Sydney have emerged as the AFL’s entertainers as they prepare to tackle Richmond for the first time since Damien Hardwick teed off at the Swans’ alleged defensive mindset in arguably the worst match of 2020.
Reigning best and fairest Jake Lloyd has confirmed Lance Franklin will back up, joining fellow superstar Dustin Martin in Saturday’s eagerly-anticipated MCG clash.
The Swans have been the league’s most potent side in 2021 and earned widespread praise for their ball movement during their impressive 2-0 start.
First-year players Logan McDonald, Braeden Campbell and Errol Gulden have made a huge impact, while fit-again guns Franklin, Isaac Heeney and Dane Rampe are firing.
It is in sharp contrast to last year when Tigers coach Hardwick critiqued the Swans after a total of seven goals were kicked in a “horrendous” game at the Gabba.
Hardwick quipped “we’ve got 75,000 people in our forward 50” and “they were no chance of scoring” in his press conference, later calling counterpart John Longmire to apologise for his comments.
“It does turn around pretty quickly,” Lloyd said.
“I know Dimma (Hardwick) wasn’t too happy.
“We’ve been able to kick a lot more goals in these past two weeks, compared to last year.
“That adds a lot of excitement …we feel like we’ve got a really dangerous forward line.
“Richmond were in a similar position four years ago, they came off a pretty bad year and things turned pretty quickly.
“They had a lot of young kids step up and have an impact on games, that’s what we’re looking to do.
“We look forward to the challenge against the best side of the last four years.”
Longmire has made it clear that Franklin will be rested at some stage, as the club manages his workload after a 581-day stint on the sidelines.
However, Franklin pulled up well from his return and is on track to face the reigning premiers.
Lloyd praised the maturity of McDonald, Campbell and Gulden, also highlighting gains made by Tom McCartin, Oliver Florent and Chad Warner.
The Swans will travel to Melbourne after training on Thursday morning.
The earlier-than-normal departure is the latest change from the AFL in response to Brisbane’s COVID-19 outbreak.
“We’re a young group, so we’re able to adapt,” Lloyd said, having followed a stay-at-home edict this week because the Swans played in Brisbane during round one.
“It hasn’t thrown us out too much … it was great we were able to train on Tuesday.”