Sydney Swans coach John Longmire will look to the Club’s reserves side to find a replacement for injured midfielder Kieren Jack.
With Jack set to miss between four and six weeks with an ankle injury sustained in Friday night’s loss to Carlton, Longmire identified a number of players with good reserves form who could come in to the senior side to fill Jack’s void.
“There’s a few players who have been playing really well in our twos,” Longmire said.
“Nathan Gordon on our rookie list has been going quite well, Luke Parker is another kid who has been going well, Lewis Johnston has been playing well…and Brett Meredith in our reserves has also been going well.
“We’re confident we’ll get a player in and hopefully (they will) do a real job for us and change our mix a little bit, which we need to do to cover Kieren, but we’ll work through that during the week,” he said.
Longmire also said changes could be made to the Swans forward line, which managed five goals after quarter time against Carlton, but was hopeful the inclusion of defender Heath Grundy, who missed Friday’s game due to illness, could give him further options.
“There’s always ways of trying to develop (our forward line), we knew that Sam Reid had to go back for Heath Grundy on the weekend which probably disrupted the balance a little bit, but we’ll … see if we can get better, as we need to do,” he said.
“I think Mummy (Shane Mumford) showed some real signs as a forward as well, he took a couple of marks and kicked a couple of crucial goals. We’ll just see how our balance looks this week and hopefully come up with the right mix.”
The Swans travel to Canberra this weekend for Saturday’s game against the Western Bulldogs, with the side looking to reverse the result of last year’s Manuka Oval fixture where the Bulldogs defeated the Swans by 38 points.
Longmire said the side was looking forward to travelling to the nation’s capital and playing in front of the many Swans supporters who are expected for the 1.10pm game.
“We enjoy playing in Canberra, there is a big Swans following,” Longmire said.
“We really enjoy getting down there and playing in front of some terrific supporters down there.”
Swans fans are in for a treat at the ACT Pre Match Function in Canberra on Saturday morning, with Craig Bolton the special guest.
The event will be held at Rydges Capital Hill, 9.30am for a 10am start, and includes a buffet breakfast, tea, coffee and juice. Tickets are $40.00 for Members and $45.00 for Non Members.
Bookings Close Tuesday May 3 at 4pm
Click here to book your tickets.
