Sydney coach John Longmire has revealed a trio of key players from Saturday's thrilling qualifying final win over GWS almost didn't play due to respective concerns in the lead-up to the match.
The Swans came out on top by a kick after trailing by 28 points earlier in the match, with star Isaac Heeney levelling the scores late before Joel Amartey kicked the winning in the dying stages.
Heeney was the standout for the Swans after lifting in the second term before a heroic performance after the main break, ending the afternoon with 30 disposals and three goals.
He found some support in Chad Warner, Jake Lloyd and sub Braeden Campbell when the game was on the line, with the latter having a resounding impact after being ejected into the match.
Campbell recorded eight disposals, one goal, three inside 50s and 222 metres gained in playing every minute of the fourth quarter, which the Swans won 40-13.
It had been a difficult few days prior for Campbell, who lost his grandfather on Thursday night, while he had also been carrying a groin complaint throughout the week cast doubt over his selection chances.
The young Academy product was set to feature in the starting 22 but was instead utilised as the sub after an emotional few days, with Longmire crediting the 22-year-old's ability to play.
"He trained on Tuesday, he was really restricted as he had a sore groin. He was able to get through training on Tuesday but barely," Longmire revealed. "We were tossing up whether to play him or not.
"He lost his grandad unfortunately on Thursday night, who he was really close with. We wanted him to still play, because he's been terrific the last few weeks. But he had a couple of things going against him this week.
"He would've been in the 22, but he had a tough week. For him to come on in the last quarter and have eight or nine possessions and win someย big 50-50 moments, be hard and clean after a pretty tough week injury-wise and with what was happening off the field for him, it's a great credit to him.
"It should be a really proud moment for he and his family. They lost a loved one during the week. For them to be able to sit down as a family tonight and reflect on how BJ's grandfather impacted him and the family I think is a pretty special moment."
Match-winner Amartey was another Swan carrying an injury into the weekend, having rolled his ankle at Thursday's main training session.
The Swans forward had a quiet game against the Giants before popping up for the match-winning major, while midfield-defender Callum Mills, who had 11 disposals in the third term to help keep his side in the game, was dealing with a bout of illness during the game.
"He wasn't a certainty to play either. He rolled his ankle on Thursday after training," Longmire said of Amartey.
"We probably thought he might have been missing. Those are the stories you probably don't know.
"He was just doing some extra marking on Thursday and rolled his ankle, he didn't think he was going to play.
"'Millsy' had gastro, was crook as a dog tonight.
"I'm sure the opposition were the same. When teams are in this time of the year, every team in the finals series has those.
"Sometimes you've got to find a way, get through it and just get the job done."
The win over GWS saw the Swans secure a home preliminary final, with the winner of Friday's semi-final between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn set to decide Sydney's opponent.
