Sydney Swans coach John Longmire recalls phone call that determined Lance Franklin surgery decision
Sydney Swans coach John Longmire has recalled the New Year's Eve phone call which frightened him into thinking superstar Lance Franklin might be out for an extended period.
Franklin underwent knee surgery in January, halting a promising block of training that represented one of his best starts to a pre-season since leaving Hawthorn in 2013 to join the Swans.
Speaking to SEN, Longmire explained how he found out the news that Franklin had suffered a setback in his recovery.
"His stuff before Christmas was fantastic — that's been well documented … (But) I got a phone call New Year's Eve. The phone rang from our physio about 9.30 in the morning — and that's never good," he said.
Franklin made a flying start to his pre-season before being interrupted by knee surgery Getty
"I took a little bit of time to answer it and unfortunately they mentioned that Lance had trained that morning and had just pulled up a bit sore, but he had the procedure on the other knee a couple of years ago and had pulled up really well. So we're confident he knows what that's about."
The 33-year-old rushed back for the start of the 2019 season following groin surgery then managed to play a total of only 10 games because of recurring hamstring injuries.
The Swans are keen to ensure their gun forward, who has three seasons left on his nine-year deal, does not have another stop-start campaign.
"He'll start running next week and build up," Longmire said.
"We want to give him a good training block, though. We just can't throw him into the season just for the sake of round one.
The Swans have both Isaac Heeney and Franklin on the sidelines at the moment Getty
"We're not sure what it (his recovery) looks like just yet, but we'll monitor how it goes from next week on."
Sydney start their season against Adelaide on March 21, when key forwards Sam Reid and Tom McCartin will both have big roles to play if Franklin isn't available.
Longmire floated the idea of Callum Sinclair spending more time in the forward line, also pointing to Isaac Heeney, Tom Papley, Will Hayward, Ben Ronke, Sam Gray and Lewis Taylor's potency.
"We think we've got a pretty diverse forward line and we've been seeing that over the last three or four weeks with our smalls in particular," Longmire said.
"We're looking forward to seeing how they evolve."
The Swans have high hopes for Nick Blakey and will need him to fire while Franklin is sidelined AAP
Young gun Nick Blakey is another option in attack, although he is set to spend even more time in the midfield this year.
Heeney, who underwent surgery a fortnight ago to repair a broken thumb, is fully expected to be ready for round one.
The Swans could have managed Franklin's sore knee throughout 2020 but wanted to give the four-time Coleman medallist the best chance of playing as many games as possible.
"He had the (same) procedure on the other knee a couple of years ago and that pulled up really well. So we're confident he knows what that's about," Longmire said.
