Swans coach John Longmire will leave Albury with a three-point win over the Saints, but more importantly with answers to the difficult questions this pre-season has thrown at him.

Sydney held out a determined St Kilda in a fiercely contested final preseason hitout, with the Saints clawing back a 26-point margin to level the scores late in the third quarter before the Swans ground out a tight win.

Lance Franklin was dominant again kicking two goals and setting up several more, while Kurt Tippett played his best game since suffering a nasty hamstring injury midway through last year.

The win was a handy confidence builder ahead of round one, but more crucially Longmire looks close to settling on the line-up he'll name in his team's season opener against Port Adelaide on Saturday week, with his ruck rotation and midfield set-up starting to take shape.

The Swans have been thrown several curve balls in the past few weeks. Isaac Heeney has glandular fever while Jarrad McVeigh is battling a calf injury, with both likely to miss at least the opening two rounds. Kieren Jack is also struggling with a hip complaint, but is expected to be right for round one.

Expect Zak Jones to play an important role in midfield this year after an impressive pre-season where he's consistently been one of Sydney's best players. He was excellent against the Saints racking up 26 touches and providing plenty of counterpunch through the centre of the ground with his speed and delivery.

"He's had a pretty good preseason," Longmire said.

"He's playing quite well, he's still learning and improving particularly in that midfield group but he gives us some really quality outside run."

Second-year star Callum Mills was his typical composed self during the first half before being taken off to nurse a corky, and certainly offers Longmire another string to his midfield bow should he bow to temptation and shift him from the back six.

Daniel Robinson played another impressive game on the wing collecting 28 touches and a goal, and looks set to add to his 11 career AFL games. First-round draft pick Oliver Florent drifted in and out of the game against St Kilda but has shown ability this pre-season and will be in Longmire's thoughts, while Will Hayward looks an excellent future prospect but is probably not quite ready just yet.

In the tall timber department, Sam Naismith looks to have surpassed Callum Sinclair in the ruck pecking order after the latter was left out of the team to play the Saints.

Naismith started in the ruck, and shouldered more than half of the load in rotation with Tippett, while 21-year-old Darcy Cameron was happy to pinch hit on occasion.

Sam Reid looms as a wildcard in the Swans' forward line after not playing a single AFL game last season. He has featured throughout the preseason and could be used as a third tall in a Swans forward line alongside Franklin and Tippett.

At the back Lewis Melican is putting his hand up for an AFL debut in round one, and played on Sunday in favour of Jeremy Laidler and Nic Newman. Aliir Aliir played in the reserves game on Friday against the Giants after recovering from a toe injury, and will likely be given another game in the NEAFL next weekend to prove to Longmire he's ready for round one after an interrupted preseason.

This was the perfect final test for the Swans against a talented Saints outfit, who were the last unbeaten team in preseason and while the Swans never trailed, the Saints never gave up and both sides kept their stars on the ground until the final siren.

"We played against a really good opposition, we knew coming here that St Kilda were in really strong form and playing a really good brand of footy," Longmire said.

"They got some quality recruits over the summer so we knew it'd be a tough battle and it was. We're really happy to come out with another good hard game under our belts before the season starts."