ERROL Gulden is flying. Literally.

In the coming months, the Sydney star will take his first solo flight after putting in the hours for his pilot's licence. 

If anything good came from last year's broken ankle that ruled him out for half a year and was an agonising injury, it was the time it allowed the two-time All-Australian to put more focus into his burgeoning hobby.

"It's been super enjoyable. I've done all the flying components that I can do before I go solo. I've just got to do an exam and do a medical, of all things, but that should be a breeze, and then I'm ready to get up there and do my first solo flight which will be pretty nerve-racking," Gulden told AFL.com.au.

"I've done a lot of hours with my instructor now, so I'm feeling pretty confident and have a really good relationship with him. It's great to have something like this away from footy that gets a bit of adrenaline going and makes you think. 

"The biggest thing is you just can't think about footy when you're up in a plane otherwise you're in a bit of strife. When you're there, I think it's the most present I am anywhere."

He tries to get to flying school at least once a week and time spent in the air is time to lock in. "You have to know what to do," he said.

Gulden is flying metaphorically too. 

Just under a year since he suffered that significant ankle injury against Gold Coast in a pre-season clash, and underwent surgery that ruled him out for four months, the lethal left-footer has enjoyed a full pre-season.   

"It (the injury) was definitely eye-opening. You don't think it's going to happen to you until it does," he said.

"It's definitely made me enjoy every single session I'm out here, and I'm sure when I play in the practice game I'll be no doubt thinking about it before the game, but worst case is it happens again and you go through it. And I got through it all right. That's my mindset.

"I still played 10 games last year and in the grand scheme of things it's not that bad." 

The injury has required maintenance, with Gulden and close teammate Logan McDonald, who missed all of last season with his own ankle battles, spending time away from the club working on their ankle strength.

"Logan and I have been doing some work with a physio on our day off away from the club as well for probably the last six months, which has been really good, just trying to strengthen our ankles. My markers and stuff like that are all back to pre-injury levels and sometimes even gotten a little bit better, so I'm pretty much back to 100 per cent," he said.

Gulden had a unique vantage point of the Swans' campaign last year. He saw their 4-8 start to the season and by the time he had returned in round 15 against Port Adelaide, the Swans' finals hopes were largely dashed. His absence through injury, plus that of other key players, was a factor in their drop off, but he also said the Swans had worked on arresting momentum slides across this summer as they took on a gameplan "overhaul".

"When we concede three or four goals in previous years it turns into six to 10," he said. "I think we were third last in the competition for teams conceding four plus goals or something like that and that showed up a couple of times on Grand Final day as well. That's a big focus for us in wrestling back momentum."

He does that with a different looking list, as well, with the inclusions of Charlie Curnow, Jai Serong and Malcolm Rosas jnr, and the departures of long-term teammates Ollie Florent and Will Hayward. Gulden was travelling in South America during the Trade Period and caught up with the pair shortly after the deals had gone through, and he said the emotions afterwards were split into "two parts".

"Completely separate from footy, I was pretty flat to lose a couple of my best mates with Ollie and Will so that was kind of tough. But to bring in the quality players we have, and not just Charlie, have been unbelievable," Gulden said.

"I understand it's a professional environment and we're all here to win at the end of the day. They were tough decisions they made but hopefully they'll have the right outcome in the end of hopefully winning us a flag. 

"It was probably two days after it happened (when he saw Hayward and Florent), we were overseas together. It was pretty nice to spend some time with them. It's weird when you go from five or six years of your life seeing these blokes every day and then I haven't seen them in a couple of months. 

"It does take time to get used to but our relationship as mates is never going to change, whether they're playing here or not."

Gulden has spent periods of this season training as an inside midfielder, but also expects to spend time around the square as one of the Swans' biggest weapons. Sydney coach Dean Cox has challenged him to progress his leadership and it's something he is focused on, too, with the long-term ambition to be a captain of the club.

"What he does to monitor maximising his output is as good as I've seen. The best part about it is he just always wants to continually get better," Cox said.

"Now it's about how he takes that individual performances into really trying to drive team performance as he matures around knowing he can play at an extremely high level while all the others around me can do the same."

Two years ago, Gulden told AFL.com.au he felt "imposter syndrome" at his first All-Australian awards night sitting among the best players in the competition. He backed it up with his second guernsey in 2024, the same year he knocked back a deal worth close to $12 million from Adelaide to re-sign at the Swans while locking himself into the very top echelon in the game.

It's company the 23-year-old now feels more comfortable in and he is competitive with the best midfielders in the game around his age, like Nick Daicos, Zak Butters, Caleb Serong, Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson, Sam Walsh and more. 

"You definitely think about it. You'd be kidding yourself if not. But I'm also able to separate that and appreciate as a fan of those players the stuff that they do and there's certain things some boys do that I just don't have the capability of doing. That's fine with me. But I really enjoy the challenge of going up against them," he said.

Asked who his favourite player in the game is outside of his Swans teammates, Gulden nominated Collingwood's young superstar.

"I would say Nick Daicos. With ball in hand, his decision making… but also his lateral movement is just ridiculous. Just watching it on TV, he's obviously got a fair bit of leg speed but he wouldn't be the quickest player over 20 but he's got eyes in the back of his head and the way he moves sideways to get out of trouble and give himself a little bit of space is special," he said.

"The way he puts his teammates into space with handballs is super underrated. I think he knows where he's going to go with the ball before he gets it. On top of that, the attention he gets every single week from opposition and fights through it… it's amazing."

Gulden to the Swans in lots of ways is what Daicos is to the Pies – their creator, connector, link-up gun, game-changer and likely tagger target. If Sydney is to get back into flag contention, he will be central to it. "I've got a lot of confidence in this team this year," he said.