Sydney Swans Lance Franklin has avoided injury following an incident in the final term in Sydney's Round 11 victory over Carlton last night, with the forward expected to take on St Kilda this weekend, with the side also regaining in-form ruckman Tom Hickey.
The Swans’ forward pulled up fine after his left knee was caught under him in a tackle, before playing out the remainder of the match.
The 34-year-old has impressed with 22 goals in seven games this season, kicking three goals in last night's victory.
"He's OK at the moment, he's certainly walking around all right, so we'll see how he goes at training later in the week,” John Longmire told reporters on Monday.
"We've got six-day breaks this week and next week, as the fixture sits, but I think he'll be right to do some training on Thursday.
"[We’ll] make sure that he's still doing some strength work and has some training under his belt during the week to make sure he's OK for the game. There is some underpinning foundations to that which means he needs to achieve those markers during the week and as long as he does that he'll be fine.”
Ruckman Tom Hickey is also expected to face the Saints, one of his three former clubs, after missing the 22-point win over the Blues to rest his troublesome knee.
The 30-year-old injured his PCL in round five but only missed one week at the time, and then received a knock on the same knee against Fremantle.
Hickey has been in career-best form this season, competitive in ruck contests but also averaging personal highs in disposals (16 a game), contested ball (11.6) and goals (six in nine matches).
"He'll be right, he did some running on the weekend and pulled up pretty well, so we'll see how he goes at training on Thursday, but at this stage we expect he'll be OK,” Longmire said.
"He'll do his physio, weights, strength work, so the normal sort of rehab work that he does during the week. He just keeps on top of that.
"It's all related to that [previous PCL injury]. We expected that would happen, so it's just a matter of making sure that we look after him, manage him, get the strength work into him. He had the weekend off and feels pretty good today.”
Robbie Fox should also be available for selection after recovering from a poke in the eye during the loss to the Dockers in Round 10.
Fox’s availability could be even more important with Lewis Melican reinjuring his hamstring in training last week and set to be sidelined until after the Swans have a bye in round 14.
