Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin will miss the side's upcoming Round 3 fixture against Richmond at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

Franklin made a successful return from a 19-month layoff in round two but coach John Longmire, as he has previously stated, said Franklin's workload will continually be managed throughout the 2021 season.

“Lance is feeling good. It was part of our original plan, about a month ago when we sat down, that this might have been a possibility, but we still wanted to see how training went this week," Longmire said.

“We sat down after training and went through the pros and cons and we just want to make sure we keep getting some quality training in the gym and out on the ground into him.

“It is about the longer game with Lance and making sure we get him through the season.

“He is feeling fine but need to be making sure he keeps the strength work up and he wasn’t going to play both the Richmond game and the Essendon game, so it was an opportunity to keep the work into him.”

Sydney today travelled to Melbourne ahead of Saturday's match against the reigning premiers and the final team for the fixture will be announced on Friday evening.

The Sydney Swans Round three team will be announced at 6:25pm on Friday August 2. Who would you pick in your side? Let us know here.