SYDNEY will be licking its lips at the imminent return of goalkicker Daniel Menzel, as the former Cat gears up to play NEAFL next week.
In December, Menzel went for surgery on the groin that plagued him for much of 2018.
That happened less than a month after the Swans recruited him as a delisted free agent.
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The 27-year-old suffered a setback in March but is eyeing off an outing in the state league against the Giants on Saturday, April 27, Swans head of football Charlie Gardiner says.
"Dan is recovering from a groin injury that he picked up about a month ago," Gardiner told sydneyswans.com.au.
"He is getting very close to a return to playing. We think he is about a week away.
"He will do some heavy training in the next week. He will most likely make a return through the NEAFL side."
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Menzel has booted 136 goals in his 73-game career.
Sydney is the fifth-lowest scoring team in the AFL and their chief goalkickers in 2019 are superstar Lance Franklin and young gun Isaac Heeney, who have booted seven apiece.
Heeney is in doubt to face Richmond on Saturday night at the MCG.
"Isaac took a pretty heavy knock to his hip on Thursday night (against Melbourne) and was pretty ginger just after it," Gardiner said.
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"He was able to run out the game, which was a good sign. He pulled up a little bit sore after the game and is being worked on by our medical team.
'He will likely train on Thursday and we hope that he will come up to play for Saturday's game."
Another one dangerous up forward is Will Hayward, who broke his jaw in a brutal collision with Carlton veteran Kade Simpson in round three.
"Hayward had surgery a week ago now on his jaw about a week ago now and the surgery went really well," Gardiner said.
"He is recovering excellently, and we expect he will be available next month to resume playing and we look forward to having him back out there as soon as possible."
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