EMERGING Sydney Swans forward Patrick Veszpremi will miss the first two months of the premiership season after injuring his finger against Adelaide last week in the NAB Challenge.

Veszpremi ruptured his finger flexor tendon during the Swans’ final practice match last Friday night, a 28-point loss to the Crows at AAMI Stadium.

With the 19-year-old’s long-term future in mind, Veszpremi will have surgery early next week. He is expected to be able to resume running 10 days after the operation and will be able to play in eight weeks. 

Swans coach Paul Roos said the injury could end up as a blessing for Veszpremi, who had an interrupted pre-season with a troublesome foot.

“You never like to see an injury but at least it’s something he can run with. Probably the area he needs to keep working on… is the fitness, so at least he can go and get his finger done and he can start running,” Roos said on Friday morning.

“In some ways it might do him some good, because sometimes they can start playing and their fitness is not able to improve, so we’re looking at it from a positive point of view.”

It is possible to continue playing with an injured finger flexor tendon, but permanent damage often results. Roos said that option had been discussed, but it was decided that surgery was the best choice for Veszpremi’s future.

“Crouchy (Jared Crouch) has had it done, but Stuey [Maxfield] didn’t have it done and he’s still struggling with the mobility,” Roos said.

“Being the age that [Pat] is and with the fact that he’s still not a bona fide senior player in terms of his fitness and all those sorts of things, you make the decision, you throw them in and get an op and hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”

Veszpremi will join fellow forward Michael O’Loughlin on the sidelines for round one and Roos said he would reshuffle the Swans’ attacking options accordingly.

“We were going to play Ryan O’Keefe a bit more in the midfield and this probably means we’ll be playing him more forward,” he said.

“Heath Grundy’s been really good so he plays there as well. You can rest Goodesy (Adam Goodes) in the forward pocket and things like that, and you can even rest Jolls (Darren Jolly) down there.”

Veszpremi played six games for the Swans in his debut season last year and booted nine goals, including a four-goal haul against the Brisbane Lions in round 22.