SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire looks likely to be without co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and forward Gary Rohan for next week's preliminary final against Geelong.
McVeigh (calf) and Rohan (knee) were both injured during the second quarter of the Swans' 36-point win over Adelaide at the SCG on Saturday night, and appear to be no chance of taking on the Cats, with Friday's night's clash giving the pair just six days to recover.
Rohan was taken from the ground on a medi-cab after hurting his right knee in a marking contest. It was hard to tell whether the injury was sustained with the collision or upon landing, but play was stopped for three or four minutes while he was stretchered off.
Syd v Adel: Full match coverage and statistics
Co-captain Jarrad McVeigh was seen limping and later left the field to receive treatment on his left calf. He came back on after half-time and played as a deep forward to try and help his side, Longmire abandoned that plan shortly after.
Longmire said that Kurt Tippett (jaw) could return next week, but it was too early to tell if the ruckman, along with defender Callum Mills (hamstring), will be available.
The injuries put a dampener on the home side's emphatic performance, but Longmire refused to rule out the duo until the Swans get the results of scans.
The Swans' co-captain could miss the big clash against the Cats after injuring his calf earlier. #AFLFinals https://t.co/I7utI1ZSiM
— AFL (@AFL) September 17, 2016
"Gary (Rohan) copped a knock on the side (of the knee), so we don't know if it was a structural thing, we'll have to see how bad that is," Longmire said post-match.
"We had a chat to Jarrad (McVeigh) at half-time to see if he could help out (with rotations), but we didn't want to risk it.
"It's a fine line between playing through it, and Jarrad was willing to do it, but we didn't want to keep pushing it once we had a look at him running around.
WATCH: John Longmire's full press conference
"To lose two (players) half way through the second (quarter), and finish off with a six-goal last quarter was a real credit to the mental strength of the players.
"The leaders were terrific and the young layers were really fantastic as well, it was a really brave performance."
The Swans gave their coach the response he'd asked for mid-week after their disappointing performance against Greater Western Sydney, with his defenders in particular outstanding against the Crows' powerful forward line.
Nick Smith had the better of All Australian goalsneak Eddie Betts, Dane Rampe quelled the influence of Taylor Walker, Heath Grundy shut down Josh Jenkins, and the returning Jeremy Laidler did the job on tom Lynch, helping the Swans bounce back from their loss to the Giants.
Longmire said his back six were superb, and received great assistance from the rest of the team.
WATCH: Rohan carted off with knee injury
"A couple of our senior players, who have had very good years, played on some very good players," he said.
"Those blokes in that forward line are as good as any going around, and I thought they were helped enormously by the pressure up the ground.
"It was certainly a lot more pressure than we applied last week.
"They still had to play well and win the one on ones, and generally they did a pretty good job."