Sydney Swans defender Ted Richards is hoping his side will pick up where they left off before the bye in this weekend’s round 13 clash with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

The Swans ended the first half of the season on a high with a dominant 77-point win over Adelaide, which marked the team’s third consecutive win since round nine and secured the Swans a position in the competition’s top four after 12 rounds.

Speaking at the SCG ahead of the Swans’ final training session before the team makes the trip to Adelaide, Richards said he hoped the Swans strong form would continue in the final half of the season.

“I thought the first quarter (against the Crows), we might have been up at quarter time, but it was still a pretty intense game,” he said.

“We were able to step up from there and it was really encouraging and we’ve reviewed that and have seen what worked well and that’s exactly the type of footy we want to play in the second half of the year.”

Richards said the Swans expected another challenge this weekend against the Power, in what will be the team’s second trip to Adelaide in three weeks.

The defender said the Swans would need to be wary of Port Adelaide, who are knocking on the door of the top eight following an impressive 75-point win over GWS last weekend.

“We had a team meeting this morning and we looked at quite a few games that they’ve played this year,” Richards said.

“We saw their last game against GWS and the type of football they played there and they ended up smashing GWS with some really, really good football.

“They have been a bit up and down with winning five and then losing five, but from what they showed last week they can be a really impressive team.”

The Swans will welcome their newest recruit to the field this weekend, with Kurt Tippett set to make his debut for the club against the Power.

Richards, who has had the task of lining up on Tippett in club training sessions, said he and his team mates can’t wait to see the big forward in the red and white this weekend.

“It’s really funny in that someone who has been out for so long hasn’t been injured,” he said.

“He’s been at every training session since early December and more often than not when it comes to match simulation myself of Heath Grundy are probably playing on him.

“I’ve probably seen how he’s been going closer than most and I think even though he hasn’t been in the team on the weekends, he has been a part of training sessions and match simulations throughout the week.

“We’re really excited that he finally gets his opportunity to play.”

The defender dismissed suggestions that Tippett would receive an overly hostile response in Adelaide when he returns to AAMI Stadium for the first time since leaving the Crows last season.

“A lot of people have been speaking about the hostility that’s going to be going towards Kurt, but it’s not as if when I run out or when any other of the boys run out that the Port of Crows fans are clapping us,” Richards said.

“It’s not something that’s going to be massively different. We’ll run out on the weekend and we know what they think of us and that’s just the way footy has been.”