THERE are 103 days until Sydney’s opening game of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season and there is a fair chance that Swans coach John Longmire will field a question about superstar Lance Franklin every day until then.
Franklin, who needs five goals to register the magical 1000-goal milestone, commanded plenty of attention – and questions to Longmire – as the full Swans squad trained for the first time on Monday ahead of the 2022 season.
"Hopefully he’s ready to go and has a good summer," Longmire said.
"He’s trained well until now but we just have to manage him to get him to round one to feel as good as he can."
The coach will need to juggle the anticipation of the milestone as the season draws near with team goals.
"Whenever it happens it will be great for him but it’s not the focus of the team at the moment as you can imagine," Longmire said.
"It’s a wonderful personal achievement and I don’t know whether it will be seen again in this day and age."
Franklin will be 35 at the start of next season and as the coach noted, "he has done a lot of miles in those legs". To that end, he will be managed through the summer.
"As long as he gets to the line in round one feeling good about himself, we will be pleased with that," Longmire said.
The Swans open the season with an away Sydney Derby clash with the Giants at Accor Stadium on March 19, the first AFL game there since 2016.
"It’s fantastic," Longmire said.
"We saw at the start of last year when we had crowds back and they got behind us here in Sydney which was terrific. It’s really important for the AFL industry to have crowds here early in the season and to be able to have a derby first-up is great for the fans."
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Former St Kilda key forward and No.1 draft pick Paddy McCartin is training with the Swans with a view to being selected during the pre-season supplemental selection period. He played some VFL games for the club earlier this year and has previously battled serious concussion issues.
"The main thing for Paddy is to come back and gain some confidence after a significant time out of the game. He’s been able to do that slowly and surely. We will look at what the new year brings but he’s actually in pretty good shape," Longmire said.
"He can have a role to play and we’ll see how the next month goes before we have to do our list lodgements, but he has shown a bit in some reserves games."
Longmire was philosophical when asked about the departure of first-choice midfielders George Hewett and Jordan Dawson.
Hewett joined Carlton as a free agent and Dawson returned to South Australia, joining Adelaide on a five-year deal.
"It’s always tough, particularly players in that age bracket," Longmire said.
"It has been a tough time for people in all industries, especially people who have been away from their family networks, bit those things happen in football these days.
"We would love to have kept them but you can’t keep them all. Those decisions are made and then you move on pretty quickly. We’re embracing (Port Adelaide recruit) Peter Ladhams and the options he gives us in the ruck."