Ted Richards has struck up a friendship with his former foe Lance Franklin, who joined the Swans for his first full pre-season training session this morning.

Richards, who has engaged in a number of thrilling battles with the former Hawk over the years, received a text message from Franklin when he signed on with the Swans in October, and caught up with the new recruit several times during the off-season.

Speaking to SwansTV on Monday afternoon, Richards said he felt Franklin would be a good fit for the Swans moving forward.

“It’s great, we’ve got a great mix of new players and we’ve got Buddy Franklin, who I’ve had a close on-field relationship with over the years,” he said.

“I caught up with him a couple of times away from the club and I think he’s come with a great attitude and is really embracing the team.”

After battling it out throughout the 2012/13 pre-season with then-new recruit Kurt Tippett, Richards said taking on Franklin at training this year would add yet another challenge for the Swans defenders.

The full back added that he and his fellow key defenders would have their hands full this pre-season training against the Swans’ tall forwards including Tippett, Sam Reid and Adam Goodes.

“I’ve been able to see firsthand what he’s capable of and I think it’s going to be good to be able to have a pre-season where I’ll be playing on him,” Richards said.

“I’ll be constantly testing myself with one of the best in the competition every training session, along with Kurt Tippett, Adam Goodes and all the other good forwards that we have.”

Richards was one of a number of senior players who returned to the club on Monday morning following a 10-week off-season break.

The 30-year-old said the players were thrown straight into their first pre-season session for the year, which kicked off with a 3km time trial around Lakeside Oval.

“This is my 14^th pre-season and I was kind of hoping last night that it would be a slow, soft transition into another pre-season but we got whacked right in the face with a big program as usual,” he said.

“The 3km time trial began it all and then we did some repetitive running after that.

“It sounds stupid because it’s just 3km, but for one reason or another there is so much importance put on it.

“(The coaches) can check on how you’ve gone according to previous years so they can really monitor how you’ve come back individually relative to how you’ve come back in previous years, but also how you’ve come back according to everyone else in the group.”

Dan Hannebery was the eventual winner for Monday morning’s trial, followed closely by Craig Bird, Lloyd Perris as well as Ben McGlynn, who Richards said put up a fight late in the final lap.

“I’d love to say that I was right there being able to see it firsthand, but I strategically ran my own race and that involved letting those guys go off and do their thing so it wasn’t until after the race that I found out the podium finish,” Richards said.

“I heard about Ben McGlynn, he was in that front pack with about 800 metres to go, and he ended up getting caught but I think it was good to see that he had the courage to give it to Hanners.”