HAVING battled through Saturday night's bruising semi-final victory over Carlton, Sydney Swans ruckman Shane Mumford's reward was to start thinking about a match-up with Fremantle behemoth Aaron Sandilands.
Mumford and ruck partner Mike Pyke worked tirelessly against the Blues, playing key roles in the 24-point win that kept the Swans' season alive.
Now they need to lick their wounds and prepare to face Sandilands and Zac Clarke, a key match-up if the Swans are to make it into a second consecutive Grand Final.
"There's no harder man to beat out there than Sandilands," Mumford told AFL.com.au.
"His height and even the way he moves around the ground, he's pretty mobile for such a big guy.
"It's going to be a really big challenge for me and 'Pykey' and I'm looking forward to it.
"To get back to playing the kind of footy that we know we want to play was massive.
"I think we've turned it around now and obviously we needed to after last week (the qualifying final loss to Hawthorn)."
The last time the Swans and Dockers met, at the SCG in round eight, the match ended in a thrilling draw.
Pyke and Mumford dominated with 51 hit-outs between them, but Clarke played a lone hand in the 211cm Sandilands' injury-enforced absence.
Sandilands, a three-time All Australian, was at his brilliant best in Fremantle's qualifying final victory over Geelong last weekend.
"They've got an elite ruck combination Fremantle, there's no doubt," Swans coach John Longmire said.
"Obviously the two boys they've got are pretty good.
"But our blokes have played some pretty solid footy and the addition of Jesse (White) as well gives us a few options we can use."
Fremantle will be clear favourites to progress to the first Grand Final in club history, but Mumford stressed he "loves the underdog card".
The 27-year-old also isn't fazed by the long flight west to Patersons Stadium, where the Dockers have only lost once all season, against Essendon way back in round three.
The Swans also have an excellent recent record at the ground, winning their past four games in Perth. Their last defeat came against Freo in 2009.
"On our day we can beat anyone," Mumford said.
"If we bring that hard, Swans-like footy, it is a massive challenge over there in Perth, but it's a road trip we've been pretty good with lately.
"It's an exciting time playing in a prelim.
"It's going to be a hard game and it's going to take that four quarters of hard contested footy to get the job done.
"But I think we can take a lot out of how we played against Carlton."
The Swans may be without their leading goalkicker this year Kurt Tippett, who injured his knee in the opening minutes of the victory over the Blues.
Yet Mumford believes the premiers have shown they can win without their spearhead, who was suspended for the opening half of the season.
"I guess it'll be a lot more like the way we played against the Blues," he said.
"In the first half of the year we were winning games without 'Tippo' there and our forward line was working all right.
"I don't know what the coaches will go with this week,whether he gets up or not, but we can take faith out of what we've done all year and I'm sure we'll have someone there to give a strong contest and help us win the game."
The Swans can also put their faith in co-captain Jarrad McVeigh, following his remarkable 42-possession game against the Blues, which included a record 20 touches in the second term alone.
"It's a massive effort. He was super," Mumford said.
"I'm lucky to get that (20 touches) in four weeks sometimes."
