Sydney Swans injury news: Swans hit by injury crisis with 14 players unavailable

The Sydney Swans have been hit by an injury crisis ahead of their grand final rematch with the Brisbane Lions, with 14 players unavailable for the clash.

The Swans are officially in an injury crisis with at least 14 players set to be unavailable for selection ahead of this week’s grand final rematch against the Brisbane Lions.

Dean Cox’s side had already started their campaign with several high-profile players on the sidelines. Errol Gulden headlined that group after fracturing his ankle against the Suns in a practice match, while captain Callum Mills continues to rehab a plantar fascia tear.

However, the injury toll has continued to grow, with four more players added to the list after a tough weekend of football.

Taylor Adams is set to miss three to four weeks after scans revealed a minor hamstring strain. The 31-year-old came from the field in the latter stages of the Swans’ loss to Hawthorn and won’t be seen on the field again until after their bye in round three.

Three other players went down in Sydney’s VFL practice match against the Giants on Saturday.

Promising young defender Riak Andrew is currently sporting a sling after falling on his shoulder and suffering an AC joint injury. Aaron Francis and Indhi Kirk have both been placed into concussion protocols after suffering separate knocks.

Cox remains confident that he has a solid group of players to call upon, but it may mean more responsibility for younger players in the group, including Tom Hanily who will play just his second AFL match.

“We thought (Taylor) was going to play an important role for us, certainly in the early part of the year,” Cox said. “And he’ll just have to rehab now and create an opportunity for someone else.

“We got knocked around a little bit in the VFL as well. The opportunity will come for maybe Tom Hanily who was sub, there’s a replacement in that. Or whether we go a little bit differently as well behind the ball.

“When you look at the Brisbane team, we won’t know what they did on Wednesday. But from what they did against Adelaide, we’ll have a really close look at that and try and match up as well as we possibly can against the best team in the comp.”

One change that Cox didn’t completely rule out is moving Tom McCartin back into defence following his first game as a forward in four seasons.

The Swans only generated six intercept marks as a team – their second-fewest over the past 10 years. They also had just 40 inside 50s for the match – their eighth-lowest return in the past decade.

Errol Gulden is helped from the field after injuring his ankle

Cox felt that McCartin still played an important role despite only kicking one goal. He also praised his defenders in their individual matchups while conceding they still had some work to do regarding their pressure across the ground.

“Yeah, the defence was OK,” Cox said. “They had to defend 58 inside 50s and to go at 43% inside 50 conversion is pretty good by most stats. We attacked at 53 (per cent).

“When Tommy is ahead of the ball, the ability to be able to hit the scoreboard, that’s one thing, but for him it’s about trying to present outside, allow Joel to play a little bit deeper and Joel kicks three.

“So, we’ll never be a football team about one particular person in a certain area, it’ll be about how can we complement each other. (Tom) will work as hard as he can on his game to improve, but we’re also not fixated on keeping him there.

“The Brisbane forward line is a little bit different to Hawthorn, so we’ll assess what we do as well.”

With limited cavalry to call upon, one option for Cox could be to call upon Joel Hamling to make his club debut and replace Adams off the bench. The 31-year-old would give the Swans both defensive and forward cover and could get an opportunity with Hayden McLean still building up his match fitness after missing most of pre-season.

If Cox wants more flexibility, a second option could be unleashing former Werribee product Riley Bice to make his AFL debut off the interchange. Caleb Mitchell could also be considered to add to his two matches from last season.

Originally published as Sydney Swans injury news: Swans hit by injury crisis with 14 players unavailable