EAST Perth co-captain Michael Swan is pumped after the Royals' pulled off a massive finish to the season to make the finals but he knows that now they are there, there's no point not making a big impact.
The Royals looked virtually no chance of making the finals for just the third time since the hat-trick of premierships between 2000-02, but turned it around after a disastrous 2-7 start to put a host of dramas behind them to win the last six games to finish in fourth spot.
That will see East Perth travel to East Fremantle Oval to take on the Sharks in Sunday's first semi-final and it came after the Royals became just the second team all year to beat Claremont last Saturday at Medibank Stadium.
Making the finals after being in such a precarious position, especially to down the minor premiers to do so, ranks right up there for Swan in terms of career highlights, but he wants his team to keep the form going now.
"There's no doubt it's one of the best feelings I've had in my time at the footy club, especially now to make the finals after where we were halfway through the season. Getting there was just the first thing, though, now the second thing is trying to do something and win," Swan said.
"We just have to focus in on our plans for this week and try to implement them the best we can against East Fremantle to try and get the win. It's just the commitment from the players to get around and support each other to just enjoy each other's success.
"We give each other plenty of encouragement whether they've just done something good or to help them through some hard times, we just have a really good energy through the group at the moment."
The win over Claremont was terrific, but Swan knows it could have been by more than the eventual 16 points if his team kicked more than 12 goals from 35 scoring shots.
"It was a fantastic effort. It was our season on the line and we had a lot to play for, and it was a really good result for us. Kicking straight would have made things even easier in the long run, though, and that's something we will definitely be working on at training this week," he said.
"It was actually a problem that plagued us earlier in the season and we managed to turn it around, but it came back again on Saturday. Hopefully we can get it sorted again this weekend so that we don’t squander any opportunities in front of goal."
East Perth was still a force in 2003 when it bowed out to West Perth in a preliminary final, but the 2007 first semi-final loss to South Fremantle was cruelled by injury and now Swan hopes to make a real impact in September with the Royals' fans right behind the team.
"The crowd there last Saturday was really vocal and gave us fantastic support, and I'm sure that all the East Perth loyal Royal fans will be out there on Sunday to support us again," he said.
"It's really exciting to be playing finals again and we are going into this campaign with good form. It's the first time since 2003 that we've gone in with some good form and confidence, so hopefully we can give it a real crack."
While Swan's older brother David knew all about how good a coach Tony Micale was having played under him for the 2000, 01 and 02 premierships, Michael has only got the chance to experience him the last two years and has no doubt he's a driving force behind the Royals' resurgence.
"It has definitely come from a lot of hard work and commitment from the playing group and also from Tony. He has been a really strong driving force for us all year and the guys have responded really well," Swan said.
"We've all just tried to stay focused on our football and that's probably been the thing that has helped us turn things around. He is an excellent coach and the preparation and planning he puts in for us to come up with a winning game plan is fantastic. It then comes down to whether or not we can implement it, and when we do we get the results like we have had over the six weeks."
While experienced players Swan, Craig Wulff, Craig Glancy, Adam Pickering, Luke Webster and Zach Beeck are leading from the front for East Perth, the emergence of Aaron Sweet, Brendan Lee, Jye Keath, Brett Dobson and Don Stirling has made just as big an impact.
"There's a really good balance at the moment of senior players and younger guys. The young guys have been really good with how they are going about their football and the senior guys have played some good, consistent football as well," Swan said.
"Sweety would be close to winning our fairest and best this year, Brendan Lee's form over the last two months has probably made him our best player in that time and Jye Keath is just so disciplined and his ability to win one-on-one contests is really good.
"Those three guys have been crucial, but Brett Dobson has been playing really good football and Don Stirling has done a fantastic job too over the last month."
East Fremantle Oval is never an easy venue for opposition teams to win at, especially when the wind is blowing, and Swan knows his team will have to play the ground smartly but also be cautious of a Sharks side that will be much different than the one the Royals beat by 53 points back in Round 17.
Rhys Palmer, Jamie Cripps, Luke Foster, Rob Young, Selby Lee-Steere, Jack Perham, Ryley Dunn and Scott Horsburgh will likely come in from that day where Jamie McNamara, Koby Stevens and Steven Dodd also got hurt early, so Swan won't be reading much into it.
"The last few times we've played down there it has been blowing an absolute gale and the quality of the games hasn’t been too good, they've been scrappy affairs. Hopefully we get some good weather for the weekend, though, and it can be a good game this time around," Swan said.
"It will be a vastly different team than that game. East Fremantle has a really strong midfield so that's going to be a big challenge for us to try and beat them in that area of the ground and I think if we can get on top in the middle hopefully it goes a long way towards us winning the game."
