Sydney forward Lance Franklin has eased his way back into action, but promising Greater Western Sydney midfielder Will Setterfield might have suffered a season-ending knee injury in Friday's AFL practice match.
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Setterfield, who played just two senior games in his first season due to an ankle injury, was helped off the ground in the third quarter at Sydney's Henson Park where the Swans won 11.12 (78) to 7.10 (52).
The 20-year-old midfielder and 2016 No.5 draft pick will have a scan on Saturday, but it's feared he has an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
"It was one of those unfortunate incidents that can sometimes happen in footy, so it doesn't look great, but we'll wait for scans tomorrow," Giants midfield coach Lenny Hayes said.
"I think it took the wind out of our sails a little bit seeing him go off. I reckon we lost our way a little bit after that."
The Swans led by 21 points at quarter-time, but GWS kicked al five second-quarter goals to lead by 10 at halftime, before Sydney kicked seven to one in the third.
The match went for just over three quarters as a power outage meant no floodlights.
Franklin, who underwent off-season surgery on both knees and an ankle, played most of the first half.
Within a minute, Franklin burst away from Giants key defender Tim Mohr and fired a kick into Gary Rohan, who marked and goaled.
Franklin was on the scoreboard himself within 10 minutes, marking and goaling from the subsequent set shot.
He later kicked one behind, after marking and quickly playing on, and appeared to be moving well.
"Buddy went well; he was only down for 40 minutes; we just wanted him to have a bit of a run around and he did that," said John Blakey, the Swans' coach for the night.
"He kicked a goal and got a few touches and exactly what we needed."
Both teams gave most of their stars a run during the first half.
Dane Rampe, Gary Rohan, Tom Papley, Callum Sinclair and George Hewett were lively for Sydney, with Aliir Aliir playing much of the game.
Among the Giants' best were midfielder Lachie Whitfield, key defender Nick Haynes and half-back Ryan Griffen, who produced several nice touches after missing most of last season with two ankle injuries.
Key forward Jon Patton bagged two goals and first-round draft pick Aidan Boner nailed a set shot from 45 metres.
Both clubs have two official pre-season matches to come.
Australian Associated Press
