SECOND-YEAR Sydney revelation Chad Warner is likely to be sidelined for the Swans' Friday night grudge match with Hawthorn due to a sore leg.
Coach John Longmire has revealed that Warner, 20, has been carrying a "sore spot" for a couple of weeks and is in doubt for the round 13 game at the SCG.
Warner has been a welcome addition to the Swans' midfield this season, playing all 12 matches and averaging 17 disposals and four tackles a game.
The Swans have been quick to rest their young guns since first-year players Braeden Campbell and Errol Gulden were sidelined with stress reactions after round eight. Both are expected to return after the Swans' bye in round 14.
"[Warner] has just had a sore spot for a couple of weeks on his leg, so he may not play this week," Longmire said.
"He might be one of those younger boys that we're conscious of shielding early, with Gulden and Campbell getting those workload issues.
"One of the things about playing younger players, it's great and it's fantastic, but you've still got to be mindful that they're still growing, they're still developing."
Sydney's forward line had a different look on Saturday against the Saints with No.4 draft pick Logan McDonald returning to the team and forward/ruck Joel Amartey playing his second career game to form a three-key attack with Lance Franklin.
Amartey impressed with 14 disposals and three contested marks, looking lively and competitive in the forward line but also supporting Tom Hickey in the ruck.
"We know [McDonald] is a very smart player, he's able to find space, he's a beautiful kick and so as a key forward the more physical and stronger that he gets over the years the better he'll be. That doesn't happen overnight, that'll get there though," Longmire said.
"We haven't done it a lot this year, the three talls, but we did it on the weekend and I thought it was OK. It just depends on the mix of the forward line at that particular moment and who's our second ruck option. Other match-ups it creates on [Isaac] Heeney and [Will] Hayward also comes into it."
The Swans' thrilling nine-point victory over the Saints was their sixth game this year to be decided by single figures.
A 3-3 record in the close contests this season is an improvement on the 4-8 record the Swans had in matches decided by the same margin in the previous two years.
"We'd like to be able to, when we get in front, to be able to continue getting further in front. But the reality is there is an opposition out there having a crack," Longmire said.
"We've been able to change the momentum when the opposition have gained it at different times during the course of the game. We think that our ability to stay in games and hang in games right to the end has been a positive for us.
"You want to be in it up to your eyeballs right to the last minute. And we've been able to do that and that's not an easy thing to do."
