SYDNEY'S injury crisis has deepened with yet another tall unavailable.

THE FULL INJURY LIST Who is racing the clock?

Big man Joel Amartey was a chance to debut against Richmond at the Gabba on Sunday, but has suffered another setback right after recovering from a hamstring injury. 

"We'd look at Amartey but unfortunately he did a groin on the weekend as well so he's missing for a couple (of weeks)," coach John Longmire said.

"He would have been a real chance of playing this weekend if he had got through last week's hitout."

Amartey joins rucks Sam Naismith (knee), Callum Sinclair (knee) and Michael Knoll (knee) on the sidelines.

The lack of experienced ruckmen available in the red and white saw West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui score a perfect 10 against the Swans in the AFL Coaches Association's AFL Champion Player Award, with 197cm Hayden McLean left to battle the star Eagle by himself.

Lance Franklin (hamstring) and Sam Reid (calf) have already been ruled out and Tom McCartin (concussion) will miss another match too.

"Tommy's not playing this week, we're still mindful of the effects of that knock from a few weeks ago," Longmire said.

"He'll play when he's ready to play."

Defender Kaiden Brand (ankle) could return this week, allowing Aliir Aliir to spend more time in the ruck.

"Kaiden's a chance this week, he's been training this week. (Lewis) Melican will be out but Kaiden's a chance," Longmire said.

The possibility of playing scratch matches to keep players not getting senior games in form is becoming increasingly more difficult, particularly with injuries starting to pile up.

Clubs have loaned each other players to balance out sides in scratch matches over the past month, but Longmire acknowledges the issues with that.





"The clubs that have gone into hubs, they might only have 27 or 28 players, so we have got to be aware as all clubs in the industry have to help each other out in that regard," Longmire said.

"The challenge with that (loaning players) is when a player goes from one club to the next the risk of infection could go up, so you've got to be careful of that.

"We've got to think of ways of doing that and being creative. When those injuries start to mount as the season progresses you’ve just got to be more creative, because when you've got a full list it's a bit easier to do."