No Sydney AFL player has tripped over a chain or contracted glandular fever this year, but Swans coach John Longmire is waiting to find out if a modified pre-season program will deliver a better start than 2017.
The Swans made the modifications, which included holding back some of their most-senior players from training until the new year, to try to avoid repeating the 0-6 start to their last campaign.
"We made a couple of changes in the off-season, the pre-Christmas period, but also there was some things that happened last year that were unusual," Longmire said.
"It's hard to prepare for a bloke (Dane Rampe) tripping over a chain, or someone (Isaac Heeney) getting glandular fever.
"It's about making sure that when those things come up, as they always do, various things, you've got to be able to have resilience as a football team to get over those hurdles and play on and that's our challenge."
Longmire says the Swans feel privileged to play in the first AFL match at Optus Stadium, where they open their 2018 campaign on Sunday against West Coast.
"We've been playing in foreign environments that are big sellout crowds for a long time in big games and a lot of our players have experienced that," he said.
Longmire was pleased how star spearhead Lance Franklin was looking after having surgery on both knees and an ankle.
"He's had a really strong pre-season, considering he had various operations before Christmas," Longmire said.
"He was able to get himself in good condition and come back and play throughout the JLT series, which was terrific for him.
"He really loves playing round one in good shape - he trained for that.
"He knows that, now the training is finished, he needs to go to work now and get it done."
Utility Dean Towers will bring up his 50th game on Sunday and can expect some time in the ruck, where he will come up against the 12cm taller Nic Naitanui.
"When he was drafted, he (Towers) had a great vertical leap," Longmire said.
"He'd have to have a great great vertical leap this week, considering his likely opponent. He'll get tested in that aspect - there's no question."
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