Friday night’s Preliminary Final cannot come quickly enough for Sydney Swans defender Heath Grundy.

Not only will the game be the furthest the 26-year-old has progressed in an AFL finals series, it will also be the first final Grundy has played in more than two years.

While the Swans have played in finals campaigns in 2011 and 2012, a series of bad luck has seen Grundy on the sidelines in both instances.

Last year a bout of glandular fever saw the defender miss both of the Swans finals, and suspension saw him miss last week’s 29-point win over Adelaide.

Speaking to SwansTV earlier this week, Grundy said he could not wait to join his team mates in Friday night’s home Preliminary Final.

“I can’t wait,” Grundy told SwansTV.

“I’ve (had) a couple of weeks to get ready for it now and it was a bit disappointing not to be able to play in the first final.

“That time has been and gone now, so now I’ve just got to worry about getting in the team for next Friday night.

“It will be fantastic and hopefully we can get a big support out there and it would be nice to get away with a win.”

Grundy has played every other game this season, and has been a key cog in the Swans’ miserly defence.

He said while the defence has been strong throughout the regular season, the Swans could not afford to rest on their laurels next weekend.

“(Our defence) has been amazing,” he said.

“(Ted Richards has) had a great year and he’s been the rock down there for us.

“The boys have had a fantastic year, and not only in defence, but also the midfield and forward group help us out as much as those in defence, so it’s been great.

“But we’ve still got a couple of weeks to go hopefully, and we need to keep that form up and work just as hard as we have.”

The centre-half-back even joked that it might be difficult to break his way back into the line-up following Lewis Roberts-Thomson’s impressive effort down back last weekend.

“LRT played a great game on the weekend, so I’ve got to train pretty hard to get back in, I think!” Grundy quipped.

Grundy will watch tonight’s Elimination Final between Collingwood and West Coast with team mates, before the hard work starts again for the Swans next week.

Grundy said he didn’t have a preference of which team he’d prefer to play out of the Pies and the Eagles.

“I don’t really mind who we come up against, as long as we win,” he said.

“We’ll find out (who we’re playing) and then just go about our business as we do every other week.”