Four of the AFL’s biggest names have opened up on their preliminary final preparations as redemption looms large.

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For Fremantle and reigning premiers Brisbane, they’ve had to bounce back from shock first-up losses.

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Sydney and Hawthorn meantime will have to fight their mental scars from the last meeting with their respective opponent if they are to go through to the AFL grand final.

SYDNEY v FREMANTLE

Midfield maestros Errol Gulden and Andy Brayshaw have appeared on AFL360 to share how they are tackling the week ahead of Friday night’s contest at the SCG.

For Gulden and the Swans, the message from coach Dean Cox was simply to play your role.

“Blokes that didn’t think they’d be playing in the finals – they are coming in and are just loving every moment,” he shared.

“It definitely fills you with energy.

Errol Gulden and Will Day appear on AFL360.Source: FOX SPORTS

“The messaging from the coaching staff is no one has to do anything more than just play their role.

“We back that if we can do that over and over again, hopefully the result will take care of itself.

“No one needs to put the cape on and do anything special. It’s just playing your role … the game plan’s good enough.”

But the Swans will have to shake off their most recent clash with the Dockers – where Fremantle piled on nine final quarter goals to claim a 38-point win.

“From memory looking back, we nailed our role for three quarters and went away from it in the last quarter when we were challenged,” Gulden said.

“They are an outstanding team Freo, they’ve got talent right across the board.

“You know when they get their tail up, they can kick six or eight goals on you like they did against us.

“The stoppage battle and clearance is going to be really important for the game.

“It’s pretty boring but it’s literally just playing your role over and over again and which team can do that for longer.”

Brayshaw meantime opened up on the “reality check” his side was handed by Hawthorn in the qualifying final, and the response from coach Justin Longmuir.

“He really challenged the players,” the Freo midfielder said.

“Externally fans and media were saying we should have got that first job done against the Hawks.

Josh Dunkley and Andy Brayshaw join AFL360.Source: FOX SPORTS

“(Longmuir) was a really calm presence.

“He always jokes about when we don’t win, he won’t go to Bunnings on the weekend; he wants to stay home and review the game.

“When we have a good win, he goes to Bunnings, shows his face a bit. I’m sure he made a few trips over the weekend.

“(The Hawks’ loss) sort of kicked us into gear.

“We’re starting to play our best footy again.

“We’re loving the idea of the challenge of going over to Sydney and playing for it all.”

Describing “contest as king”, Brayshaw said there was plenty of confidence within the team.

“I feel like if we play our best footy we’ll give ourselves a really good chance,” he said.

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HAWTHORN v BRISBANE

Who knows more about finals pressure than Lion Josh Dunkley?

The midfielder is heading into a remarkable 25th AFL final – and his sixth preliminary final this weekend.

But when it comes to the secret to success?

“Finals are finals,” he said on AFL 360.

“There’s no real secret to it – you’ve got to put your head over the ball when it matters.”

Dunkley was adamant the Lions wouldn’t produce the same type of performance that saw them jumped by the Swans in the qualifying final.

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“It’s one thing that I always admire of Fages (coach Chris Fagan) is his ability to connect to the group,” he shared.

“He knows what buttons to push.

“There’s times like last week where he really needed to hit us between the eyes and get us back on track really quickly.

“If our pressure is on early, it makes it hard for the opposition to match that.

“We know if we get that right and turn up in the right frame of mind, we give ourselves a massive chance.”

And they’ll take on a Hawthorn side that the Lions dismantled by 67 points just last month.

“We can’t shy away from it – we’ve done a lot of reviewing,” Hawks star Will Day said of that loss.

“At the end of the day, we looked back at that game and it was the basics.

“We want to dial in on that.

“We did some work on Brisbane, but a lot was looking in our own backyard and getting that right first.”

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Describing it as an “un-Hawthorn like performance”, Day said it was a case of everyone trying too hard to get it right.

“That Brisbane game, myself and a few others as well it’s out of a good heart trying to do what you can for the team,” he said.

“But sometimes you just need to take a step back.

“Just play your role.

“I think that game I had built it up. I tried to emulate it as a final because I hadn’t played one before and tried to do too much.

“It was to our demise in the end.

“We’ll be going in this week just really focusing on the basics.”