Sydney Swans defender Dane Rampe has confirmed star forward Lance Franklin is set to return to full contact training this week.
Franklin suffered an injury setback late in 2019 after returning early to pre-season training following a knee complaint during last season.
The league’s hiatus has proven beneficial for the 33-year-old who has had almost three extra months to recover from injury.
Rampe said while Franklin hasn’t start competitive drills yet, he was expecting the four-time Coleman Medallist to rejoin the main training group in the coming days.
“(Franklin) is going well,” Rampe said on SEN Breakfast.
“He actually hasn’t started competitive work yet as we’re easing back into it. He’s had a little bit longer off (due to injury) than most of the other boys.
“We’ll be ramping him up… he should be in full training on Friday and then hopefully get a few games in him as soon as possible.
“He’ll be at home (against Essendon) for the first game but I’m not sure where that’s where he’s at or not.”
When games begin again on June 11, the season would’ve been in hiatus for 12 weeks and Rampe said he wasn’t sure how he and his teammates would fare after the unprecedented shutdown.
“I think the thing you lose once you have a few weeks off over a longer period is the spatial awareness,” he said.
“Being aware of what’s around you, especially around in the scrimmage and scramble. I think just getting the awareness of where people are around you will take a little bit of time.
“I think our bodies can adapt to the load and training (side of it) but I guess that’s the main concern of the staff at the moment – getting the landing stuff and spatial awareness back into our mindset.”