Swans star Lance Franklin will miss games, says coach John Longmire, latest injury news

Sydney coach John Longmire has told fans they must be patient with Lance Franklin, who he says will take time to get into the AFL season.

Franklin struggled for impact when he came on as a substitute in the second half of the Swans’ 45-point loss to Brisbane in their first training game on Friday, and Longmire said it would take a few weeks for the 36-year-old to reach “full strength”. ‘ after being carefully guided through the preseason.

“It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to say we don’t expect him to play every week, every minute of the game…at 36, that can be a real challenge,” Longmire told RSN’s Breakfast with Harf program.

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“He’s had a somewhat limited preseason – he only played one half last week.

“He didn’t run at full power the pre-season so the plan is to get him back up this week and it will be a couple of weeks before he makes his step.”

Longmire said the Swans side would continue to develop after their humiliating 81-point loss to Geelong in the grand final, but the defeat was no reason to swing the ax at established players, citing the Cats’ own rebound their pre-final capitulation 2021.

“Things like this happen unfortunately, we dealt with it late last year… we failed the test on the grand finals day against the most mature team to play at the competition in Geelong,” Longmire said.

“They were at the other end of the spectrum – they certainly played very well and they deserved it – they’re a great side and were beaten by around 80 points in a group stage final the year before.”

Young halfback Braeden Campbell, the medi-sub in the grand final, and 83-inch rugby union convert Lachlan McAndrew were named as two players Longmire saw breaking into the senior team early in the season.

“I would love to see Braeden Campbell continue to develop. We think he’s played a bit of footy for us now, but we’ve seen bits of him and we’re really excited for him to come,” Longmire said.

“We understand Tom Hickey has a calf injury at the moment which (McAndrew) will certainly be looking at some playing time at some point early in the season and that will be great for Swans fans to see as well.”

McAndrew, who led the Swans’ ruck division against the Lions, benefited greatly from working with a former rookie player in Dean Cox, Longmire said.

“Having (Cox) available for our young backpackers is fantastic for them – Lachie is learning a lot from him at the moment,” he said.