Swans’ wings clipped for season

Two Swans had time called on their seasons this week for reasons which could not be more different.

Dane Rampe was willing to play this weekend with his broken hand Picture: Getty Images

Two Swans had time called on their seasons this week for reasons which could not be more different.

Dane Rampe is out with a broken hand. Teenager Elijah Taylor has been suspended for the remaining games because of a romantic liaison.

A timeless breach of etiquette but a serious indiscretion in such unique times and one that attracted the attention of WA’s premier and the police.

Rampe broke his hand in the Round 8 game against Hawthorn and had a plate inserted but had not missed a game.

St Kilda’s Jake Carlisle escaped suspension but was fined for repeatedly attempting to hit the injured hand in the following match.

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The Swans reported on Wednesday that the plate inserted during surgery had come loose and they felt it was not worth taking any more risks with their star defender.

“It’s obviously very important that he gets that right now. It’s really unfortunate, I think that’s our ninth player ruled out for the season, and he’s one of our most important players and our co-captain, so disappointed for him,” coach John Longmire said.

The Swans are also missing Isaac Heeney, Josh Kennedy, Lance Franklin, George Hewett, Sam Naismith, Ben Ronke and Kaiden Brand.

“He (Rampe) was given the all-clear in that first week to come back and in the end, he’s too important to us to keep playing, to put any sort of risk to that hand,” Longmire said.

“It got to the point where once we found out the news on the scan, that the decision gets made for us. As tough as what he is – he even indicated that he’d like to play again this week, even knowing that news – we just couldn’t go ahead with that because we had to make sure we protect him.”

The Swans are out of the finals despite upsetting the Giants in the last round.

Longmire admitted Rampe was critical to his side’s defence

“You don’t replace him, you work around that,” he said.

“Obviously Callum Mills has a real leadership role in that area, Lewis Melican – we’ll look at that, the replacements for him.”

Longmire admitted the situation with Taylor was complicated. The 19-year-old in his first year with the club was caught with his girlfriend breaching lockdown regulations in his Perth hotel room.

“I get back to the point that he’s a 19-year -old and his partner is an 18-year-old, and they made some very bad decisions,” Longmire said.

“Not everyone has the same background or the same maturity to make those smart decisions. The balance between accountability of those decisions and understanding and support is very much something that we’re mindful of.”