The Swans are leaving the door ajar for superstar forward Lance Franklin to make a quicker-than-expected recovery from a broken finger and face his old side Hawthorn.
Coach John Longmire revealed the champion goalkicker could miss just one match, after initially being expected to be out for at least a fortnight and possibly up to three weeks.
But Sydney’s other All-Australian forward Tom Papley (hamstring) won’t be in contention for Monday’s Anzac Day clash in Tasmania despite training fully on Tuesday.
“We’re definitely going to be without Papley (but) we’re not sure just yet with Lance – we’ll see how the week progresses,” Longmire said.
“We’ll make that decision when we’ve got all the information in front of us and that won’t happen until the end of the week. His finger’s getting better all the time, but we’ll make that call later in the week.
“The players who came in last week did a really good job for us … a couple of the young key forwards (Logan McDonald and Hayden McLean) came in and did a good job for us and that’s important.
xjmtzyw“With Franklin, Papley and (Sam) Wicks; we had half of our starting six out of our forward group, so for the players who came in last week and did a good job for us, that’s a good sign.”
Wicks missed the past two games in the AFL’s health and safety protocols.
The Hawks upset Geelong on Easter Monday to move into the top eight and are one of the surprising success stories of the season under rookie coach Sam Mitchell.
But Longmire needs no reminding of Hawthorn’s threat after copping a 38-point hiding at the SCG last year and forging a captivating rivalry with the brown and gold across the years.
“They’re playing a really strong brand of footy at the moment, both offensively and defensively,” he said.
“They’re playing really well and with plenty of confidence, plenty of run and plenty of attack, so they’re going to be a formidable opponent next week.
“We’ve had some big clashes against Hawthorn that have gone down to often the last two minutes of the game and we’re both going through different stages in our lists and having some good young players coming through.”
The Hawks dominated the Cats in the contest and also got the better of the Swans in that area in their corresponding clash in 2021, so Longmire said it was crucial to
“We’ve improved in that area over the year, except for free kicks,” he said.
“Our ground-balls have improved from last year – we needed to improve that area – but our free kicks are still a work in progress, so we need to keep working on that.
“(Hawthorn’s) got some really good, strong, contested-ball players and that’ll test our midfield group, in particular.”
