Sydney’s last-ditch bid to qualify for finals has been bolstered by Lance Franklin’s restoration from a knock to his knee, with the star ahead set to face the Bombers.
Franklin copped a heavy knock to his knee within the first 5 minutes of the Swans’ win over Fremantle and was briefly compelled from the bottom however re-emerged to provide one other influential efficiency following his return to type the earlier week in opposition to the Bulldogs.
Swans coach John Longmire mentioned the sharpshooter had skilled properly on Tuesday and all indications had been he can be match to face the Bombers.
Sydney (34 factors) and Essendon (36) each sit simply exterior the highest eight and a loss at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night time can be a hammer blow to both sides’ finals hopes.
Franklin has an distinctive report in opposition to the Bombers with 79 objectives in 20 video games, probably the most he has kicked in opposition to any membership over his 19-year profession.
His presence would make the Bombers defence nervous, with necessary backman Jordan Ridley out for a number of weeks with a high-grade quad pressure after an outstanding efficiency in opposition to Western Bulldogs spearhead Aaron Naughton final week.
“(Franklin) got a knock early in the game and he came off but he recovered from that pretty quickly,” Longmire mentioned.
“He trained (Tuesday) and trained really well so that’s always a good sign. It’s going to be a week-to-week proposition for him – the good thing is he was able to train – and we’ll see how he pulls up after that.”
Franklin has kicked 5 objectives throughout the final two wins, and Longmire mentioned the Swans key forwards had been beginning to type a robust connection in spite of everything dealing with vital durations on the sidelines this season.
“They’ve missed a fair bit of footy – all of them at different times this year. You need to be able to work together and get a bit of rhythm together,” he mentioned.
“They didn’t do a lot of training together in the pre-season either, so now they’re getting that at training and on game day.
“That’s been improving. We were reasonably efficient at getting the ball forward last week and we won some important clearances which is equally important.”
Longmire hinted he was desperate to stick with Hayden McLean because the Swans’ No.1 ruckman after his efforts within the final two video games as he described a VFL bye final week as “costly” for Peter Ladhams in his return from harm.
“We thought (McLean) did a reasonable job against Jackson. He’s a little bit undersized but he competes well, he’s predictable and gets in the right spots when he needs to,” Longmire mentioned.
“Our midfielders are starting to get a bit of confidence which is a good sign. We still have a couple of rucks we can bring in if needed, but we were pretty happy with how we went for the four quarters.”
Source: www.news.com.au