Sydney Swans reserves coach Henry Playfair says he doesn’t want to risk tampering with his side’s form in this Saturday’s final home and away game against Ainslie in Canberra.

The reserves have already secured the minor premiership in the NEAFL Eastern Conference, and will again face Ainslie the following week in the second semi-final, with a place in the Conference Final at stake.

Playfair said he would use this week’s game as an opportunity to ramp-up his team’s preparations despite the game being a dress rehearsal for the more important semi-final on September 3.

“I don’t think you want to flirt with your form at all,” Playfair said about the prospect of this weekend’s dead rubber.

“You want to be building at this time of the year and putting up consistent, solid performances in preparation for the finals ahead.

“It’s our last chance to put together a solid performance leading into the finals. I’ll certainly be stressing to the boys to put their best foot forward this week.”

Following last weekend’s 150-point win over the Brisbane Lions reserves, Playfair’s side will go into the final regular season game on the back of three straight wins by a combined margin of 363 points.

Playfair was pleased with the form and leadership shown by experienced defender Tadhg Kennelly, who had dropped back into the team after the seniors’ loss to Richmond the week before.

“He lifts the other players. He’s a leader of our footy club,” Playfair said.

“I think he gathered close to 30 possessions and used the ball well, and looked to be moving pretty well.

“We certainly expected him to drive the other players and start setting up our structures and our set-ups, and he certainly did that.”

Those players who are regularly amongst the best and goals, such as Jarred Moore, Brett Meredith, Nathan Gordon and Trent Dennis-Lane, all did well again, with Swans rookie Eugene Kruger also building on his recent good form.

“Eugene Kruger played well, probably his best game for the year,” Playfair said.

“He gathered 25 possessions, and I think he had four tackles to quarter time, so he certainly jumped out of the blocks and used his run to good advantage as well. He’s really improved in the last month or so.”

After allowing the Brisbane Lions back into the game through a spate of free kicks in the previous meeting between the two teams at the start of June, Playfair stressed to his players the need for discipline, and he was happy with how they responded to his instructions.

“We spoke about the game from earlier in the year, and the fact that we gave up a lot of goals in a short space of time,” he said.

“(It) was a real focus going into the game - I think we gave away eight 50 metre penalties earlier in the year - to be really disciplined and to stick to our trademark and our structures, and the boys carried it out on the day.”