Sydney AFL superstar Adam Goodes will spend more time on the forward line until his fitness improves, but the chances of him getting subbed off again are receding.
Playing up forward, Goodes tallied just seven touches and two marks in his first game in six rounds against Geelong last Friday, before being taken off for the final quarter.
“We’ll keep him forward, and use him up the ground as we see fit,” Sydney coach John Longmire told reporters on Monday.
“We’re hoping that as his game time improves and his resilience builds from a physical sense we can do that more and more and use him as we did at the start of the year.
“But at this point in time we just want to make sure he contributes in the forward line.”
Longmire said Goodes pulled up stiff from Friday’s game, but expected him to play in Saturday’s Sydney derby against the Giants.
“I don’t want to be subbing Adam Goodes out of the team too much, I think it’s more unlikely as the weeks progress,” Longmire said.
“Obviously as he builds his match fitness this week, I’m hoping that he’ll be even better than last week and he’ll build on that over the next few weeks.
Longmire said he wouldn’t be resting anyone for the clash with the Giants, who have won just one game.
He expected the Swans to attack their next two games against the lowly Giants and Lions with as much intensity as they did their last two against competition heavyweights Essendon and Geelong.
“Regardless of who you play, you’ve got to make sure that you come with the same mindset, and that’s what we’ll be doing this week,” Longmire said.
“We saw what they (GWS) did against Richmond a couple of weeks ago. We thought they were really competitive.
“There was only a couple of kicks in it in the last quarter and Richmond obviously played well against us.
“We look at the fact they’ve got some real hard nuts, their contested ball work has been terrific for a young team.
“They’ve got a couple of quality key forwards. (No.1 draft pick Jonathon) Patton has just come into the team, you look at Jeremy Cameron, who is one of the best young players in the competition.”