SUPERSTAR Lance Franklin appears set for a spell on the sidelines after a suspected broken finger forced him off during Sydney's thrilling win over North Melbourne at the SCG.

The 35-year-old was substituted out in the third term after injuring the finger in a tackle.

"It looks like he's broken his finger, so we'll see what the specialist says on Monday," said Sydney coach John Longmire.

"He's good, he's OK. He doesn't like missing footy, make no mistake about that, but after 18 years you understand that these things happen.

"He just went in for a tackle there and hit his finger. He'll be fine."

Franklin had two goals to his name at the time but was forced to watch on as the Swans overran a determined Kangaroos outfit with the last four goals to claim an 11-point victory.

Franklin and the Swans were playing on the SCG for the first time since he set off wild crowd scenes when he kicked his 1000th career goal in round two.

The four-time Coleman medallist has had his training program and playing loads monitored closely by the Swans since missing all of the 2020 season due to a series of soft tissue injuries but has so far avoided a repeat of those issues in 2022.

Swans veteran Sam Reid (one goal) moved well in his first game for the season and fellow forward-ruck Hayden McLean (two goals) was also a useful target against the Kangaroos.

Both Reid and McLean now loom as important players in the absence of Franklin, while Logan McDonald, the No.4 pick in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft, will be in the mix to return to the senior side after kicking 3.4 and taking 11 marks in the VFL on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Longmire praised the performances of young Swans Justin McInerney and Oliver Florent, along with Heeney after the last quarter fightback.

"There still has to be times when players stand up and Florent probably did during a fair bit of the game but particularly the second half was good, McInerney's last quarter, Heeney's last quarter," Sydney coach John Longmire said.

"(Heeney) lifted in that last quarter, as good players do. He played a very important last quarter for us, as a number of those boys did.

"We need that next group coming through to be able to do that and take a bit of the load, and they did and that was really important."

North Melbourne coach David Noble was proud of his brave Roos and reserved special praise for skipper Jack Ziebell, who starred with five goals in a surprise move up forward.

"I probably didn't expect the skipper to kick five but I was really pleased," North Melbourne coach David Noble said.

"I thought his contribution was huge, not just as a forward, I think as a captain he led the way really well today.

"Probably hard to move him out of there next week. We needed a response and he led the way."