JARRAD McVeigh respects North Melbourne's defensive unit, but believes the Sydney Swans' star-studded forward line will be tough to stop in Friday night's preliminary final.
A Grand Final berth is on the line when the Swans take on the Kangaroos at ANZ Stadium.
It will be the first meeting between the teams since way back in round four, when North held the Swans to a season-low six goals on their way to a comprehensive 43-point win.
North's reigning All Australian defender Scott Thompson was one of the best players on the ground that day, holding Lance Franklin to just one behind as he made his SCG debut as a Swan.
But that fixture is a distant memory to McVeigh, who is backing Franklin, Kurt Tippett and the rest of the Swans forwards to fire - provided their midfield can give them enough opportunities.
"Thompson is a very, very good player, and (fellow North defender Nathan) Grima too," McVeigh told reporters on Monday.
"They'll look to have a really good team defence on our guys, I'm sure.
"If we can get some good supply to those guys, it's hard to stop.
"They're obviously very, very good players (the Swans forwards), but (North's) defence has been working really well together and moving the ball out of their defence at a high speed.
"We'll do our homework and just try to play the way we want to play."
Franklin has been a revelation in his first year in Sydney, taking out his third Coleman Medal after kicking 67 goals over 19 home-and-away games.
He kicked another three in the club's qualifying final victory over Fremantle, including two pivotal goals in the final term.
It has been much harder going for Tippett this season, however, with persistent knee problems limiting him to just 12 appearances.
He has still kicked 29 goals for the season and booted at least one in every game, apart from that against Gold Coast in round 12, when he injured his knee.
But Tippett was quiet in the round 23 loss to Richmond and again last week against the Dockers, and Swans co-captain McVeigh was asked if the key forward had a point to prove.
"I think we all want to play well, so there's no added pressure on him," McVeigh said.
"There's pressure on every single player that goes out on the ground.
"It's a nerve-wracking time, you're trying to get in a Grand Final. We all want to play well and I'm sure he does."
McVeigh said the Swans, who lost a preliminary final on the road against Freo last year, had spoken in recent days about the rare chance that lay ahead of them to qualify for a Grand Final.
He also hoped for a crowd in excess of 60,000 at ANZ Stadium, which would surpass the 57,156 that attended their last preliminary final at the ground, a victory over Collingwood in 2012.
McVeigh is confident Nick Malceski (hamstring) will play, and the defender seemed in good spirits on Monday before the media were turned away from the closed training session.
The skipper was also quizzed about Brent Harvey, who faces a nervous wait before the Match Review Panel releases its judgement later on Monday regarding his bump on Geelong captain Joel Selwood.
McVeigh said there "wasn't much in it", but is wary of the in-form Roos, with or without their inspirational veteran.
"They've been playing really good footy without him and their midfield depth has been unbelievable," McVeigh said.
"He didn't play the first final and they had a really good win."
