SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire has hinted that young speedster Gary Rohan could be set for a return to the AFL 15 months after his horrific leg injury.
Longmire was encouraged by the performances of Rhyce Shaw and Rohan, who kicked three goals in his second game back from injury for the Sydney Swans reserves team.
Five talking points: West Coast v Sydney Swans
Shaw hasn't played since round two after battling what the club has described as a "unique" abdominal injury. Rohan suffered a severe broken leg against North Melbourne in 2012.
"We had Gary Rohan and Rhyce Shaw play yesterday. Shaw played his first match and played quite well," he said.
"We hope to get those players back over the coming weeks.
"They are going quite well. Our reserves had a really good win yesterday. But we don't want to rush them either. They need to have a good preparation.
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"They have been training really hard and we will sit down during the week and see how those blokes are going."
Longmire said Shaw and Rohan would be "in the mix" for the match against Richmond at the SCG on Sunday.
Speaking after his team had beaten West Coast by 34 points at Patersons Stadium, Longmire said he had been pleased with the way his team had performed without several of its senior players.
Several Swans youngsters have been integrated into the team during the absence of several senior players. The Swans have been without Adam Goodes, Sam Reid, Lewis Jetta and Lewis Roberts-Thomson for large parts of the season.
"It's a real credit to the younger kids who have been given an opportunity," Longmire said.
"They have really grabbed it with both hands and that's half the battle."
He added that the Swans could not look forward to a top-two finish because any move up the ladder was not entirely within their own control.
Longmire said the players enjoyed coming to Perth to play against their arch-rivals West Coast in front of a hostile crowd.
"We were really pleased," he said.
"The midfield was terrific. Really, across the board, I think the weight of numbers we had across the 22 players was really good.
"That's what you need when you play West Coast on their home deck. It takes a full-team effort and we didn't have many passengers today.
"We kept them to less than 80 points on their home ground and we kicked 17 ourselves so we are really pleased with the evenness of the effort."
Longmire said Ryan O'Keefe should be available for the match against the Tigers after suffering a minor concussion on Sunday.
