Swans blow as scans reveal Papley injury, forward to return via VFL

TOM PAPLEY will be out of action for at least six weeks as Sydney faces an early-season injury crisis.

At worst, Papley will miss out on eight weeks after cracking his heel at training during the club’s bye weekend.

Swans coach Dean Cox said Papley did not seem to suffer the injury during a specific incident at training.

“We had a good hitout on Saturday through the bye period and then he (Papley) came in early in the week a little bit sore,” Swans coach Dean Cox said.

“Precaution wise, you look after that, you get it scanned and assessed and then you get the result you don’t want to get.

“We’re gathering all that now and we’ll work the full extent of it, what his full program looks like.”

It is a massive blow for the Swans who are already without star winger Errol Gulden (ankle), captain Callum Mills (foot), Taylor Adams (hamstring), Harry Cunningham (foot) and Lewis Melican (adductor).

Setbacks suffered by Mills and Adams, both of whom hoped to have returned in round five, have only compounded their woes.

Mills will spend a further two to three weeks on the sidelines with a plantar fasciia tear, while Adams is looking at four to six weeks.

Lewis Melican and Harry Cunningham could be one week away from returning, while the club is yet to determine a timeline for Gulden.

The Swans won’t be able to call on McDonald’s services either for their round four fixture against North Melbourne, with the key forward to play restrictive minutes in the reserves side.

McDonald had off-season surgery on the ankle injury suffered in last year’s preliminary final.

“Yeah, it’s great, and that’s the part – that Logan’s had a really tough off-season,” Cox said.

“The good part is his ability to be able to play this week.

“He’ll be on restrictive minutes, but the part we want from Logan is he’s in our best team.

“He’ll get a chance now to build through some match play over the coming weeks in the VFL program.

“He’s really excited and so are we.”