Sydney coach John Longmire is supporting his 14th-placed team to come out and silence the haters this weekend against a deflated North Melbourne who just received a thrashing by Port Adelaide last Saturday.

The Swans who have lost four of their last five and have struggled to play the same brand of football that put them in the grand final last year, but have a chance to put their foot down as North continues to slide with their active seven-game losing streak.

Whilst finals aren't out of the picture for the Swans yet, a big response is needed from them before their bye and in the second half of the season. However, recent history isn't on the Swans' side with the Bulldogs, Giants, Adelaide, St Kilda and Port Adelaide failing to return to the grand final after being blown out in respective season deciders and could very well repeat itself with the Swans.

Longmire spoke to the media on Wednesday answering questions about how they can bounce back and the surrounding controversy surrounding Lance 'Buddy' Franklin's recent performances, and he was quick to defend his veteran forward.

"Last week Buddy spent two days in bed, Thursday and Friday, but because of the competitor he is and that he didn't have any other option he said he would play," Longmire said. "Buddy is team first."

"He takes the best opposition defender every week... His ability to put himself out there and compete every week is at the highest level and he always has since he's been at the club."

Franklin has only managed seven goals so far from his six games played.

Longmire has also confirmed Marc Sheather and Tom McCartin won't be available this week.

"Marc Sheather will, unfortunately, be out this week. he has some stress in his foot again so he'll miss this game. Tom McCartin won't be in the team this week but Pete (Ladhams) we expect will be if he gets through training," the Swans coach said.

He also spoke on how the team is feeling and what it takes to beat North.

“In the end, you control what you can control. We go out there every week and look at the type of football we want to play, regardless of who's available. You focus on that," he said.

"We look at what North Melbourne are doing and what they can do but we're mindful of making sure we can get our team going in four quarters. That's what we're focussing on at the moment.”

“Our ground balls and the like have been okay, and we've had some free kicks against us that have been costly. We had some 50 metre penalties in that second term that really cost us. We'd like to be more efficient going forward and have less easy goals kicked against us. That's what we'd like to be able to do and do it for longer. Unfortunately, we've had lapses in games and that's what we're trying to fix.”

Longmire has also teased at the fact that some VFL players will be coming in this weekend, with this being said of Angus Sheldrick's chances.

The Swans travel to Marvel Stadium to play North Melbourne on Saturday at 1:45pm local time.