Buddy Franklin at centre of sad admission from Sydney Swans coach

Sydney coach John Longmire has made the sad admission that Buddy Franklin is paying the price for the Swans' reliance on him earlier in the season, with the champion forward set to miss a second straight AFL game. Franklin has not played since his milestone 350th game against St Kilda, where the 36-year-old kicked his 1058th goal to jump into fourth on the all-time list.

The Swans - currently fourth-last after an underwhelming 5-8 win-loss record this season - go into Saturday's match against cellar dwellers West Coast as heavy favourites. That might not be saying much against an Eagles side that has only tasted victory once this season, although knee soreness looks set to rule Franklin out for a second game in a row.

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Sydney typically likes to manage the 36-year-old superstar but a spate of early season injuries saw him feature in nine of the Swans' first 12 games. In Sydney's chastening home defeat to Fremantle in May, Longmire revealed that he was forced to pick a "really sick" Franklin, who he says was "bed-ridden" just hours before the game.

Longmire's side initially had to contend with injuries to key forwards Joel Amartey and Sam Reid, before Logan McDonald was also added to a growing casualty ward. The Swans coach said they would have otherwise been able to manage Buddy's workload better, with the club and the veteran forward now facing the inevitable repercussions.

"We wouldn't have played him (Franklin) in the first half of the year as much as we did, if we had other options," Longmire told reporters on Wednesday. "We had some injuries to other key forwards in Joel (Amartey) and Reidy (Sam Reid) - and towards the end of that period Logan (McDonald) as well - and it's probably costing us a little bit in the back end of the year.

"If we had other options we would have taken those." The legendary forward is part of a lengthy injury list, which has plagued Sydney's performance and sent them tumbling down the ladder to 15th.

Swans and Eagles set to regain stars for clash

The Swans should regain co-captain Callum Mills, dynamo Isaac Heeney and McDonald in a positive development for the clash against bottom club, West Coast. Though the Eagles are favourites for the wooden spoon, the return of defenders Tom Barrass, Liam Duggan and Jeremy McGovern will pose a challenge to the Swans' understrength forward line.

Longmire says, while his team have undeniably been ravaged by injury, it is a challenge all teams have to face. "Different teams at different times go through it," he said.

"You deal with the cards that are put in front of you and our challenge now is to make sure we get the other players - the ones that are coming back - we get that balance right and get them in as good a form as we possibly can." The Swans remain confident in the make-up of their squad and have re-signed 33-year-old co-captain Dane Rampe on a two-year extension.

The defender has played 221 games with the Swans since being picked in the 2013 AFL rookie draft and has played a pivotal role leading Sydney during their tumultuous 2023 season. "(From) the moment we put him in the team, he has been an outstanding, massive competitor and such a critical leader for this footy club on and off the field," Longmire said.

with AAP

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