Sydney coach John Longmire says star recruit Lance Franklin’s role in his battling AFL side will vary according to their needs.

Longmire has yet to have the luxury and potentially pleasant headache of working out how best to utilise the proven talents of his four main key forwards.

Franklin and Sam Reid have occupied the key forward posts for most of the Swans’ first two games, but Adam Goodes and Kurt Tippett are still on the rehabilitation trail from knee injuries.

Dual Brownlow Medallist Goodes hasn’t played since round 13 last year and is still a few weeks away from returning.

“He’s going okay, he’s running really well, he’s feeling as good as he has for a long time,” Longmire said of Goodes,

“His running program has really stepped up.

“We’re hoping Tippett at the end of this week will start to do some ball work and Goodesy early next week.”

Franklin moved out of the Swans’ forward zone for part of last Saturday night’s loss to Collingwood and Longmire suggested that could happen more regularly.

“His role will vary according to the team’s needs, it will just depend upon where we see him in any particular game,” Longmire said.

“Sometimes it will be deep, sometimes it will be up the ground and we thought the work he did on the weekend was pretty good.”

Longmire was philosophical about not having all his forward trumps available simultaneously.

“You can’t get away from the fact that they haven’t spent a lot of time together, both in a training sense and a playing sense,” Longmire said.

“But that will improve with the more time they spend together as a forward group.

“As we have seen over the years, very rarely are you going to have all the players that can play in your front half available to play.”

Longmire said Sydney would focus this week on showing more composure going forward after frequently frittering away possession against the Magpies through poor execution and decision making.

He hoped Lewis Roberts-Thomson (groin) and Gary Rohan (leg) would resume training on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

The Crows have also started the season with back-to-back losses, with Longmire expecting a fierce response from them on Saturday.