Defender Marty Mattner is one Sydney premiership player who may not take to the field against the Giants because of niggling injuries. Picture: Phil Hillyard. Source: The Daily Telegraph
AS many as three members of the Swans' grand final winning team will miss the premiers' opener against the GWS Giants on Saturday at ANZ Stadium.
Swans coach John Longmire says he won't be taking underdone players into the contest. Alex Johnson will have re-constructive surgery on his knee this week and one or two of either Nick Smith, Marty Mattner, Mitch Morton and Shane Mumford will miss out.
The quartet played in last Friday night's reserves practice match against Sydney University after injury interrupted preseasons.
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"They probably all won't play," Longmire said. "They all played the whole game and got through without any problems and all pulled up fine.
"Each one of them has had something different (in terms of injuries)."
Defenders Mattner and Smith and goal sneak Morton are the ones in greatest danger of missing out on selection.
All three only played their first match of the preseason two weeks ago.
Mattner had surgery on his hip and Smith had a clean-up operation on his knee during the off season while Morton had his preseason interrupted by a back injury.
"It depends on what role they play and what other blokes have been playing in their position and what alternatives we've got," Longmire said. "We want to play the most competitive team we've got available to us. If that includes what they have been able to do over the last month."
Craig Bird is another from the grand final team who played in last weekend's practice after suffering a hip flexor injury and missing two weeks.
The midfielder from Nelson Bay is expected to be fit to play against the Giants.
The potential surprise packet of round one is Clovelly's Dane Rampe who is being looked at as a replacement for injured defender Alex Johnson.
"He's under consideration, whether or not he plays we're unsure yet but he has played every game in our preseason and had done a pretty good job,." Longmire said.
"He'd need to be elevated from the rookie list if he was going to play but he's certainly under consideration."
Johnson will miss the entire season after opting for a conventional knee re-construction rather than a LARS operation .
He will have the surgery in Sydney later this week and return to his home town of Melbourne for the first weeks of his recovery.
The premiers watched the opening match of the season as a group and Longmire has noticed his players are beginning to switch on.
"On Friday night the team sat down and watched the Essendon and Adelaide game and they're starting to get a bit excited.
"Everyone looks at the game and the focus goes clearly on this week.
"That's what everyone has been looking forward to."
The Swans coach predicts the 2013 season will be a very open competition.
"You look at the improvement of GWS over the summer," he said.
"Everyone has improved in the off season.
"You need to make sure you get off to a good start."
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