After suffering some slow starts to their games in recent weeks, Sydney is ready to bring the pressure straight out of the blocks against North Melbourne, according to senior coach John Longmire.

Despite winning three of their last four games, the Swans have entered the quarter-time break in a losing position in all four clashes, notably only kicking one goal in the first term against the GWS Giants in Round 18.

Longmire says North needs to be prepared for an early onslaught of pressure from his side.

“We’ve got to start better. We’ve been able to have quarters and periods of the game where we’ve been able to respond really well,” he said.

“It’s pretty simple as far as effectiveness in pressuring the opposition, we need to do it a bit earlier, and that’s probably as simple as I can make it.

“We need to make sure we put an enormous amount of pressure on the opposition earlier in the game rather than letting them take momentum.

“We need to make sure we get that momentum from the first bounce, rather than seeing what the opposition have got to serve up.”

After being on the receiving end of back-to-back losses for the first time since the bye, North will be hoping to serve up some high-quality football once more.

Despite an exceptional first half performance against Richmond, the Roos eventually fell to a defeat in Round 21, but the signs of a great side are becoming more and more consistent.

Longmire says he’s more than aware of the threat this resurgent Kangaroos’ side shows.

“They (the Roos) have been fantastic. In the second half of the year they’ve been super competitive, they’re plunge a really strong, hard brand of footy,” he added.

“They’ve been in every game and they’ve been one of the better performing and consistent teams in the back half of the year. We expect a really tough contest against them.

“They’ve got a lot of senior players playing right now, they’re playing good footy, [and] they’ve got confidence in each other. We think it’ll be a really tough battle.”