His mum might not be delighted to hear re-signed Swan Ted Richards wants to stay in Sydney, but at least it's not as far as Sweden, where he contemplated moving during a lull in his AFL career.

Key defender Richards chalks up his 150th AFL appearance on Saturday at Etihad Stadium, against his former club Essendon.

Richards, who has enjoyed a strong season at the back, revealed on Tuesday he had signed a new two-year deal with Sydney.

He played just 33 games in four seasons for Essendon before becoming one of many players to reinvigorate a career by moving to Sydney.

Richards, 28, played in the 2006 grand final but, after spending a couple of months in the reserves last year, considered joining his brother Jake in Sweden.

Jake, who is studying there, plays Australian rules for the Solna Axemen in Sweden.

"Last year I was thinking 'If I'm not going to be playing football, what would I be doing?'," Richards said in Sydney on Tuesday.

"For a while there, I was considering moving to Sweden.

"My older brother lives in Sweden and things like that come into your mind; I'd go over and study and do something different.

"I go over there from time to time and I would've gone over there for a year or two and just do something different, but I'm very happy here.

"I was fortunate enough to finish last season off quite well and I was able to keep going with footy here."

Richards won't be taking up the Sweden option anytime soon after re-signing and cementing a place in the Sydney backline, missing just one game this year through injury.

"Sydney's home, as much as mum probably doesn't want to hear that," he said.

"I'd want to stay here when football finishes.

"Sweden's been put on the backburner for a while."

Richards concedes the tag of survivor may be an appropriate one for him, given his 11-year slog to reach his 150-game milestone.

"To get to 150 is something I didn't think would happen for a long time," Richards said.

"In some ways maybe I am (a survivor), because there's been quite a few obstacles along the way and, a lot of times, I thought it may be my last year of footy."

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