Harris Andrews and his Brisbane Lions teammates blocked their ears when Sydney's chairman said his AFL club's premiership chances had been "torpedoed".
The Lions captain has dismissed any chance of complacency ahead of Saturday's qualifying final against the Swans at the SCG, where the hosts will be without the five players they banned for the rest of the season.
Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner were all suspended for failing to meet club standards after an early morning incident that remains under police investigation.
Sydney played and won their final-round match a week later, but their premiership odds have ballooned after bookies had the third-placed side among the favourites to win the flag.
Swans chairman Andrew Pridham last month said "to effectively torpedo our season by making decisions just tells you how serious we're taking it".
But, aware a win over Collingwood in the final round would likely set up a qualifying-final date with the Swans, Andrews did his best to ignore that.
"We haven't talked about that at all," he said of the Swans chairman's remarkable concession.
"(We're) turning up to Sydney with a really great attitude, knowing that it's going to be a really tough battle.
"You definitely galvanise as a group when things like that happen.
"We're on a mission to make sure we play to the best of our ability, and hopefully that'll be enough to get the job done."
Meanwhile Andrews thinks room must be made for the club's "best" player as Hugh McCluggage eyes a return from injury.
Classy midfielder and co-captain McCluggage has played just 13 games this season due to recurring calf injuries but trained on Tuesday as he pushed his case for a return.
McCluggage's last game was in a loss to Carlton and the Lions have won three times since to enter the finals in top form.
But Andrews expects coach Chris Fagan to make a tough call and find space for last year's All-Australian and grand-final star.
"He's been an unbelievable footballer for us for a long period of time, so it's a challenge for the coaches to fit everyone in, but it's one that we're happy to have and ultimately it's going to make us a better team," Andrews said.
"He's our best player. He's had a bit of an interrupted year this year with injury and his body letting him down, but as a teammate, I've seen the work he's put in, particularly over the last couple of weeks, to get himself right.
"I couldn't be more confident that he's going to come in and make a real impact."
Defenders Ty Gallop, Darcy Gardiner and Noah Answerth have all been terrific but one of those could find themselves out of the side at McCluggage's expense.
Gallop's ability to pinch hit forward means Fagan could take from that part of the ground to include McCluggage.
But tall forward and West Coast recruit Oscar Allen kicked four majors in the side's last-start defeat of Collingwood to argue his case for retention.
