John Longmire to decide whether the Joel Amartey party rolls on

Sydney coach John Longmire will have to make a tough call on a young Swans forward with Lance Franklin back in the fold.

Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey could partner Lance Franklin up forward in round 3. Picture: Phil Hillyard

John Longmire says the Swans’ match committee has plenty to consider as the return of Lance Franklin means an unlucky tall has to make way from the side.

Sydney does not have to name its final side until Friday evening ahead of its round 3 clash against Melbourne at the MCG, with either Hayden McLean or Joel Amartey likely to be omitted to make space for the superstar forward.

Longmire said Franklin trained strongly on Wednesday and looked set to return following his one-match ban for a high bump in the Swans’ season opener, posing a difficult selection challenge after his replacement Joel Amartey starred with a career-best four-goal haul against Hawthorn.

“(Selection) usually has a way of working its way through,” Longmire said.

Joel Amartey was an exciting presence up forward for the Swans in round 3 as he booted four goals in the crushing win over Hawthorn. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Obviously, Lance trained today, trained well, so we expect hopefully he gets through the week and comes back into the team.”

Hayden McLean has only managed one goal for the season and could be squeezed out instead of Amartey, but Longmire said he was playing an important role as the second ruck and the Swans would have to consider how they wanted to tackle Melbourne’s Brodie Grundy.

“We’re not sure just yet … (McLean) has done the second ruck job pretty well, so while he hasn’t hit the scoreboard like Joel did on the weekend, he’s been able to do the second ruck role for us as well,” Longmire said.

“Whether we want to go with a bit of extra height, or we go smaller and run … those guys are pretty athletic which helps.

“Joel’s one of the quicker players we’ve got on our list and Hayden’s got terrific endurance, so that always helps.”

Hayden McLean (left) could be the unlucky Swan to make way for Franklin after playing in two big wins to start the season. Picture: Russell Freeman / Getty Images

Longmire said the Swans respected Grundy, who they expected to ruck for most of the duration of Sunday’s game in the absence of injured Demons skipper Max Gawn.

“We take everything into consideration. What we do know is Grundy’s an All-Australian ruckman, so they lose one star ruckman and replace him with an All-Australian gun … there’s not many teams that have that luxury,” he said.

Injured grand final team duo Robbie Fox (calf) and Ryan Clarke (hamstring) trained with the main group on Wednesday but were not yet ready to play, Longmire said.

Veteran talls Tom Hickey (hamstring) and Sam Reid (glute) both had a running session on Wednesday but were yet to be incorporated into full training, while pick 20 Jacob Konstanty was being carefully managed following a pre-season shin complaint.

“We’re just conscious that he had a bit of a hot spot in his shin, and we don’t want to push him too hard as a first-year player, so he’ll come back into the program slowly,” Longmire said.