A lethal one-two punch from Brodie Grundy and Isaac Heeney fired Sydney to a 31-point win over North Melbourne as the Swans kept alive their hopes of making the AFL finals.
Grundy dominated the ruck in the absence of his suspended Kangaroos counterpart Tristan Xerri, and Heeney kicked five goals as the Swans kept their September hopes alive with a 12.12 (84) to 7.11 (53) victory at the SCG on Saturday.
The result brings the Swans (9-9) within four points of the ninth-placed Western Bulldogs (10-8), with eighth-placed Fremantle (11-6) on 44 points ahead of Sunday's clash against ladder leaders Collingwood.
Meanwhile, North Melbourne (4-13) are left to lament their fourth straight loss.
Swans ruck Grundy's late-season dominance continued as he gathered a monster 62 hitouts, 11 clearances and 22 disposals.
Heeney benefited the most from Grundy's performance, finishing with 34 disposals and 13 clearances to go with his five-goal haul.
The 29-year-old was clearly frustrated when he was benched in the dying minutes, but coach Dean Cox joked the pair had already made amends.
Heeney became the first Sydney player to finish a game with more than 11 clearances and five goals, and the fifth Swan to collect 30 disposals and five majors.
"When you talk about the top echelon of the competition and where Isaac sits in that, he delivers time after time for this football club," Cox said.
"I don't think anyone can speak highly enough of what he contributes.
"He has done it week in, week out for a long time - on ball, ahead of the ball.
"He wanted to obviously stay out, being the competitor he is.
"My job is to make sure he is as fresh as possible for Friday night (against GWS)."
For the Kangaroos, Luke Davies-Uniacke starred on return from concussion, alongside Jy Simpkin and Caleb Daniel, while former Swans stalwart Luke Parker was quiet in his first game back at the SCG.
Without the suspended Xerri, North coach Alastair Clarkson handed Callum Coleman-Jones his first game of the year, and first since rupturing his achilles tendon last year.
However, the luckless Coleman-Jones (calf) went down in the first quarter, forcing North to call on Brynn Teakle and Jack Darling in the ruck.
The trio managed a combined 10 hitouts.
Coleman-Jones's injury could open the door for youngster Taylor Goad's AFL debut.
"We gave that consideration this week, whether we'd give young 'Goadie' a chance at it," Clarkson said.
"But it's just like, wowee, he (Grundy) is the form player of the competition right at the present time and just a monster.
"We want to give our young players every chance of having some success when they come in and make their debuts, but who knows what happens next week."
A pre-first-bounce tussle with Kangaroos defender Wil Dawson was enough to fire up Swans forward Hayden McLean, who opened the scoring before Heeney slotted his first.
North responded through Teakle and Cooper Harvey (two goals) to limit the margin to six points at quarter-time.
The visitors started the second term better and leaped ahead by one point, before the Swans grappled back momentum with four goals to two.
Goalscoring opportunities dried up in a third-quarter grind, with North captain Simpkin kicking the only major.
Heeney made up for lost time by slotting a goal in the opening 30 seconds of the final quarter, the first in a chain of four majors for the home side.
