Isaac Heeney isn’t worried about the past.
Instead, the Swans midfielder is choosing to put his side’s poor record against Port Adelaide behind him, as they prepare to lock horns in Friday night’s preliminary final at the SCG.
It comes as Sydney fans get a little nervous reminiscing on their last clash with the Power back in round 21, where they were demolished by a whopping 112 points at Adelaide Oval.
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And to add to that, Sydney has not beaten the Power since way back in 2017, with the South Australian side winning all eight of their encounters since.
It’s a scary prospect to have a bogey team, but Heeney, who starred for the Swans in their comeback victory over GWS in the qualifying final, says it’s not something the side has concerned themselves with.
“That was in the past (the 112-point loss), and we were a bit out of form at that stage,” Heeney said on Wednesday.
“I feel like we’re back. The boys are really confident. We know our best holds up against anyone, and we’ll be ready to go. We know that they’re fired up. They obviously played off a bit of emotion last week.
“Each year you have a completely different team, so we don’t look too far backwards.”
And Heeney is right. The Swans, who have only missed the finals once in coach John Longmire’s tenure, tend to focus pretty well on the now.
Heeney admits a lot of preparation has gone into the Power’s midfield structure, which will likely match up well against the likes of Swans Errol Gulden and Chad Warner.
“We look at what they do – and especially their last couple of weeks coming into finals – and we won’t allow it to play on our minds,” he said.
“We move on from it, know that our best is up their with the best and there’s plenty of belief in this group.”
And while the confidence quietly grows at the SCG, there’s one key cog they’ll go without.
Swans skipper Callum Mills was ruled out of their preliminary final clash with a hamstring strain.
“He’ll be getting back as quick as he can,” Heeney said.
“He’s never put his body in jeopardy, so to see him go through what he has this year hasn’t been ideal. His leadership, on and off the field, is second to none … and he’s going to be hard to replace, but we can do it.”
The Swans play off against the Power at the SCG on Friday night, hoping to reach the grand final.
