Sydney coach John Longmire believes an AFL-wide injury crisis was inevitable this season, adding that a mid-year draft or loan system is unlikely to be the answer.

The Swans have been decimated by injuries since the COVID-19 shutdown ended, with Lance Franklin headlining a long list of unavailable players who would be among the first picked.

Longmire’s side face Richmond, whose depth will also be tested in coming weeks due to the absence of captain Trent Cotchin and other premiership stars, at the Gabba on Sunday.

Longmire revealed Joel Amartey would likely have debuted this weekend but the young ruckman suffered a groin injury during a scratch match against GWS and has joined a stack of Swans talls on the sidelines.

Former Hawthorn defender Kaiden Brand is a chance of returning but otherwise there is no key-position cavalry for Sydney.

The league introduced a mid-season draft last year and is yet to confirm whether another will be staged in 2020.

Longmire suggested it won’t be practical for a range of reasons.

“Where do you get them (players) from? There’s no other competitions going on… things like borders being shut,” he said.

“It (numerous injuries at several clubs) was always going to happen.

“That’s what we were discussing with the AFL all the way through.

“When those injuries mount as the season progresses, we just have to be more creative.”

The 2012 premiership coach has followed the loan deals of NRL players between clubs with interest but does not believe the AFL will follow suit.

“Fans across all sports in the country are looking at things a bit differently now,” Longmire told reporters.

“The challenge with that is if a player goes from one club to another, the chance or risk of infection could go up.

“I might be proven wrong, but I can’t see it happening this year.

“The AFL have got enough to organise .. without the extra challenges and layers of adding that.”

The knock-on effect of having so many injured players is that it becomes even harder for those outside the AFL team to gain proper match practice.

The Swans would ordinarily add top-up players to their NEAFL side during an injury crisis, yet that competition isn’t running and calling in extras simply isn’t possible because of coronavirus restrictions.

The arrival of some Victorian clubs to a NSW hub should help ensure Sydney’s seconds no longer face GWS every weekend, but even that will bring certain challenges.

“There is a possibility (to play Melbourne teams’ reserves) but most of them have only brought up limited numbers,” Longmire said.

“So they might only have six or seven players available.

“We’ll find a way… we’re trying to be creative.”