THE IMMEDIATE playing future of Sydney Swans forward Sam Reid hangs in the balance after he suffered another quad injury in Sunday's 31-point win over Melbourne at the MCG.
In his first appearance since straining his left quad in round nine against Collingwood, Reid lasted just 12 minutes before going down with a recurrence of the problem.
"He's missed five weeks, and he's had a number of scans on the way through, and it didn't last long," coach John Longmire said after the game.
"He said it didn't feel as bad as it did last time. It didn't pull him up as sharply as it did last time.
"But it's the same quad."
Reid is now racing to regain full fitness in time to be part of the Swans' finals campaign.
"It's clearly not ideal," Longmire said. "To miss five weeks – and we were conservative with his comeback – and to last 10 minutes has been disappointing for him and us.
"He's a very important player for us, whether it's up forward or down back.
"But we can only deal with now getting him rehabbed and getting him back in as soon as we can, and that's what we'll try and do.
"The fact is he's not going to be there for another few weeks."
Reid's injury was an especially cruel blow for the Swans, as they had waited all season to field a forward line with both him and star recruit Kurt Tippett.
The upside was that Tippett played out the game strongly, taking a number of contested marks and collecting 15 possessions, although he undid some of his good work by booting a wayward 2.4.
"He's a big target in that front half, and he's such a good, strong contested mark player," Longmire said.
"His ability to be able to compete in the air and one the ground is a really high quality.
"And a couple that he didn't mark, Brandon (Jack) and a couple of others were able to crumb off him, so they're starting to get used to him, which is good."
Both of the Jack brothers were key players in the Swans' 10th victory of the season.
Kieren racked up 30 possessions and eight clearances in a best-afield display, although Brandon, who was subbed into the contest when Reid went down, was wearing the widest smile at the end.
In just his third game of AFL footy, he finished with four goals, which is a greater haul than Kieren has managed in 128 matches.
"He told me after the game that his best is three," Brandon joked. "So I've got him already."
The Swans should improve their record to 11-3-1 next Sunday when they host crosstown rival Greater Western Sydney at the SCG.
