Sydney's 53-point Friday night win over the Western Bulldogs was soured by an injury to Peter Ladhams, with the ruckman now set to spend time on the sidelines.
The 24-year-old suffered a broken thumb in the second term, quickly replaced on field by Harry Cunningham.
Ladhams has only played 11 games so far this season, missing through a mix of injury and suspension, and is now looking at missing more as Swans senior coach John Longmire said he expected surgery to be necessary.
"He's broken his thumb unfortunately. He said to me the ball hit on the end of his thumb so he'll have to have surgery I'd say," Longmire said post-game.
Sam Reid stepped up in Ladhams' absence, helping the Swans to a dominant Friday night win to climb to fifth spot on the ladder.
Longmire credited the impressive display to the Swans' pressure, with Callum Mills and Sam Reid combining for 29 tackles across the match.
"It was built on the back of our enormous pressure. [We had] 88 tackles, (Callum) Mills had 16, 'Reidy' had 13, we had high pressure acts across the board and just played a really strong pressure game of footy," Longmire said.
"We had 35 scoring shots but it was off the back of enormous pressure we were able to sustain for the entire game and that was a real positive.
"We've arrested [the slow starts] a little bit over the last few weeks and we've been able to get out of the blocks but it was just pressure. Once we were able to hit the scoreboard we just kept on with that enormous pressure."
Sydney next face Fremantle in Perth on Sunday night, continuing their march towards a finals campaign.
