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Buddy set to return

Published by
Christian Dougherty

Sydney star forward Lance Franklin has been declared fit to play his first game for the year in the Swans' JLT Series match against GWS this Friday.

Franklin has been recovering from shoulder surgery he underwent in the off-season, an injury he played through in last years finals series.

Swans assistant coach Henry Playfair, who is set to coach the side this weekend, said Franklin is good to go.

"It's good to have 'Buddy' (Lance Franklin) back," he said.

"His pre-season has been a little bit hampered but only in a contact sense. He's done the majority of the sessions, he's just had to be careful, and the other players have had to be careful not to injure the shoulder.

"He's been on board (with his rehabilitation) from day one and he's ticked every box along the journey, so it's been pretty seamless up until this point.

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"He's got one training session to do (on Wednesday) and then it'll be good to see him out there."

Franklin has been declared a certainty to return this week. He will return alongside Dane Rampe (hip) and Sam Naismith (shoulder), who also missed the Swans' loss to North Melbourne.

"They're right on track. Ideally we wanted to get them enough minutes before round one and we'll get that with two games to come (in the JLT series)," Playfair said.

"We're confident that they'll be able to play enough and be ready to go."

Playfair said Aliir Aliir is a chance to play, but is unlikely to line-up on Friday night.

"Aliir will be touch and go," he said.

"Certainly the coaches are pushing for him (to play) but we'll work that out with the medical staff later in the week.

"I'd say he's unlikely."

Published by
Christian Dougherty