Decorated Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin tackling the pre-season sweat.

Star Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin will not feature in the first two rounds of the club’s 2020 campaign due to pre-season knee surgery and ongoing rehabilitation.

But in welcome news for Sydney fans, young gun Isaac Heeney will take part in the Swans’ season-opening clash with the Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

While Franklin had looked supreme on the training deck during the pre-Christmas period, the four-time Coleman medallist suffered a knee injury on a run on New Year’s Eve and underwent arthroscopic surgery.

Swans coach John Longmire has now confirmed the 300-game champion will not be available for Saturday’s match against the Crows or next week’s home game against Essendon.

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Longmire press conference - March 16, 2020

Senior Coach John Longmire addressed the media today on preparations for Round 1.

“It was always a long shot that he was going to be right for this week,” Longmire said.

“He won’t be playing this week and he won’t be playing next week.

“He needs a couple of more weeks of training, we need to get some more training under his belt.”

Sydney Swans star Isaac Heeney in the thick of pre-season training.

Heeney missed Sydney’s first Marsh Community Series match due to a broken thumb but returned to meet North Melbourne in his side’s final pre-season hit-out.

The 2014 draftee emerged from the game unscathed and is now set to return to the venue of his 100th AFL appearance.

“Isaac Heeney should be right to go,” Longmire said.

“He got through last week’s game against the Roos and is ready to go.”

In further news on the injury front, key forward Sam Reid (calf) is only an outside chance to be named for the Adelaide clash.

“Sam is unlikely to play in Round 1 at this stage,” Longmire said.

“We’d like to get some more training into him. We’ll see how next week goes. He’s been training and training well, but we need to get some more training into him.”

Sydney Swans forward Sam Reid is unlikely to be ready for Round 1.

Longmire is confident in the overall shape of his team on the cusp of season 2020.

“We’re going quite well. We had quite a few injuries in January but through February and March we’ve been able to put together some consistent training,” Longmire said.

“We feel like we’ll be as prepared as possible and we’re looking forward to the clash with Adelaide.”