Sydney Swans forward Tom McCartin will miss Thursday night’s match against the Western Bulldogs due to concussion. 

McCartin suffered a knock to his head in a marking contest during the final quarter of Sydney’s win over North Melbourne on Saturday.

General Manager of Football Charlie Gardiner said the key forward would be monitored closely over the next few days.

“He (McCartin) was suffering from concussion and he didn’t return to the field so we will monitor him closely over the next few days,” Gardiner said.

“The new concussion guidelines introduced by the AFL at the start of the year require players to return to a baseline level of symptoms five days out from a game, and with a short turn around leading into the Bulldogs on Thursday night, he won’t be cleared to play this week.

“We will be taking a very conservative approach with him.”

However, someone who could be in the mix to play is Sam Naismith.

The ruckman increased his training load over the weekend after recovering from a hamstring issue.

“Sam did a good session on Saturday and will train with the main group tomorrow ahead of the game against the Western Bulldogs,” Gardiner said.

“We will see how he goes tomorrow and make a call later in the week as to whether he returns this week or next.”

Kaiden Brand (ankle) is also making positive progress with his injury not as bad as first expected.

“Kaiden has pulled up quite well after sustaining the injury in our main training session last week and not being available to play against North Melbourne,” Gardiner said.

“He has surprised us and is feeling good this week, so hopefully we can progress his recovery this week and he doesn’t miss too much football.

“We will just have to wait and see how he goes.”

Meanwhile, Lance Franklin is continuing to increase his training load and key forward Sam Reid will be looking to join in skills training later this week as he begins to condition his body for a return to AFL.