SWANS key forward Daniel Bradshaw has been ruled out of this Saturday night’s final NAB Challenge game against St Kilda at Coffs Harbour.

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire said Bradshaw had pulled up with knee soreness when his training load was intensified last week.

“We are letting it settle this week and Daniel feels good today,’’ Longmire said.

“He ran on the treadmill on Tuesday and will run again today and we’ll see if we can build it up again next week. It’s a wait-and-see situation.’’

Bradshaw told www.sydneyswans.com.au he had been training twice a week but has pulled back temporarily. He is still hopeful he will be ready to play in round one of the 2011 season, against Melbourne at the MCG on March 27.

“My knee felt sore after I had done some forward drills,’’ Bradshaw said.

“This week it’s feeling much better. I’m doing more of a recovery program, letting it settle down and then building up again with the hope that I will be right for round one.’’

Bradshaw played nine games last season in his first year with the Swans after being traded from the Brisbane Lions. He had surgery in January 2010 on his knee cartilage, but played in round one.

“Despite the soreness last week, I still feel  I’m in a much better position than I was a year ago  heading into the season,’’ he said. “Last year I only started training a week before the first game so I’m a lot more advanced than that.

“I’m hoping to play a practice game next week so I get a bit of footy in before round one but we’ll see how it goes. It’s a week to week proposition at this stage.’’