AFTER three weeks playing in unfamiliar territory in the reserves, dashing half-back Tadhg Kennelly is a strong chance to be running out with the seniors against Carlton this Friday night.

Kennelly trained strongly yesterday and has overcome any doubts about the strength of the knee he dislocated during a trip home to Ireland late last year.

Swans coach John Longmire is confident Kennelly is right to go.

“Tadhg is going to be close for selection,’’ Longmire said. “He has played three games now in our reserves and we know he is a real quality player, he is fit now and he is confident in his knee so he’ll be up for selection, and he’ll be close.’’

Longmire said “five or six’’ players had been below par in the Round 4 loss to Geelong so the match committee would consider elevating players from the reserves.

“Jarred Moore and Trent Dennis-Lane and our two ruckmen (Mike Pyke and Mark Seaby) played well in the reserves last week.  We’re starting to get pressure from underneath which is important,’’ he said.

“We had five or six players who didn’t have great games (against Geelong) and the reserves played quite well. It will just come down to whether we give those players another chance or we decide to bring in players who are in good form in the reserves.’’

The Swans returned to the training track yesterday after a break over the weekend due to the bye.

Longmire said the players were put through a very tough training session on Friday, then given the weekend off. Now the focus is fully on Carlton, who the Swans meet in the first Friday night home and away game at the SCG since 2003.

Longmire went to Melbourne to watch Carlton play the Adelaide Crows on Saturday night and was impressed by what he saw - and in particular what he saw from their captain, Chris Judd.

Now the question is, who to play on him?

“The discussion around Chris Judd is always, do you tag him or do you go head to head because he is going to get the ball anyway?,’’ Longmire said.

The last time the Swans played Carlton, in the elimination final at ANZ Stadium last September, Judd ran rampant in the third quarter and was only quelled when Josh Kennedy went to him in the final term.

“Goodesy is a chance to play on him at times. We’ll have to have match committee discussion and find out whether it is Goodes v Judd head-to-head or do you go with someone else to play on him,’’ he said.

Other options are Kieren Jack, Kennedy, Craig Bird, or possibly even Ryan O’Keefe who has played some run-with roles in the past.

“You need a reasonable size body on (Judd) at times because he’s such a contested ball player around the stoppages,’’ Longmire said.

“We need to get that decision right but we can’t forget (Marc) Murphy - he’s in ripping form at the moment - and Kade Simpson is a goal kicker, (Andrew) Carrazzo got under our guard in the final last year so Carlton have got a number of players who are dangerous.’’

Longmire said he would consider bringing in either Pyke or Seaby -  if not this week then some time in the near future - to help out Shane Mumford who at present is only getting a short break from ruck duties when Jesse White steps in.

“The way Shane Mumford plays, he is such an aggressive contested ball player, that we need to be mindful of the workload on him,’’ Longmire said.

“His game time has gone up dramatically since last year so at some point we’d like to lessen the workload on him and that could mean having another ruckman in the team, and maybe even developing Jesse as a full forward rather than a forward/ruckman,’’ Longmire said.

“Both Mike and Mark played well last week in the reserves. Pyke kicked four goals and Mark moved as well as he has all year, so they are in contention this week. But we are very wary of Carlton’s run, they have some very hard runners in their team.’’

The Swans team to play Carlton at 7.40pm this Friday night at the SCG will be named on the website on Thursday at 5pm. 

Tickets are still available at www.ticketek.com.au but people are advised to buy early, and arrive early on Friday.