Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh has warned North Melbourne to expect a much better Swans side in Friday's AFL preliminary final than the one they inflicted a season-high loss on.
The Kangaroos dealt out a 43-point thrashing at the SCG back in round four, restricting the Swans to a miserly 48 points, their lowest score of the season.
They kicked nine goals to three in the second half, but five months on, Sydney could well be better off.
Back in April, the Swans were without three quarters of their famed four-pronged tall forward battery, with Kurt Tippett, Adam Goodes and Sam Reid all injured.
All three are now available and Sydney are likely to be at full strength.
McVeigh said on Monday he had no doubt defender Nick Malceski would recover from his hamstring injury.
Conversely, North could be without talismanic veteran Brent Harvey after he was issued with a rough conduct charge that could result in a one-match ban, not that the Swans are worried, recognising North Melbourne are still a threat without the veteran..
"It's got no bearing for us, we can't do anything about it. But there wasn't much in it," McVeigh said.
"They've been playing really good footy without him.
"Their midfield depth at the moment has been unbelievable, He didn't play the first (elimination) final and they had a really good win."
Harvey was part of the team which spanked Sydney at the SCG and left the Swans with a 1-3 start to their campaign.
That match represented the nadir of Sydney's season, as they rebounded to beat Fremantle the following week to trigger a club-record equalling 12-game winning streak.
"They comprehensively beat us, but we are a completely different team now," McVeigh said.
"The way we were playing then was not the way we want to play.
"It was unacceptable for us and fortunately we turned it around.
"For us, that's a distant memory and we think we're a lot better team coming into this weekend's game.
While McVeigh said nothing could be read into the earlier result against North, he was impressed by their form in the upset win over Geelong.
"The way they moved the ball,and the way they ran really hard was really impressive, so we've got a tough ask this weekend."
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