For Swans defender Marty Mattner, the fact he is less than a week away from playing in his first AFL Grand Final is still sinking in.

The versatile defender, who joined the Swans in 2008 after six seasons with the Adelaide Crows, has had to wait 214 games and take part in two losing Preliminary Finals - in 2005 and 2006 both at the hands of the West Coast Eagles - before finally earning his place in a an AFL decider.

Speaking after Swans recovery at the SCG on Saturday morning, Mattner said he could not wait for Grand Final week to begin.

“It’s good - it took a while to sink in last night but I’m pretty excited about it and am looking forward to the week,” he said.

“I’ve played in two Prelims at Adelaide and lost both of them, so to finally get to a Grand Final and to get through a Prelim is a great achievement.

“Last night I sort of didn’t realise the enormity of the week and this morning I woke up and (realised) and it’s going to be such a great week and I’m really going to enjoy it.”

Mattner, who grew up in South Australia, said the Swans enjoyed much less media scrutiny than what he recalled from his time in Adelaide.

But the 30-year-old said after a season away from the intense media microscope, there was no doubt the Swans were looking forward to soaking up the Grand Final experience in Melbourne this week.

“I grew up in Adelaide, so footy is everything and you sort of know about the finals when they come around and they are a big thing, whereas here it’s low key and not quite in the media as much,” he said.

“It can be a good thing, but sometimes you quite enjoy the hype of finals time.”
Mattner said the team is ready for both the physical and mental aspects of playing in a Grand Final, and that the team’s experienced players have already played an important role in preparing the team for next week’s challenge.

“Horse (coach John Longmire) has spoken about when to switch on and when to switch off, so that’s going to be the big key this week.,” Mattner said.

“We’ve got a lot of experienced players at the club who have played in Grand Finals and experienced the week, so their knowledge and experience is going to be great this week.

“With the young guys, you’ve just got to teach them and take them through it, and we’ve got to train well as well - that’s the big thing I think.”

Mattner added that he was confident the Swans were playing a style of football that could win the club their next premiership against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday.

He said the team’s end of season form, in particular the team’s round 22 clashes against the Hawks and the past two final wins, has put the team in good stead for next week’s ‘big one’.

“(We) definitely can win it,” he said.

“We played some really good games this year and have beaten most teams this year so we’re pretty confident.

“We will learn a lot from those (final) games.

“The Hawthorn game especially, we had a chance to win it late in the game but we did some things that didn’t work our way and we’ll learn from that.”