Co-captain Callum Mills will lead his side through a second finals series come Friday as the Sydney Swans face Carlton at the MCG in a sold-out Elimination Final. 

Speaking to journalists in an open media session last week, Mills said the team is welcoming the challenge.  

 “[Our confidence is] really high,” Mills said.  

 “We believe our good footy is good enough and that’s really important.” 

Both teams will enter the finals off the back of significant winning streaks late in the season. Carlton won nine in a row before losing Round 24 to GWS. Similarly, Sydney had notched six wins on the trot before a clash with Melbourne.  

Mills attributed Sydney’s recent successes to consistency in training and the return of injured players. 

“I think there are a few things that came together, and our belief was always there, it was about getting consistency on the training park,” the co-captain noted. 

“Getting everyone back from injury and believing about what we can do and sticking to our processes. The results looked after themselves.” 

Despite having a young side Sydney will draw on several years of finals experience. Mills admitted however that every season is different, and the squad will need to give it their all. 

“They’ve got dangerous players all over the park. We have great respect for them and we’re going to have to be right on our A-game to get the win.” 

It will be the first finals series without Lance Franklin since 2014, however Mills isn’t dwelling on the detail. Instead, he praised the young forward line in Hayden McLean, Joel Amartey and Logan McDonald.  

“They’ve been unbelievable and the synergy they’ve created over the last couple of weeks is incredible,” Mills said.  

“We think we have dangerous attacking options going forward.” 

He also touched on McLean’s re-signing noting how “integral” the 24-year-old is for the red and white.  

Sydney will need to win this week’s contest at the MCG to progress to the semi-final where they will meet with either Melbourne or Collingwood. 

“Bring it on,” Mills concluded. “We’re really excited and we hope we can get as many fans there as possible to fill up the ‘G.”