While the season is far from over and the Swans still have an outside chance of making the top four, the 2005 premiership coach is already casting an eye to the future and maintains his young players will benefit from being exposed to the big occasion.

"Kieren was really good last week and I think was a bit stiff to be dropped, so we'll bring a couple of young blokes back in and give them some experience against a really good team," Roos said.

"It's a huge game for us. It's exciting at this time of year to be a part of the finals race and it's a great experience regardless of what happens for all our players, and particularly our younger players.

"Collingwood have a few young guys in as well, so I think it will be a snapshot of the future. It'll probably give you a feel for both teams and their younger players and how both teams are going to look three or four years from now."

While blooding new players has come too late for some, Roos believes his "ageing list" is merely a byproduct of the Swans needing to stay competitive.

"The reality is that to win a premiership you do need an experienced team and then once you do win it, you've got probably another two-three years after that. I think Brisbane went through the same thing, Port went through the same thing, so we're unapologetic - we're here to win premierships and we've done that and played in two grand finals," he said.

"And the other thing in this market, it's a lot different to Melbourne. We've got pressure on us to be competitive every single year. We understand that and it's just the reality of where we're at as a football club in this city.

"We'll make some changes at the end of the season but they won't be dramatic as people think they should be, because we don't have the luxury of going down the bottom of the ladder and restocking. That's just not the way it can be done up here."

One man who's future could come under consideration is indeed Barry, who is out of contract and turns 32 next May. While he is still Roos's favoured option at full-back, he's unlikely to get the job on ace Magpie forward Travis Cloke.

"Leo's probably more of the full-back type and Travis is probably more of a running-type centre half-forward, so it would probably be Craig Bolton or Lewis Roberts-Thomson who'd play on Cloke," Roos said.

"Leo brings a lot of confidence back, he's a very good player, he can play on the mediums, on the talls, the small. So it is very important to get him back and he has a very stabilising effect on the defence. Certainly, we hope he'll have a positive effect.

"He trained Monday and Tuesday, did some kicking and sprinting so we'll definitely name him, but unlike last week, we expect him to play."