SYDNEY coach Colin O'Riordan believes the Swans are closing the gap on the AFLW's top teams, insisting their record against the competition's best belies how competitive his young side has become.

After defeating West Coast by 22 points at Henson Park on Sunday, Sydney booked its place in the AFLW finals for just the second time in club history, and the first since 2023.

Despite losses to Carlton, the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne earlier in the season, O'Riordan believes Sydney has shown it can compete with the League's leading sides.

"I know we haven't got the results against Carlton, the Bulldogs, or North when we played them, and the indication might say, whether it's from the media or not, that we can't compete against the top teams," O'Riordan said.

"But we know we were well in the game against the Doggies; we just slipped off in the last quarter. Against Carlton, the first half cost us. But against North, it was tighter than a lot of people thought, and I genuinely don't think the scoreboard reflected the game.

"I'm positive about where we sit and how the gap is closing. We still have a lot to work on, and that's a given for every team. No team is complete. Every team can work on something, and we're aware we have a lot to work on still, but it is pleasing to see that the gap is closing and we're going into finals in a good spot."

But O'Riordan is wary of using outside criticism as motivation, preferring the Swans to focus on their own standards rather than adopting a "siege mentality".

"I'm cautious about a siege mentality, and I don't think that's the way to motivate a group a lot of the time," he said.

"We go off what we want to do and our standards, and if we can focus on that, we know it works. We just probably went away from it a little bit, and we need to do it for longer against the top teams. So, if we can address that this week in the home and away season, we know we have a chance to set ourselves up accordingly."

O'Riordan has also ruled out resting players for this weekend's trip to Fremantle, with Sydney chasing the chance to earn a home final while the Dockers fight for a spot in the top eight.

"It's a balance," he said of the temptation to rest players against the drive to earn a home final at Henson Park.

"There's no one putting their hand up wanting to be rested, I can tell you that. And to be honest, I think we're not in a position where we can rest players either.

"We just spoke about Freo and how their ladder position isn't reflective of how they're playing, so I think we need to be wary of that. But also, the opportunity for us, if other results go our way, to get a home final is something we need to be conscious of.

"So you'd love to potentially have the option to rest a few, but we're not looking at that at the minute. We're trying to put our best team out to prepare us for this weekend to give us the best chance, and then the week after, of course."

While repeatedly emphasising a week-by-week focus, O'Riordan confirmed Sydney has spent the past three weeks preparing for the logistics of Sunday's late match in Perth, which could leave the Swans with a short turnaround before week one of finals.

"To be honest, we've planned it for the last three weeks, what it might look like and what we need to do in the weeks leading up," he said.

"I think sometimes people think just the week before and the week after are the most important, but we've planned our sessions based on this trip, knowing the implications it could have if we're in the pointy end and playing finals, so that we're sharp and ready to go.

"It's nice that it's kind of fallen into place, and while we're not sure where we play or what it looks like next weekend, we've planned accordingly with different scenarios."

While acknowledging the incentive of earning a home final and avoiding another interstate trip, O'Riordan insisted the Swans cannot afford to look past the Dockers.

"Look, that's a given, you know. There's no point in shying away from that. We'd love the opportunity to play a home final; that's the outcome we're trying to achieve," he said.

"But the process is that we've got to get our job done first. If we keep thinking about that, we'll take our eye off the ball a little bit. We also understand a couple of other results need to go our way for that to happen. We can only control what we can control, and that's rocking up in Freo on Sunday afternoon and putting our best foot forward."