DUAL Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes could be out for several weeks as the Sydney Swans try to gauge the nature of his groin injury.

He will join injured players Henry Playfair, Michael O’Loughlin and Amon Buchanan (suspended) on the sidelines, with Leo Barry and Nick Malceski having to pass fitness tests.

Malceski has been a late withdrawal the previous three weeks with an ongoing calf injury.

Goodes, who at his peak is one of the game’s most difficult players to match up on, struggled for the second week in a row, collecting only eight possessions after injuring his groin on the eve of the round 16 clash against Carlton.

Goodes had been quiet the previous week but kicked two vital goals against the Blues as the Swans came from behind to win by two points.

But there was no rags to riches story this week as the Crows comfortably defeated the Swans by 24 points.

“I guess sometimes as coaches we are responsible for picking players that you sometimes shouldn’t pick, but you do that in good faith and it happens at all clubs,” Swans coach Paul Roos said on Monday. 

“But at some point the coaches have to overrule the players and you have to put a healthy team on the field.”

Roos said that Goodes felt right to go before the game and even after the warm-up, but it became obvious as the match progressed he was unable to exert his normal influence.

“He shouldn’t have played,” Roos said. “He wasn’t able to contribute at all and it impacted significantly on our ability to win the footy. Particularly when Henry went down, we were effectively two players short. 

“We got over the line luckily the week before but we couldn’t do it on the weekend. You just can’t do it. You have to have a healthy team. This week he just won’t play.

“We can’t put him in a position where he can’t perform. So, it might be two to three weeks but who knows – he just can’t function with whatever injury he has got and we are better to pick someone who can.

"Obviously, he is a great player but I think we saw with Chris Judd last year, if you can’t run and can’t move you are better to pick someone who is physically capable of getting across the ground.”

On a more positive note, Roos was expecting Barry to return and was hopeful that Malceski would get through training after missing the past three matches.

“I just saw [Malceski] then and he said he is feeling fantastic,” Roos said.

“Time will tell. Leo Barry looks like he is likely to play this week, so a couple of reasonable inclusions.”