AFL: Sydney loses superstar forward Lance Franklin for multiple games as he prepares to undergo finger surgery
Sydney will play without its two best forwards for the next fortnight at least as the Swans prepare for a Good Friday night date with West Coast.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Sydney will be without superstar goalkicker Lance Franklin for at least the next fortnight after he undergoes surgery to fix a broken finger.
The Swans subbed Franklin out in the third quarter of Saturday’s last-gasp win over North Melbourne, and the 35-year-old forward could miss up to three games.
That news comes as coach John Longmire ruled out All-Australian small forward Tom Papley for another week, as his lengthy recovery from a pre-season hamstring setback drags on.
Franklin will visit a specialist on Monday afternoon but Longmire was optimistic he would be back for the round 7 clash with Brisbane on May 1.
“We won’t really know until after the operation but at this stage we expect him to be out for a couple (of matches), maybe three, worst-case scenario,” Longmire said.
“First and foremost, we’ll allow the wound to heal post the operation and then once that’s healed, he’ll be able to have a good training block and get his speed stuff in.
“It’s fortunate that he can still run, so he can get some really good strength work in, get some good speed work in and hopefully be really sharp when he returns.”
Emerging key forwards Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey are the contenders to replace Franklin after kicking a combined seven goals in the VFL at the weekend.
“We’ll see how they both pulled up. We’ve obviously just got sight of them today and seeing how they’re going, so we’ll make that call later in the week,” Longmire said.
“But we feel like we’ve got some options there, if we need to. Obviously, no one’s going to replace Lance – we don’t expect that – but to come in and play that key forward role is still an important role for us.”
Longmire said Papley had not suffered a setback despite being past the six-week mark and at least a fortnight off returning after sustaining the injury in the club’s February 25 practice game.
The Swans initially hoped he would miss only between four and six weeks.
“It was a significant injury with his hamstring,” Longmire said.
“He’s been training now for a few weeks, but only at 80 per cent pace, so he hasn’t gone to that next level, which we expect him to do this week and next week.
“So hopefully a couple of weeks of really hard training for him before we are able to pick him.”
Sydney’s opponent on Good Friday night, West Coast, has lost All-Australian ruckman Nic Naitanui but could regain star trio Luke Shuey, Tim Kelly and Elliot Yeo.
Jeremy McGovern was best on ground down back in the Eagles’ first win of the season over Collingwood and will present a mighty challenge to the Swans’ inexperienced attack.
“They were fantastic at the weekend and, to be honest, if you look at their season, it’s been pretty good considering some of the challenges they’re faced with,” Longmire said.
“They’ve done a really good job and they’ve shown some remarkable resilience and their best players played really well at the weekend.”
Originally published as AFL: Sydney loses superstar forward Lance Franklin for multiple games as he prepares to undergo finger surgery
First year wrap, contract latest: Where 2023 draft’s top 30 sit
With season two ahead, check out how the top 30 players picked in the 2023 AFL Draft are tracking — including a contract update.
Call for Newman’s AFL honours to be reviewed after neo-Nazi guests
Sam Newman drew condemnation for inviting neo-Nazis on his podcast. An activist believes the AFL and Geelong need to reconsider his Hall of Fame and legend status, and Newman has hit back.