Lewis Melican is a chance to face the Cats this weekend if he can get through training this week.
Melican has missed the last two rounds of football, against the Bulldogs and Crows, having suffered a hamstring strain in the final quarter against the Giants in round 3.
Speaking to the HCF Injury Update, Swans Head of Football Tom Harley said that the 195cm defender has to make it through training this week to be a chance.
“Lewis hurt his hamstring the same day but nowhere near as dramatic or drastic as Sam's,” Harley said.
“We have respected it to this point in time, we've got training this week and hopefully Lewis can get through the required steps to be available to play against the Cats next Saturday.”
Disappointingly for the Swans, two of their stars have already been ruled out, Franklin with a heel injury first sustained against the Eagles in round 1, and Dan Hannebery with a minor groin strain.
Franklin had been managed throughout the first five rounds but was ruled out of the crucial round 6 clash against the Cats after the injury flared out.
Harley said that they’ll have to take it one week at a time, with no return date set.
“It's disappointing for Lance and the club the way he's started the season,” Harley said.
“He pulled up sore initially after the round 1 game against West Coast, and we've been able to manage him up to this point, with a number of pain management solutions.
“But he pulled up really sore after the game on the weekend and unfortunately won't be able to play this week.
“I know the million-dollar question is the prognosis on that, but we really can't take any other approach than week-by-week, and we'll make sure that we give Lance every chance to get back as soon as possible, and I'm sure he'll give himself every chance as well.”
Midfielder Dan Hannebery battled well-documented groin problems last season, and while he looked as though he put it past him, he had a limited pre-season, recovering from injuries sustained in 2017, and on-going calf issues in 2018.
He missed the first match against the Eagles, returning to the side in their round 2 loss to Port Adelaide at the SCG.
His performances have gradually improved, but he will now sit out for at least two weeks with a minor groin strain, drawing parallels with Kieren Jack from last season.
Harley is optimistic Hannebery will return to the side sooner rather than later, with no return date set yet.
“Dan unfortunately has suffered a minor muscle strain in the groin region,” Harley said.
“It's well documented that he battled some groin issues last year, this is separate to that, so that's a positive if you're looking for silver lining. So, it's a new injury in that sense.
“Obviously, he had a very limited and interrupted pre-season recovering from the season last year and a calf, so it's disappointing for Dan, but we're not expecting Dan to be for a long period out of the team.
“We'll give him every chance to recover from this latest setback and look forward to seeing him back soon.”
Tall forward Sam Reid is set to resume running in the next week to 10-days, with Harley happy with Sam’s response to surgery and his recovery.
“Sam he had the recent quad injury and we took the course of action to undergo surgery to repair the tendon and that's recovered really well to this point,” Harley said.
“Sam's starting to get some mobility back into that, he'll start low level running in the next week to 10 days.
“The prognosis is still very much the same, 8-to-10 weeks from the initial injury, and we need to respect that. So far, so good and a really positive response to the surgery.”
| Lewis Melican | Hamstring | Test |
| Dan Hannebery | Groin | TBD |
| Lance Franklin | Bruised heel | TBD |
| Toby Pink (R) | Ankle | 2-3 Weeks |
| Jordan Dawson | Quad | 5 Weeks |
| James Bell R | Hamstring | 5 Weeks |
| Jordan Foote | Toe | 5 Weeks |
| Alex Johnson (R) | Groin | 5 Weeks |
| Sam Reid | Quad | 8-10 Weeks |
| Sam Naismith | Knee | Season |
| Kurt Tippett | Retired |
Sydney Swans Injury Update - AFL Injury List
Like what you’re getting? Want more Swans Blog, and the chance to have your input into our site and what we create? We have additional content weekly on our Patreon Service. This is your avenue, what are you waiting for? Sign up today and get more content like this.
If you'd like to support us, you can head over to our Red Bubble Swans Blog Shop, and purchase one of our hideously overpriced mugs, stickers or notebooks. Help keep The Swans Blog alive.
Since you're here...
... we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading The Swans Blog than ever, but we don't accept advertising, and don't want to do so in the future. Unlike many other news and media organisations, fan forums and fan media, we haven't put up a paywall, or displayed ads - we want to keep our content as open as possible.
The Swans Blog is an independent fan blog and community platform. Our content takes a lot of time and hard work to produce. We do it because we love what we do and we believe our perspective matters - because it may be your perspective too.
If everyone who reads our blog, who likes it, is supporting it, our future would be much more secure.
Want instant access to the latest blog and news content from The Swans Blog?
Download our Android App from Google Play today.