his side’s form has not been a surprise to him.

The defender saw a side that had come together last year, finishing the year with some really strong football before strong recruits and a strong pre-season.

“Truthfully, our form hasn’t been a surprise,” Lloyd said on SEN this morning.

“Last year’s experience in the hub really brought us closer together as a group and the back end of the year we played some really good footy.

“We took a lot of momentum out of last year and had a couple of handy pick ups including Tom Hickey who comes into his fourth team and is really shining in that ruck role, plus another preseason which was more experience for our younger guys and it’s great to see them take that next step.”

Lloyd spoke positively about several younger players in the squad, including Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell and Justin McInerney.

Gulden and Campbell both earnt themselves Rising Star Nominations earlier in the year before being sidelined with injury. Gulden has returned with two strong performances over the last fortnight whilst Campbell nears his return.

McInerney comes off a strong performance that saw him earn his second Rising Star nomination and Lloyd had praise for his young teammates who were constantly ‘stepping up in big games’.

“Early stages of your career, you want to establish yourself as a player and I am happy to have done that, and now its about building and helping these young kids coming through and developing their games as quick as possible,” Llloyd said.

“I’m just fast tracking these kids as fast as I can to make my job easier and to continue winning as a group.

“Our younger kids are going really well. It’s great signs with these kids stepping up, playing key roles in big games.”

The Swans’ attack was on full display last week, on their way to scoring 18 goals and Lloyd had plenty of praise for assistant coach Don Pyke, who joined the club at the start of the season and was a ‘big reason’ for the Swans attack.

“Don Pyke has been massive. We have changed a lot of our structure offensively, and he is a big reason for that,” Lloyd said.

“We are going into games a lot clearer on what we can do to beat our opposition, and the boys have been implementing that each week and we are certainly looking a lot more dangerous with ball in hand.”

However he knows that they will need to be on, on both sides of the ball this weekend, when they face a top of the table Western Bulldogs side.

“They are a phenomenal side. We had a look at the yesterday and identified a few key things that they ae doing really well at the moment,” Lloyd said.

“Just the way they move the ball by hand, they get up the ground and work back in numbers well so we really have our work cut out.

“It’s a great challenge coming off a big win so we are looking forward to it.

The Swans face the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, July 11 at Marvel Stadium in Round 17.