Don’t be surprised if you see the Sydney Swans at beaches, movies theatre or cafes across Perth later this week as the team acclimatises for Saturday night’s preliminary final against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium.

The Swans will fly out of Sydney late on Wednesday afternoon and will spend two full days over in the west to ensure the become accustomed to Perth time, and are well-prepared for this weekend’s do-or-die clash.

While this trip is considerably longer than regular away trips, Swans defender Ted Richards said spending additional time in Perth ahead of Saturday’s big match was the perfect build up for him and his team mates.

“We head over on Wednesday evening, which is a fair bit earlier than most teams that come over from the eastern side of Australia,” Richards said.

“It’s a definite change from the routine say if we were going to Melbourne, where it’s sort of in and out fairly quick.

“We’ve got a fair bit of free time over there, which some people might think is a negative, but it’s actually quite a positive in that there’s a fair bit of bonding and stuff that goes on over there.

“We’ll go to the movies and we’ll be sitting around at the cafes in Perth just catching up and having some time together, which is a real positive and it’s our process that we’ve been going through since I’ve been at the club.

“We also try and head down to Cottesloe or one of the beaches over there, and I think it’s a nice refreshing change for us.”

But it won’t be all about down time and relaxing for the Swans, who face one of the toughest tests this season when they take on the Dockers in front of a big local and vocal crowd.

Despite having a strong recent record in Perth, the Swans have played the Dockers at home just twice since 2005, with the Swans going down by 21 points in 2009 before turning the tables in 2010 to win by nine points.

Richards said his side will spend plenty of time on the track, including the team’s main training session at Patersons Stadium to prepare for this week’s preliminary final.
“Over in Perth we take our time and we do quite a few sessions over there and it’s different but it’s good to have the change,” he said.

“We train on Subiaco as the main training session for the week, which is great because I think Subiaco is a fair bit different from the SCG in dimensions.”

The defender said he felt positive about the Swans’ chances this weekend, following on from last Saturday night’s hard fought win over Carlton at ANZ Stadium.

“We’re very confident,” Richards said.

“The Carlton win was one of our best wins for the year and there is a lot of optimism in the group and a lot of excitement.

“We’re really excited about heading over into a prelim.”

Richards also said the Swans weren’t concerned about their lengthy injury list, with Kurt Tippett and Tom Mitchell ruled out for this weekend’s game, adding that he had complete faith in any player selected in this week’s side.

“Something that we’ve kind of faced all year is having key players out but fortunately enough I think Benny McGlynn will come back into the team, who is an important player, so that’s a handy in,” he said.

“It just gives an opportunity for another young guy to come in and if you were to ask me about Harry Cunningham and Shane Biggs, who have played two or three games each, I wouldn’t be able to believe the role that they could have played for us last weekend.

“Whoever it is that gets the two spots, I’m just excited for them and hopefully they can play a good role for us.”