NORTH MELBOURNE captain Adam Simpson is confident the Roos can match the Sydney Swans physically in Saturday night's elimination final at ANZ Stadium.
"It's going to be a physical game, the way Sydney play," Simpson said on Monday.
"And we like to think we can match them in that area. And that's the only way we can respond."
Simpson said players had quickly moved on from Saturday's 76-point loss to Port Adelaide at the MCG.
"Dean came down (to post-match recovery) and had a chat to the players … as a group, we decided to put it aside and last year we did come off a belting in that first final [against Geelong] and we responded really well, so we can take some things from that, for sure," Simpson said.
"We normally respond pretty well after losses like that and it was very disappointing, but all we can worry about is performing on the day.
"The stuff you do during the week is not really physical – it's more mental and we've got to make sure we're positive and we attack the game with everything we've got."
Coach Dean Laidley said this weekend's final provided a great chance for the club to rebound.
"We've got another opportunity and I'm sure there'd be eight other clubs that'd love to be in our position right now," Laidley said.
"We've worked extremely hard to get this opportunity and it was a pretty ordinary performance on the weekend. We move on very, very quickly, because we need to focus on getting up to Sydney this weekend and we haven't played up there.
"I've probably seen, as a spectator, three or four games over the last few years, played there, so we'll train up there on Friday and we'll go in with all guns blazing."
Laidley also had no concerns about the ANZ Stadium surface or the fact that the side hadn't played there before.
"We're going to train there on Friday and we know the dimensions of the ground and there is a few similar grounds in the AFL, so we'll make sure we get a good hit out there on Friday," Laidley said.
"There is nothing we can do about it, so having said that, we'd probably rather play there than the SCG."
Laidley also said he was bewildered by talk of any possible finals scenarios beyond this weekend.
"You know what staggers me in these press conferences is that you guys keep talking about who you might talk about who you might play in two or three or four weeks' time – we're playing Sydney this weekend," Laidley said.
"I tried to state the fact last week in my press conference about everybody playing Geelong – well, we've got to play Sydney this weekend.
"If we win this week, I reckon it's a great opportunity to move forward, but if we don't, well, then you know what, we're on holidays."
