Sydney midfielder Luke Parker has made the stunning admission the Swans thought Hawthorn would hand the 2014 AFL grand final to them on a plate but vows his club won't make the same mistake again next weekend.
The Swans have booked the first spot in the 2016 season decider with a convincing 37-point win over Geelong in Friday's preliminary final at the MCG.
Parker on Saturday declared himself a certain starter despite suffering a knee knock.
Sydney will contest their third grand final in the past five seasons after beating the Hawks in 2012 and getting thrashed by the same side in 2014.
"In 2014, at times we probably enjoyed the week and took it all in and obviously you don't come with the right mindset," Parker said at Sydney Airport on Saturday.
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'This week you enjoy the win on the weekend but we move on pretty quick. There's still one more job to be done.
"We think that's probably the difference between last time (and now). We probably soaked it up a little bit too much and just took it for granted and thought the Hawks were going to hand it to us.
'Whoever we play next week, I'm sure it will be a different mindset."
Parker gave Swans fans a fright when he hobbled off the MCG in the third quarter of Friday's game.
"I'll be in (the grand final) for sure. It would have to be a lot worse to pull out this week," Parker said.
He had the injury strapped and returned to the ground and was certain he would be right after further recovery work.
Parker was hopeful key defender and outstanding first-year senior Aliir Aliir would also recover in time from injury
"He's been outstanding, Aliir, so hopefully he does get up, Parker said.
But if not, the important thing is we've got such depth in the team that whoever comes in will do the same job and play just as well."
He didn't care who Sydney met in the grand final but admitted the Swans would like another crack at local rivals GWS.
He said the Swans' poor performance in their qualifying final loss to GWS had driven them hard the next two weeks and helped confirm what was their right formula for finals football.
He wasn't concerned Sydney had expended too much energy by playing finals for three successive weeks and thought getting to the grand final the long way round by playing an extra game might be an advantage.
"I think you can always manage to find something extra for next week," Parker said.
"In the end it's probably a blessing that we lost that first game so to go in with four games in a row you build momentum - you know what stands up and your body gets hard."
He lauded forward Gary Rohan for playing well on Friday less than a week after being stretchered off the ground against Adelaide.
"When he's up and about it brings an energy to the team and to the crowd and he just brings that enthusiasm and boosts everyone and makes you want to get on board as well." Parker said.
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