Crunch time

The Sydney Swans rightfully earned the double chance when they claimed the minor premiership following a strong home and away season.

Well, that luxury has come in handy after the top of the table Swans were upstaged by cross-town rivals GWS in last weekend's qualifying final.

There are simply no more chances this time around, Saturday night's semi final will be crunch time for the home side - no ifs, buts or maybes.

Win and the Swans book themselves a preliminary final and a well-earned crack at progressing through to the grand final.

Lose and it will mark the first time in 30 years a top side has exited a finals series in straight-sets.

All eyes on Adelaide

Adelaide made light work of North Melbourne in the clubs' elimination final at Adelaide Oval last weekend, the Crows sending a message to the rest of the contenders ahead of week two of the finals series.

The hard-running, fleet-footed Crows are in serious form and could be the ones to shatter the Sydney Swans' finals aspirations.

No team kicked more points than Adelaide during the regular season and all got a stark reminder of that during the cut-throat final with the likes of Eddie Betts, Tom Lynch, Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins combining for 14 of the team's 21 goals.

As Dan Hannebery pointed out earlier in the week, the Crows are well balanced right across the park, from said forward line to a talented midfield to a stout defence.

They arrive in Sydney also boasting a strong record at the SCG. However, even though they've won four of the past five clashes at the venue, that run stretches back to 2005 and the last time (Round 18, 2016) Sydney claimed a resounding 52-point win.

Tom Lynch booted four goals in last weekend's elimination final win over North Melbourne.

Tackling the problem

The sore thumb sticking out from last weekend's loss was the tackle count, Sydney was out-tackled 64 to 96.

Co-captain Jarrad McVeigh pinpointed the tackling - or lack thereof - as a key problem area straight after the game on Saturday while the damning stat was put back on the agenda during John Longmire's press conference on Thursday.

"Normally it's a real strength of ours, but we're confident we can get more pressure around the ball than we did last week," he said. "If we get enormous and effective pressure around the ball, generally we work better going both ways."

McVeigh urged his teammates to get back to basics and play to their strength, which is tackling having been the competition's best at the craft boasting an average of 78 per game going leading into finals.

Wrap them up, win the game. It may be that simple for the Swans.

Jarrad McVeigh has urged his players to hit back stronger and stick those tackles on Saturday night.

Selection

Two forced changes are already in front of the Sydney Swans after Callum Mills and Kurt Tippett hurt themselves in last weekend's qualifying final.

Scans revealed Mills copped a minor strain in his hamstring while Tippett has a hairline fracture in his jaw. Both are a chance to play next weekend, pending whether the Sydney Swans progress to the preliminary final of course.

The biggest hint to who may replace the duo came in the lead up to Sunday's NEAFL grand final. Named but withdrawn late, ruckman Toby Nankervis and defender Jeremy Laidler look the most likely to come in as like-for-like swaps.

Nankervis has played six matches this season having been the man chosen to relieve Tippett and Callum Sinclair during their injury stints earlier this season and was almost locked in for his first final by Longmire on Thursday.

Laidler would be quite the handy acquisition given his dependability and experience at the top level.

Callum Sinclair and Toby Nankervis battle it out at training during the week.

Who takes who?

It is revisited every time Sydney takes on Adelaide - who gets Eddie Betts? - and we always get the same answer.

Betts has been in exceptional form of late, kicking 27 goals from his past six matches, including a scintillating six-goal haul which helped bury the Roos in last weekend's elimination final.

He'll be hard to beat but the Sydney Swans coaches will breath easy knowing they have the perfect remedy.

The tough ask always seem to fall on Nick Smith in recent times - even when Betts played for Carlton - and usually for favourable results.

All Australian Smith has restricted Betts to just nine goals from his past six appearances at the SCG.

As we all know, a modern defence works best when all six are helping each other out so expect the likes of Dane Rampe, Heath Grundy or Aliir Aliir to be on hand and float across to give 'Smooch' a chop out.

One of the many match-ups we're looking forward to on Saturday night.