The blows keep coming for the Sydney Swans with Lance Franklin ruled out for at least this weekend’s AFL clash with Geelong.
Franklin has been quietly battling a bruised heel for the past month but coach John Longmire revealed on Tuesday the star forward had aggravated the injury during Friday’s 10-point home loss to Adelaide.
Key midfielder Dan Hannebery will be sidelined for Saturday’s game at Kardinia Park with a strained groin.
Longmire said Franklin sustained his injury against West Coast in round one and added it would be “a reasonable conclusion” to assume the hard surface at Optus Stadium played a part.
“He hasn’t done any training of any substance since then,” Longmire said.
“We’ve been trying to get him better week by week and hoping he’d get to a point where he was not only getting through games better but do some training.
“But the heel hasn’t responded and got worse on the weekend, so he won’t be playing this week and we’re not sure after that how it’ll respond.”
Longmire admitted Franklin’s absence could extend beyond the away game at the Cats.
“We’re not putting a time frame on it at the moment,” he said.
“Bruised heels are two things; they’re really painful and hard to get a guide on how long it takes to come back.”