Sydney midfielder Chad Warner has hailed the stopping skill of teammate James Jordon saying “he finds ways” to beat his opponents.

East Fremantle product Warner was one of the Swans’ most productive drivers in their 128-point demolition of West Coast on Saturday night, also paid tribute to Jordon who claimed another scalp in a long list of tagging victims in Harley Reid.

“Harley is such an amazing player. His improvement is huge so you have got to tag him,” Warner said.

Reid had just one clearance in the game and was subdued by Jordon as the Swans went on a Easter hunt in the first half, to limit the Eagles’ ground ball between the 50-metre arcs.

Warner knows first-hand what it is like to wear a Jordon tag, having been “sat on” a few times in pre-season intra-club games.

“It’s not fun and especially in pre-season, when he is trying to get a nice session in,” Warner said.

“He’s so honest, honest as the day is long, and we’re trying to help him out as much as we can, because the reality is when he’s tagging, the opposition are going to get into him. So I think we did a good job of that tonight.

“He’s not a big fella, but his craft is just so good. His feet and hands are so good where it’s hard to actually slip him. And he finds ways to just beat you.”

Warner said the Swans “did a lot of study” on the new-look Eagles who were coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since 2024.

“The main thing was the amount of ground balls that they get in between the arcs. They’re a really young team who run, they handball and run, so you have to be ready for a big pressure game,” he said.

“It was tough out there with the running. I was pretty cooked.

“The improvement that they’ve made has been huge and that’s why we honed our craft so much.”

The game was pretty much in the bank at quarter time after the Swans had kicked six goals to none. They followed that with seven goal second and third terms.

Warner rolled an ankle early, but recovered to kick two goals, his game highlighted by six clearances from the 19 centre ball ups he attended. Nine of his 24 possessions were contested and he also regularly slipped forward with stealth, having a hand in 13 score involvements.

“The ankle, it’s pretty sore. I’ve never really had anything like that, so I’ll have to wait and see but I think it’s fine,” he said.

The Swans were coming off a 16-day break with the Eagles playing six days earlier in Adelaide, but Warner said it didn’t feel like such a long gap between games.

“We had a big training session last Sunday, so it wasn’t really a 16-day break, but it was a bit of a freshen up,” he said.

The Swans are now 3-1, putting a round three loss to Hawthorn in the rear-vision mirror.

“You have a lot of learning points in the season. Two weeks ago against Hawthorn, we probably played into their hands a little bit, to their key backs, to their strengths, and we just kept kicking it back to them,” he said.

“So we worked a lot on taking it off the line, moving a bit more, running it out and handballing.”

Warner was in awe of mid-forward Isaac Heeney, who kicked four goals and still got to 23 centre ball ups, in a stunning display of athleticism, guile and skill, as he put in a claim for mark of the year, after missing the Hawthorn game through injury.

“I honestly can’t even describe him in words,” Warner said of Heeney. “He’s such a tough match-up forward or mid, there’s probably no one really like it in the game at the moment, he’s such a hybrid of the modern day.

“You can kind of use him wherever. Last round we saw how much it does hurt without him. But there is a lot of other boys who do their job in this team.”

Asked if the Swans’ form resembled their 2024 season, when they reached the grand final, Warner said: “I think it’s more like a 2026 form”.

“The reality is, there’s a long way to go and we’ve got a lot of improvement to make. You can’t rest on your laurels, otherwise this game hits you between the eyes,” he said.

Warner is the subject of ongoing speculation about a move to the Eagles when he becomes a free agent at the end of his current contract in 2027.

His coach Dean Cox said in the lead-up to the game, it was something Warner and the club had to get used to.

Warner agrees, adding he did not find it distracting.

“Not really, to be honest, I think it’s kind of fun having all the speculation, but everyone’s got to go through it at some point don’t they? So you have just got to take it in your stride.”

He said playing at Optus Stadium was always a treat.

“I like the big ground where you can run a bit. The Swans, we like to use our ball movement on it. It’s great. I love coming over and seeing all the family in the rooms too.”

The Swans got great service from their forwards, with Charlie Curnow kicking four goals, Joel Amartey and Tom Papley, in his 200th game, two, while WA’s Logan McDonald had his moments too, but did not have the finish with 0.2

Warner said Curnow had unfairly been in the spotlight since his arrival at Carlton. The Swans were quite obviously looking for him last night, presenting the tall key forward with a couple of “gimmes” over the top.

“He probably caught too much flak recently, because he creates such a contest. And the same with Logan. If they’re not getting goals, they’re creating contests. And today, Charlie just got on the end of a few goals. It’s the exact same game, he just kicked goals,” Warner said.