SYDNEY'S mosquito fleet forward line couldn't inspire the Swans to a second straight win without Lance Franklin, but coach John Longmire will continue to search for an answer to his side's scoring woes after their two-point loss to North Melbourne on Saturday night.
The Swans sprung an upset at Geelong in round six when the likes of Will Hayward, Oliver Florent, Robbie Fox and Ben Ronke caused the Cats plenty of problems at ground level, but they couldn't repeat the magic against the Kangaroos.
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Apart from Hayward's three goals, the rest of Sydney's small forwards struggled to have an impact, and they badly missed the presence of Franklin (bruised heel) and fellow tall Sam Reid (quad), finishing with just 9.12 against the Roos, their lowest score of the season.
Longmire said the lack of tall targets inside 50 isn't ideal, nor is the inexperience of his forward line without Franklin and Reid.
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"Just have a look at our front half," he said.
"We're trying to come up with ways to kick a winning score, and last week in the last quarter we were able to.
"But if you drop away in any part of the game, every little part of your game gets exposed.
"We understand that, but you've still got to find a way to score.
"That’s the reality of it."
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Franklin could return for next week's clash with his former side Hawthorn on Friday night, but the four-time Coleman medallist is no guarantee and could miss a third game in a row.
Longmire said star midfielder Dan Hannebery (groin) could also be back to face the Hawks, but both he and Franklin need to prove their fitness at training during the week.
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"Both of them had a run on Friday, so we'll see how it goes," he said.
"It's a Friday game so I'm not sure if that impacts things to see if they're up and going by Wednesday.
"They're both probably 50-50 at the moment and we'll see how the week progresses."
