Essendon great Matthew Lloyd says Sydney should abandon plans to recruit Joe Daniher following a spate of injuries to a number of their key position players.
Sydney tried – and failed – to recruit the injury-prone Bombers star forward at the end of last season and were widely tipped to try again at the end of 2020, with Daniher coming off contract and eligible to move clubs as a restricted free agent.
Tom McCartin (concussion), Sam Reid (calf) and Lance Franklin (hamstring) are all out injured at the moment for Sydney, while Isaac Heeney and Josh Kennedy will also miss large chunks of the current season through injury.
Joe Daniher remains on the sidelines after battling a long-term groin complaint and only this week suffered another setback after injuring his calf.
Considering the amount of injury problems Sydney are currently dealing with, Lloyd said they can’t afford to take a risk on another injury-prone player.
“The Sydney Swans, I don’t believe they can put their hand up again for Joey Daniher this time around when you have got this going on,” Lloyd said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified.
“Lance Franklin’s (suffered) hamstring injuries, becoming chronic, end of 2022 he is contracted to. Sam Reid — consistently injured, contracted until the end of 2020. Tom McCartin, head issues and concussion and out (of contract) until 2021.
“I don’t believe you can then throw Joe Daniher into the mix. The amount of money that would be pulled in between four players who have had injuries, I just don’t think they can do it.”
Tim Watson says the Swans should consider all their options before trying to recruit Daniher again.
“They’ve got to pause and think about exactly where (Daniher) is at,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast.
“They would need to be completely and utterly satisfied that he is free of his groin complaint and that he is a stable athlete before they would want to go down that track.”