SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire says it is still unclear if co-captain Jarrad McVeigh will play this weekend as concerns about the health of his new-born baby, Luella, linger.

McVeigh missed last weekend's game against Essendon, despite being named, deciding to stay in Sydney to be with his wife, Clementine, and his ill daughter.

Longmire said on Friday: "Jarrad McVeigh is one who will come back in if everything is OK, but we won’t know until this stage tomorrow.

"He's done all the training, and come to all the meetings, and he really wants to play this week so we'll give him every chance.

"The real key is that it's important for us as a football club to give Macca as much time and space as he needs, as well as also focusing on the footy.

"If he declares himself ready to play, he'll be 100 per cent ready to go and we won't have any hesitation in playing him."

Longmire said Brett Meredith would feature in the side for the first time since round two, with the midfielder overcoming some groin and hamstring tightness.

"We were keen to get him back in the team," Longmire said.

"He's been thereabouts for a number of weeks and he's just had a couple of hamstring/groin niggles and we haven't been able to get him in the team. His last couple of weeks (in the reserves) have been pretty good."

Longmire said he was looking forward to seeing how his playing group responded in the wake of last week's nail-biting loss to Essendon, in particular how his crop of youngsters rebound from the setback.

"It is a real challenge for us this week to make sure we get up pretty quickly," Longmire said.

"We're really confident [because] our senior players have been through it a number of times and they know how to bounce back pretty quickly.

"I think it's exciting now that our younger players get exposed to that and to see how Sam Reid, [Luke] Parker, [Lewis] Jetta, Dan Hannebery, respond after the disappointment of last week. I'm confident they will be fine.

"[But] we have to win this week. We were disappointed in the way we went about it last year down there [against Richmond at the MCG in round 14].

"They're a team that's young and on the rise, and they're keen to get back home in front of the Richmond faithful and play well, but there's a lot at stake for us."