WHILE Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham said the suspensions to five leading players would effectively "torpedo" the second-placed Swans' premiership hopes, coach Dean Cox is adamant his playing group still has drive heading into its finals campaign.

Last month, Swans players Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were suspended for the remainder of the season for breaching club standards and will not be at the SCG for the club's qualifying final against Brisbane on Saturday.

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The Swans will return to the SCG after a bye weekend following their emotional 53-point win over North Melbourne, where Cox and captain Callum Mills were in tears after the siren.

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In handing down the bans last month, Pridham conceded it had effectively ended any hopes the Swans had of winning the premiership this season. But a few weeks on, Cox said his players still believe they can do damage in September.

"I think the players certainly understand that the leadership in the footy club, whether it's the chairman, CEO, or myself, have as much belief in this group to achieve what we want to achieve," he said.

"For the majority of the year, we've shown that the brand of footy, the style of footy that we play, has put us in a position to have a big impact and earn a qualifying final.

"They're focused on what they've got to do against Brisbane and the opportunity that presents itself.

"There's still an expectation. You're hosting a qualifying final at home with a chance to go into a prelim, so there's still a hell of a lot at stake.

"That's one thing that I want to make sure our players are aware of: the magnitude of this game for our football club and what we've spent so long trying to get to."

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Cox said key forward Joel Amartey is no certainty to be recalled, even if he's fully recovered from an Achilles injury.

"We've still got to get the right mix. I think also, we're weighing up the time that he hasn't played for (since the injury in round 16)," he said.

"We're looking into all the metrics and what the best dynamic looks like, as well as what we need against Brisbane.

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"One thing that we've looked at is the opportunity through the bye for our VFL program. Obviously, Lewis Melican, Hayden McLean, Ned Bowman, Patrick Snell and the like all played and did well throughout that period as well.

"We're not fixed yet on what the 23 looks like, but we're really excited to have those names available."