SYDNEY Swans coach Paul Roos says his side can’t wait to get down to Melbourne to immerse itself in the hype that surrounds round one in the game’s heartland.

The Swans fly to Melbourne on Friday morning and the players and coaches will spend the day soaking up the atmosphere before Saturday’s night clash against St Kilda.

Roos said the excitement in Melbourne would be a stark contrast to the Swans’ preparation for the match in Sydney, where they have had to create their own hype around the occasion.

“We touched on that the other day and even one of the captains touched on it as well. You do tend to have to generate your own enthusiasm up here and that’s probably why it’s a bit disappointing we can’t get on the SCG [to train],” he said before training at Lakeside Oval on Thursday.

“The good thing about the footy in Melbourne is that it’s a bit like the NRL here. Everyone knows it’s on, whereas in Sydney, if you’re not an avid AFL fan, you’re probably not aware until the week after when we play Hawthorn at ANZ Stadium.

“In terms of the hype, if you’re a player, you’re always going to get yourself up but it’s more that the whole atmosphere of AFL is different [in Sydney]. You miss out on that atmosphere leading up to the game.

“Once you get down there, it doesn’t make much difference, but the lead-up to the game is certainly different.”

One Swans player who will have noticed a difference in the pre-season atmosphere is former Collingwood flanker Rhyce Shaw, who will be the only new face in the Swans line-up on Saturday night.

Roos confirmed that Jesse White would be selected as a back-up ruckman to Darren Jolly, leaving newly-promoted rookie Mike Pyke as one of three emergencies, alongside Ed Barlow.

“If [Pyke] had to play, we’d be confident he’d be able to do it, but at this stage, we’ve probably just got Jesse a little bit ahead,” he said.

The Swans coach was confident of a strong showing against the Saints and expected a more attacking contest than last year’s dour round-one clash that produced just 12 goals.

“You’d hope we kick more than six goals. I think we kicked six goals [against the Saints] last year, so if we kick six, I’d suggest we’re not going to win,” Roos said.

“I never really know how many goals we’re going to kick. You’ve got two good sides in terms of their forward setups – they’ve got [Nick] Riewoldt and [Justin] Koschitzke, and obviously we’ve got some good forwards as well – so you’ve got two teams capable of scoring but you’ve also got two team who are very good defensively.

“If we can get enough of the footy and use it well enough, we can score well and if they do the same, they can score well… hopefully it’s a good contest and we play well.”