THE SYDNEY Swans would be happy to meet Essendon in a final next month as a resolution to the ongoing ASADA investigation creeps closer.
With the interim ASADA report now complete, officials at the AFL are reviewing its contents before deciding any possible Essendon sanctions.
A loss of premiership points has been mooted as one possible option, which would rule Essendon out of September action, but Swans defender Ted Richards says he would have no issue meeting the Bombers in a final.
The defending premiers close out their home-and-away season against Collingwood, St Kilda, Geelong and Hawthorn and can't meet the Bombers again unless it is in a final.
Richards started his career at Windy Hill before making the move to Sydney in 2006 and has sympathy for the Bombers' plight.
"If we were to cross paths with Essendon at some stage for the rest of this season, I'll approach it like any other game," Richards told reporters ahead of training at the SCG on Thursday.
"And, win or lose, like any other game, I'll shake their hands at the end of the game.
"It's not good to see what the players are going through."
Richards and Jobe Watson are tight friends and their families have been close since the two sons went to primary school together in Sandringham.
Richards is in regular contact with the Essendon skipper, but says he deliberately doesn't discuss the investigation with the Brownlow medallist.
"Two of my best mates, Jobe Watson and David Hille, are right in the middle of it," Richards said.
"They're getting asked about it all the time, whether it's at the footy club or outside the footy club, and as a mate I speak to them quite a lot and I think the best thing I can do is chat to them about things other than football.
"I've got a lot of sympathy for what the Essendon players are going through and I think it is sad to see how someone like Jobe is getting booed, which isn't great."
Richards wouldn't be drawn on some of the other speculation that has swirled around the investigation, such as whether Watson could be stripped of his Brownlow Medal.
"There's just so much talk right now and it seems to be another headline every day and I don't want to fuel that," Richards said.
"I've just got a lot of sympathy for what the players are going through."
James Dampney is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter @AFL_JD
