Saturday’s 61-point win over the Brisbane Lions secured a home final for the Swans, and Barry said the side “answered a few questions”.
“Like our ability to maintain our pressure on the opposition team,” he said on Sunday. “It’s going to be another big test next weekend.”
With the Lions game ending a disappointing slump, Barry admitted the team’s form wasn’t on par with previous seasons.
“In saying that, we know what’s expected to win finals games,” he said. “It gave us a really good indication at the weekend that we’ve improved. We’ve ticked off a few boxes that have been an issue over the last two months.”
Barry, 31, paid tribute to the performances of the team’s younger players, after Jarred Moore and Patrick Veszpremi impressed on Saturday with four goals each.
“It’s great,” he said. “It just shows we don’t have has high a reliance on Hally to kick four or five each game … for those guys to jump up and show passion and real drive it really good and exciting and the sort of injection we need in the group.”
Barry also discussed his attempt at putting Tadhg Kennelly’s shoulder back in place, before team doctor Nathan Gibbs came onto the field and remedied the dislocation.
“I’ve tried to get the technique right but I need a bit of practice,” he said. “I’ve tried it a couple of times on the ground and I haven’t been successful, so I’ll have to do a bit more work with the doctor and physio this week.
“The problem is, if he’s like that we’re a man down in defence, so if we can get him back on board it might help us a bit. His shoulder’s that stuffed anyway that I couldn’t do any more damage.”
