Sydney captain Callum Mills is locked in to return to the senior side for his first outing in 2024 on Saturday against North Melbourne at the SCG.
Mills has been sidelined since the end of the 2023 season due to a Mad Monday session gone wrong where he sustained a severe shoulder injury wrestling a teammate.
After undergoing surgery and the accompanying rehab, the Swans skipper was met with multiple delays including a calf strain that delayed his return.
Now Mills has ticked off all the boxes imaginable as coach John Longmire confirmed on Tuesday that he'll be suiting up in front of the home fans in Round 18.
"Callum Mills will definitely play senior footy this week," Longmire said.
"We sat down at the bye and worked our a six-week plan to get him up to what he needed to in a football and training sense, and he has been doing that.
"He's (also) been running well before that."
His return could not have come at a better time, with the club facing a minor form slump having lost the past two games by a combined margin of three points as well as the potential absence of Isaac Heeney.
Heeney - who is one of the Brownlow fancies following a successful move to the midfield - was suspended by the Match Review Officer (MRO) for one match following his errant fend-off on St Kilda's Jimmy Webster.
The Swans head to the Tribunal on Tuesday to plead their case.
"Regardless of what happens at the tribunal, 'Millsy' will come back in," Longmire said.
"He's done a power of work. We've gone through all the numbers 'til the cows come home.
"He's had a really good (training) block, so he will come back in the senior team this week."
Becoming available is also veteran midfielder Luke Parker, who, like Mills, hasn't featured in the senior side in 2024.
Parker was also sidelined with an injury for the first half of the season and returned through the VFL only to be overlooked for multiple weeks.
Longmire opted against bringing the 31-year-old as the ladder-leading Swans had a winning combination that shouldn't be trifled with.
As time would tell, Parker was whacked with a six-game suspension for his lewd bump on Frankston's Josh Smith despite appealing the decision twice.
MORE TO COME.
