Cornes: This would be greatest achievement in prelim final history

If Sydney beats Fremantle in Friday night’s Preliminary Final, it will be the “greatest achievement in prelim final history”.

That is according to Kane Cornes who firmly believes the Dockers are primed to beat the Swans at the SCG.

The Swans will be without the likes of Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, Callum Mills, Riley Bice and James Jordon for the crunch clash with the minor premiers.

That scenario will be a little bit too much for Dean Cox’s Swans to overcome.

Cornes’ co-host David King pointed out that the personnel woes - which has forced the return of Justin McInerney - leaves them without the star power required to pull off a prelim victory.

“Are you too defensive? Given they don't have a lot of trump cards,” King said on SEN’s Fireball.

“Brodie Grundy's got to be one of their trump cards.

“Errol Gulden, Tom Papley, Charlie Curnow, Tom McCartin? Justin McInerney is going to be a risk. There'll be more ring rust there than you've ever seen.”

Cornes said: “In a prelim! He hasn't played for like 11 weeks. Desperation.”

King and Cornes wondered how on earth the Swans managed to smash the Brisbane Lions in the Qualifying Final, prompting the honest analysis from the latter.

King: “It shows where they’re at in terms of their desire to take that gamble. So I don't know if they can tag with Grundy because they don't have enough match-winners and they're going to need them.

“I don't know how they won two weeks ago.”

Cornes: “I can't work it out either. It'll be the greatest achievement in prelim final history if they get through.

“You spoke about the health of Fremantle, how well they've been managed, no changes, they're absolutely rock hard, ready to go.

“Yes, it's on the road, yes, it's at the SCG, but this would be the greatest prelim final achievement that I can remember if Sydney can cause an upset here.”

King and Cornes then discussed how the Swans and Grundy will combat Freo and Luke Jackson in the ruck.

King: “This year centre-bounce clearances look so damaging. They just look ridiculous in big games and you know it's best versus best with the best four teams remaining so you just know clearances are going to be at a premium.

“All conversations come back to Jackson when that's the case. The product that Luke Jackson is, is different as a ruckman, and Grundy sells out to get the hitout.

“It comes at a cost for that next two or three seconds whilst he's recovering. Jackson's often gone or involved or creating a contest with the opposition and their smaller bodies.

“It's a unique sort of look at a ruckman.”

Cornes: “It's almost like the hitout doesn't really matter with Jackson.

“He can do the stuff over the back of his head like he did last week against Geelong, but it's the follow-up from the hitout. We always speak about ruckmen in the first access and first use. It's really irrelevant, the hitout in this game. It's what Jackson does with the follow-up.

“They came right out the front of centre bounce against Geelong. So I'm not sure whether Sydney will be a bit more defensive with their wings. Unusual for clubs to do that now, but do the wings roll around?

“Do you take a risk and put a half-back off the back of the square and sort of ignore his opponent? We've seen that done in the past to protect the front of centre bounce.

“Fremantle scored sort of record numbers out of centre bounce. You can get them the other way as well, which Geelong did, but can it be a full-on tag? Can Grundy just tag Jackson? I love a ruck tag. It happens from time to time. Max Gawn cops it every now and then. He copped it against Carlton in the wildcard.

“I think that's what I'd be doing. Go everywhere with him with Grundy.”

King: “Well, that would be interesting. You've got to do something, don't you?

“But Grundy would back himself to win hitouts. So how much of your game do you want to give up? What's the balance?

“This is how we played all year. He's had an almost All-Australian year. He must have been incredibly close to being recognised, and largely because of his hitout stuff. So do you give up that?”

Listen to the full assessment of the Swans v Freo prelim below: