Sydney star Isaac Heeney has declared himself a certain starter for round one of the AFL after overcoming the knee problem which threatened to derail his pre-season.
The 21-year-old had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in December after experiencing soreness and missed six weeks of training.
He played more than half of the Swans' pre-season clash against Brisbane on Saturday and is looking to play most of Friday night's final hit-out against Greater Western Sydney.
"My knee felt great and it pulled up really well," Heeney said.
"I was a bit scratchy (against the Lions) and couldn't kick it very well, but it was good to be back out there.
"It's just about getting confidence in my knee now but it's feeling really good.
"There's no swelling or soreness."
In four years at the club, Heeney is yet to complete a full pre-season, with patella tendonitis hampering him in his first two years and a bout of glandular fever ruining his third preparation.
While clearly not ideal, Heeney feels this pre-season campaign has still been good enough to allow him to spend more time in the midfield this season.
The Swans are eyeing a ninth finals appearance in succession after they stormed into September last season after getting off to an 0-6 start.
"We figured out what was wrong and corrected that and finished well," Heeney said.
"But we don't look at that shocking start any more ... it's more that we take confidence from the way we finished last year.
"We feel like we can definitely do big things this year."
Sydney open their premiership campaign against West Coast at Perth's new stadium on Sunday, March 25.
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