No team has cracked the century mark against the Sydney Swans this season, but veteran backman Ted Richards said his team has a big job in stopping Gold Coast’s young forward line.

Most of the talk since the Swans’ destruction of Geelong has been about Sydney’s imposing forward setup featuring Lance Franklin, Adam Goodes, Kurt Tippett and Co, but Richards believes the GC SUNS’ big men post a threat with their height and mobility.

“Not only are they tall, but they are very athletic too, so we’ve got a big job ahead,” he said.

“They’ve got Tom Lynch and Charlie Dixon, but they’ve also got (Sam) Day, who is about two metres tall and he gets down there.”

The SUNS are yet to topple the Swans and the men from the Harbour City come in to this game having won six on the bounce.  During that winning streak, only last year’s grand finalists – Hawthorn and Fremantle – have managed to post a double-figure goals tally against Sydney’s stingy defence.

The Swans’ harass and pressure all across the ground, though, and Richards knows his team will have to do so on Sunday against a vastly improved SUNS side.

“They’ve really impressed.

 “They’ve just played a really good brand of footy and, in particular, their attack has been really good.

“There is so much said about Gary Ablett, but we’re seeing all these other guys really get a lot of respect and recognition throughout the AFL and with a lot of them being such high draft picks, we knew it was going to happen.”