With just 11 players available for the trip to Lockhart, the Swans would not have met the AFL Riveirna minimum player numbers to take the field.

Richards' side had been impacted by both injury and player unavailability, and he said many who were set to play would have further aggravated existing ailments.

"I was very disappointed," Richards said.

"We'd had a perfect storm, injuries, people away, and we could have possibly got 11 in the end, and that would have been people who probably shouldn't have been playing.

"I wasn't particularly happy about it, but it is what it is.

"It was the best time for it to happen [with beginning finals next week] but I still wasn't overly impressed having to forfeit the last game, it would have been nice to have a game against Brookdale because we were sitting on the same points."

Both teams had experienced just one loss heading into the game and the result would not have changed their positions on their pool ladders.

Richards is confident their availability woes will be resolved for this Thursday's semi final against Charles Sturt University.

He believes the week off will not be an advantage for his side.

With just two confirmed outs, due to injury and relocation, the Swans are hoping to come out strong over the Bushpigs.

"The girls have played really well, some of the new girls that have come on board this year have picked the game up well,

"We're looking forward to it, but we start again now.

"It's a new season basically because we're knockout footy from now until the end, you need to win three games to win it."

Apprehensive about the finals system this year, Richards believes there was no perfect way forward given the format of the competition.

The top two sides of each pool have progressed to finals, which has resulted in teams in the top eight of the league ladder missing out.

One surprise finals entry is fellow Pool C side Narrandera, who sit 14^th on the league ladder with just two wins.

Richards said it is 'strange' to see the finals fixture compared to the league ladder.

"Narrandera finished 14^th, so there would have been a lot of teams above them that didn't make the semis," he said.

"But that's just the way things are at this stage.

"If you look at it the other way, and worked off the ladder, then it would have been a bit unfair too because you had sides that were in really strong pools who probably deserve to get through but play the stronger teams and missed out because they only played strong teams week out week in.

"Because you're only playing half the sides, there is no perfect way of doing it."