Lance Franklin and Dan Hannebery will miss Sydney’s clash against Geelong on Saturday

SYDNEY coach John Longmire is in no doubt the rock hard surface at Perth’s new stadium is to blame for Lance Franklin’s heel injury, wich will see the superstar forward this week’s clash with Geelong — and possibly longer.

Lance Franklin celebrates a goal with Dan Hannebery. Picture: Phil Hillyard

LANCE Franklin has become the latest victim of the rock-hard surface at Perth’s new stadium after sustaining a heel injury which will keep the superstar forward out of Saturday’s clash with Geelong — and possibly longer.

In a double blow, Sydney will also be without Dan Hannebery at Kardinia Park after the key midfielder hurt his groin in last Friday’s 10-point home loss to Adelaide.

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Franklin has continued to play on with a bruised heel since the season opener against the Eagles but has produced diminishing returns, kicking four, two three and one goal in the past four matches.

His 11 possessions in the loss to Adelaide was a season low but Franklin’s absence will be a huge setback for the Swans.

Since joining Sydney, the Swans have won 71 per cent of 94 games Franklin has played in and only 50 per cent of the 10 matches he’s missed.

Swans coach John Longmire is in no doubt when, where and why Franklin’s ­injury occurred.

“It happened in round one in Perth at Optus Stadium,” Longmire said.

“He hasn’t done any training of substance since then. We’ve been trying to get him better week by week and were hoping we could get to a point where he could get through games better and do some training. It hasn’t responded and got worse on the weekend and we’re not sure after that how it will respond.”

Lance Franklin will miss this week with a bruised heel. Picture: Michael Klein

Franklin was still able to kick eight goals in a match-winning performance against the Eagles but he wasn’t the only player who was suffering.

“We had the most amount of players cramp in that game that we’ve had,” ­Longmire said.

“I don’t know if it was the difference between our pre-season training venue and that (ground).

“The feedback we got was that it was pretty firm.

“There is a theory if you train on that sort of surface you get used to that type of ground.

“I’m not sure what the Perth boys thought about it but our boys were a bit sore and Lance will miss some time.”

The hardness of the Optus Stadium turf was an issue well before the season started.

Collingwood’s AFLW team was so concerned by the firmness of the surface it considered not playing its round two match against Fremantle.

Dan Hannebery is out with a groin injury. Picture: Phil Hillyard

AFL operations manager Steven Hocking said the venue had a different type of grass mix to others but the league and stadium management had taken measures to address the problem.

“I am not dismissing the fact there is some work to be done at Optus,” Hocking said.

“But they are on to it and we are comfortable at this point in time.”

Longmire said the Swans were well aware of the problems with the new stadium going into the match against West Coast.

“We knew going into the game it was reasonably firm,” Longmire said.

“We had an undertaking (from the AFL) that a lot of work had been done to improve that and I understand there was. It’s similar to Etihad Stadium in its early days with getting things right and I’m sure they will.”

The injury to his star is serious and Longmire wouldn’t rule out an extended time on the sidelines for Franklin, who hasn’t missed a game in more than two seasons.

“We’re not putting a time frame on it,” Longmire said.

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Originally published as Lance Franklin and Dan Hannebery will miss Sydney’s clash against Geelong on Saturday