Swans are adamant Lance Franklin still has plenty of good football in him despite being booked in for off-season surgery

Lance Franklin played just 10 games for the Swans this season due to injury, but coach John Longmire is confident he will continue to perform in the twilight of his career.

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire is adamant Lance Franklin can recapture his dominant best over the final three years of his contract.

Franklin was barely able to train in 2018 and this year was restricted to just 10 matches, and news he has been booked in for more off-season surgery has only invited more questions over how his body is holding up, age 32.

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But despite the operations he will undergo on Monday, Longmire is bullish about the pre-season Franklin will have, adamant he will be back training in full with the team by late November.

Franklin showed glimpses of what he’s capable of in his four-goal rout of St Kilda on Saturday, his first match in more than eight weeks.

Predictions that injuries could prevent Franklin from recapturing his best are premature according to Longmire, who is adamant there are more chapters to write in the career of one of the AFL’s all-time greats.

“I think he can still be one of the great players and that’s next year, and the year after that, and the year after that,” Longmire told The Daily Telegraph.

“I think he’s got a lot to offer in that regard.

Lance Franklin booted four goals against the Saints. Pic: AAP Image

“He hasn’t trained much the last two years, but he’ll be training before Christmas with us this year for the first time in a while and we think that’s a good thing.

“If he’s able to get a decent block in before January that’s a benefit for him. He’s like any player.

“What we have been training him for is to … make sure anything he needed done in the off-season could be done, because he was back training hard and he could have a really good build-up to next year.”

Franklin’s 300-game milestone didn’t disappoint in front of a packed SCG on Saturday, and Longmire reinforced his game-changer’s status as one of the best to ever play the game.

But that’s not to say the best has been and gone.

“He’s quite rare as far as his athletic ability at that size. There hasn’t been many if any in the game with his height and athleticism and I think he stands on his own in that regard,” said Longmire.

“Where he shares a lot of traits with some of the greats is he’s a massive competitor. That’s what other blokes feed off.

“The best players that have played the game have got the talent but then the ones that really make it over a long time, are the ones that love to compete.”

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Zak Jones could be at St Kilda in 2020. Picture: AAP

There is speculation off-contracted midfielder Zak Jones, who missed the final two games of the season, could potentially be traded to a Melbourne club like St Kilda.

Tom Papley is another star linked with Victorian clubs.

Longmire refused to speculate on whether other major changes were imminent to a list that’s already just lost over 1000 games to retirement.

“That’s just talk based upon, no one knows. Every team tries to get better,” said Longmire.

“Just because we’ve done it (trade) in the past doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to automatically happen in the future.

“Things like the salary cap, you’ve got to be able to manage and just because we have players exiting doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to be extremely active.

“But we’re confident that we’ve got some great young players. And that’s a priority for us.

“Our young players we really invested in what they’re able to deliver this year and we want them to stay together and play some really good footy and what we can add around that we’ll keep looking at.”