Key defensive pair Tadhg Kennelly and Lewis Roberts-Thomson have been ruled out of this weekend’s reserves practice match but are not out of contention to play in the round one encounter against Melbourne.

Senior coach John Longmire told sydneyswans.com.au that with the pair missing the reserves game against East Coast Eagles on Saturday, the coaching staff would have to closely monitor the situation before making a call on their selection for the season opener.

“It’s obviously a question mark whether they will be playing round one,” Longmire said.

“We’ll have a sit down and talk about what they do next week, and they’ll hopefully be looking to play somewhere by next weekend.”

Longmire did confirm that key forward Daniel Bradshaw had been ruled out of contention for round one after suffering knee soreness last week and could not specify when he would return.

“He won’t be playing round 1, and we are not sure when he will be playing,” he said.

Saturday’s reserves game will give several of the Swans players a final chance to stake their claim to be included in the senior team to face the Demons at the MCG on March 27, as well as the opportunity for others to gain vital match fitness.

Trent Dennis-Lane, Jesse White, Sam Reid and Mike Pyke will all feature in the game, with Longmire confident they can use the hit-out as an avenue for senior selection.

“Some of them have played during the NAB Cup and practice matches, which has been good, some didn’t play last week and need to get another game under their belts,” Longmire said.

“We just hope that they can get some form and continue their fitness, and put their case forward for not only round 1, but for the early part of the season.”

The game against East Coast Eagles will be the first time new reserves coach Henry Playfair will take charge of the team, and Longmire said Playfair would structurally set the team up to be consistent with the seniors.

“We sit down with Henry and look at the positions the players are playing in and talk through that relative to where we might need them to play at senior level,” Longmire said.

“There are no real surprises, but we just want to give the reserves players an opportunity to play in positions where they can stake their claim for senior selection.”

Sydney Swans Reserves v East Coast Eagles
Saturday March 19 commencing at 10am
Lakeside Oval, Driver Ave, Moore Park