Swans skipper throws out challenge to his tired crew Not about to give up: Ryan O'Keefe and Sydney Swans train hard on Wednesday. Sydney must reverse a worrying late-season decline if they are to back up captain Kieren Jack's statement that the premiers still have what it takes to match it with the competition's elite. The Swans, with two decisive losses in three weeks, are starting to resemble more a team that is waning approaching September, rather than a side that still has plenty of fuel left in the tank for the run home. Former coach Paul Roos said earlier in the week on Fox Footy that the injury-riddled Swans, who have been without key runners Adam Goodes, Lewis Jetta and Rhyce Shaw for much of the year, were starting to look "fatigued." The Swans, with 11, have more players who have played all 21 games this season than any other club. Last year they had eight who played in every game. Of their rivals in the top four, Fremantle has seven who have not missed a game this year, while Geelong have four and Hawthorn three. Swans Captain Kieren Jack escapes the grasp of Geelong's Joel Corey. Although having more players available every week was once considered a positive, Roos suggested that may no longer be the case as more clubs opted to rest their players to ensure they peaked in the finals. Numbers provided by Champion Data, the AFL's official statistics supplier, show the Swans are also down in several key areas, further painting the picture of a tiring team. They have lost the uncontested possession count by an average of 50 a game in the past four weeks, which places them last during that period, as opposed to a differential of plus eight (ninth) over the first 18 rounds of the year. Their tackle count has also dropped from an average of 72, which was the competition benchmark from rounds one to 18, to 66 or seventh in the league. "I think we're still ticking off some areas but there's certainly some glaring things that need addressing," Jack said. Geelong absolutely smacked us in uncontested footy on the weekend, beat us in tackles which is a sign of our hardness and spread two ways, which is something we pride ourselves on and we need to get that right. Dan Hannebery and Ryan O'Keefe, two of Sydney's best midfielders, have also had a diminished output over the past four weeks. Hannebery averaged 27 possessions in the first 18 games of the year, but that has dipped to 21 in the past four weeks, while O'Keefe has dropped from 25 to 15, though he has played more defensive roles recently. "Finals footy he stands up because it's a contested ball game, it's different to during the year," Jack said of O'Keefe, last year's Norm Smith medallist. It's hard and tough and that's everything that Ryan is. I'm sure he'll be standing up again. The Swans' long injury list this season has placed further pressure on their senior players, who have been lauded by coach John Longmire for their ability to carry the extra burden. "That's just the way it is, your leaders have to do that; they have to shoulder the load," Jack said. We'd like to have a few of those leaders in the team but the facts are they're not. The younger boys coming in have a role to do and they've ... impressed me. Jack believes the Swans still have the running power capable of exploiting Hawthorn's perceived lack of pace this week. "The times where we've done well against them, that's probably where we've got on top of them, there's no secret to that," Jack said. Your midfield controls the game. The Swans, who were missing eight from last year's premiership team, are likely to regain the services of Jetta, whom Fairfax Media was told trained strongly during the closed session. Twitter - @wutube