Small Swans forward Ben Ronke is likely to miss Sydney’s Round 2 clash with Essendon at the SCG next Sunday.

Ronke was part of a crucial small forward pack that were influential in the club’s Round 1 win over Adelaide in March.

The 22-year-old had nine disposals and six tackles in the first game of the season before suffering some bone bruising to his knee.

“Ben didn’t do a lot of running during the shutdown period to rest and recover,” General Manager of Football Charlie Gardiner said.

“He is back in training, has been able to do some rehab work over the last few weeks and will resume skills training this week.

“Hopefully he can come on quickly and be available soon, but is unlikely to be available for Round 2.”

Defender Jackson Thurlow is also beginning to increase his training load after suffering a minor calf strain.

Thurlow had surgery to repair an ankle injury in January, but had begun running and conditioning work during the season shutdown period.

His latest setback occurred just after the team returned to training.

“Jackson was able to do some training by himself during the shutdown period but unfortunately he picked up a calf injury unrelated to the ankle problem in one of our first skills sessions,” Gardiner said.

“He will miss a couple of weeks but is already looking good and returning to some training.

“We expect to see him join in skills training in the next few days, and then he has to put together a block of training given the amount of work he has missed, to put himself in the frame to be available for selection.”

The Swans return to the field to resume the 2020 season against Essendon on Sunday, June 14 at the SCG at 3:45pm.