Sydney midfielder James Rowbottom has spoken about how the squad is balancing supporting their banned teammates with a quest for silverware.
Probed by the media on Friday, gave insight into the dialogue that has taken place in recent days.
"It is a balancing act," he said.
"As a friend, it's in our best interest to support them the best we can. The club and the players have put a lot of things in place to best support them through this time, along with their family and friends. So, there are a lot of things in place to support them.
"But as I said, the season's still going, and we've got a premiership to chase, so the players who are still playing — that takes our focus.
"Individually they have, but not in a group setting," he said.
"They haven't been in the club, but yeah, they've reached out to a few of us, which has been nice."
Rowbottom added it was above his pay grade to weigh in on the discussion about whether there is any prospect of the players making a return this season.
Rowbottom's housemate Nick Blakey, one of the players stood down, is set to explore his options at season's end, but Rowbottom denied having discussed that with the dashing half-back.
"I haven't spoken to Nick about any sort of details," he said.
"Obviously, it's been a challenging period for him, and I'm just reaching out as a friend. Living with him adds a whole other layer to the situation, so I've reached out as a friend, but no, we haven't spoken about any of those specifics.
"It's challenging, but everyone's going through it together. You've got to sort of separate the person from the problem when you live with someone to try and offer support, and I've been trying to do that.
"Playing footy gives a good release and a sense of normality once you step out there. So, we'll have to do that tomorrow and put our best foot forward."
Rowbottom welcomed the underdog mentality that the Swans have been given following Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordon, Riley Bice and Isaac Heeney being stood down.
The Swans will host Brisbane at 3.15 pm on Saturday.
“Obviously it was a really emotional period for not only the playing group, but the club in general,” Rowbottom said.
“Now we've had a game under our belt, and a week of training, we're really looking forward to finals footy.
“We finished second for a reason, and we said at the start of the year it's going to take a whole-squad mentality.
“Last week was no better example of everyone that came in and played their role. Finals footy is a different beast, so if everyone can come in and be hard, tough and fast, we'll be right. No one needs to be the superstar in a finals game; it's a team effort.
“We've earned the right for two home finals, and we have full belief that we can win tomorrow and then get a home prelim. If people want to write us off, they're more than welcome to do that.”
