Injury-cruelled Swans mulling options

AFL: One cruel second has cost Sydney two valuable key position players, with forward Sam Reid out for up to eight weeks and defender Lewis Melican for two to three.

Reid suffered a quadriceps tendon injury and Melican a hamstring issue shortly before the end of last Saturday’s game against Greater Western Sydney.

“It was probably within one second in the same bit of play,” Swans coach John Longmire said.

“It’s unfortunate that two of our better key position players went down at the same time.”

Reid made a strong comeback last year after not playing a senior game due to injuries in 2016 and he looked good against GWS.

“He just turned, there wasn’t much in it at all,” Longmire said.

“The ball was about 10 metres away – he didn’t even turn quickly and unfortunately he got injured.

“He was in good form over the pre-season and again on the weekend and he played a pretty good game for us.

“But we’ll adapt, we’ll adjust and we’ll come up with a new tactic to fill that particular role.”

Longmire said one option to replace Reid for Saturday’s away game against the Western Bulldogs could be playing ruckman Callum Sinclair more up forward and giving big Darcy Cameron his debut.

Harry Marsh and Aliir Aliir are among the contenders to replace Melican down back after his hamstring injury.

“Aliir missed five weeks of footy – he played his first game on the weekend,” Longmire said. “It was only sort of 60 minutes. We’re just weighing up how much he needs.

“He might need a bit more game time at the moment considering he’s missed an extended period of time.”

Speedster Zak Jones, 23, is a chance of returning this weekend after missing the past two games with a calf problem.

“He’s certainly feeling good. He’ll do some running today and the plan is to train him on Thursday,” Longmire said.

— Adrian Warren