Sydney Swans midfielder Josh Kennedy is looking forward to a well-earned rest this weekend.

The Swans’ 29-point win over Adelaide last weekend guaranteed the team a home Preliminary Final, and also secured a week off.

Kennedy, who has been among the Swans’ best this season and has averaged 26.8 disposals per game, said a football-free weekend would be the perfect preparation for next Friday night’s Preliminary Final at ANZ Stadium.

“We’ve had a pretty tough month of football and we’ve been pretty bruised and battered, so it’s really good to get the opportunity just to freshen up and get our heads right for our upcoming game against whoever it may be,” Kennedy said.

“Our sole focus is on being as fresh and as ready as we possibly can be for the upcoming games, so we’ll have a few sessions this week and head into next week with a lot of confidence and hopefully a really fit and ready to go squad.”

The 24-year-old said he believed the Swans entered this season’s finals campaign with confidence, following a tough month of football against a number of top sides.

“We were very confident heading into the (Adelaide game),” Kennedy said.

“We’d had a pretty solid month of footy and we thought we were in a pretty good position.

“We had confidence that our game plan was going to stand up in finals and it did, and we’ll take that into the next game and go from there.

“It’s a really exciting time and we’ve given ourselves every opportunity we can to get ourselves to win in the Prelim.”

Kennedy added that the team had the belief that the Swans’ game plan, which was tested by Hawthorn, Collingwood and Geelong in the last month of football, could stand up in September.

“I think at this time of year (the game plan) doesn’t change too much,” he said.

“The further you go into September the more basic it is and it’s really the contested footy, the hard ball and the one-on-one battles.

“Internally I think we’re very confident in our game plan and the people that we have on the park, no matter whether it’s the 22 that played last week or the 22, if it changes, that play the next week.

“We’re very confident that anyone who comes in can play their role and we know that if we all do that we should stand up against anyone.”

Next Friday’s game will be Kennedy’s first ever AFL Preliminary Final, having played in the Swans’ last two finals campaigns, which both ended in the Semi Final.

Kennedy said he loved the style of finals football, and added that it suited him as a player.

“I love the rawness and how much it’s just stripped back and it’s just basically a lot of one-on-one contests,” he said

“It’s very, very basic and it’s a game of inches and that’s what I really love about it.

“I think (finals footy) suits me and I think it suits our game plan and our game style that we want to play.”