SYDNEY Swans ruckman Callum Sinclair appears certain to be passed fit, but defender Nick Smith looks less likely to face Essendon at the SCG on Saturday.
Sinclair twisting his knee awkwardly in the final quarter of the Swans' win over the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba last week, but scans only revealed some bone bruising and cleared the big man of any structural damage.
Smith was a late withdrawal from the Lions clash after pulling up sore following a training run the day before the match.
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Both men were put through a series of running drills on the outer wing at the SCG on Thursday morning, then joined the main group and looked to be running without any issues before the session was closed to the media.
But AFL.com.au understands that Smith - who had his left knee strapped - took little part in the Swans' hit-out after the warm-up and could miss another game.
Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh missed the first three games of the season after rehabilitation from off-season knee surgery took a lot longer than he expected, but McVeigh said he was hopeful he could return to his best against the Bombers.
The 31-year-old has settled well in defence for the Swans since returning but has averaged just 14 possessions in the last three weeks, well down on the 24 per game he produced in 2015.
"I'm getting there - obviously the first three weeks we had some pretty tough games against Adelaide, West Coast and Brisbane (Lions), but I feel that my body has become accustomed to AFL footy again," McVeigh said on Thursday morning.
"I'm probably a bit off. I haven't been that happy with my performances overall, but I'm just getting back into it.
"The touch is something you obviously can't replicate at training, in terms of the pressure that you receive on game day, but I think it's slowly getting better."
McVeigh said Essendon was still an opponent to be wary of this week, despite the fact that John Worsfold's team contains plenty of new faces.
The 269-gamer – who sits fourth on the Swans' all-time list – said his players were well aware of the Bombers' talents and in such an even season, wins were far too important to throw away with complacency.
"They've been really competitive. If you look through their midfield they've still got (Adam) Cooney, (Matthew) Leuenberger has come in, (Brendon) Goddard, David Zaharakis, so they've got a lot of quality names in there," he said.
"We respect those guys greatly.
"They've obviously had their challenges over the past couple of years, but we've prepared for their best and I'm sure they'll bring that on the weekend.
"We focus on ourselves a lot and what we bring to the table and if we can control our pressure and hardness around the footy, we think we can win a lot of games.
"We've studied them closely and got to know all of their new players, so there won't be anything out of the ordinary that we haven't seen from them."
