Sydney Swans coach John Longmire says Lance Franklin is an outside chance for the Anzac Day clash against Hawthorn but Tom Papley will not play.
The Swans are priced at 3/1 to reach the 2022 AFL grand final and having Franklin injury free throughout the campaign will be key to their chances.
Touch and go
Franklin is making progress after suffering a fractured finger and could return to action ahead of schedule.
Logan McDonald and Hayden McLean did impress in the 62-point win over the West Coast Eagles though so Longmire is confident they could provide cover once again if Franklin does miss out.
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"We'll see how the week progresses, we'll make that decision when we've got all the information in front of us and that won't happen until the end of the week," Longmire said.
"His finger is getting better all the time, we'll just let that pan out.
"A couple of the young key forwards came in and did a good job for us, and that's important, with Franklin and Papley and (Sam) Wicks (out), that's half of our starting six of our forward group."
Papley closing on return
Meanwhile Tom Papley is very close to returning from a hamstring injury and is going full pelt in training. However Longmire is keen to give him one more week just to make sure.
"Tom Papley trained (on Tuesday) and trained flat out, did the whole session and then some extra conditioning on top," Longmire told reporters.
"(He) pulled up really well, trained really well, we expect him to have another session on Friday.
"He definitely won't be playing on Monday because we want to just get another week of training under his belt, he'll be playing hopefully next week is the plan."
