AFL: Sydney considering pairing Tom Hickey with ruck recruit Peter Ladhams against Essendon on Saturday night

Sydney will weigh up the benefits of playing two ruckmen against Essendon this week after Tom Hickey came through unscathed from his VFL comeback game last Saturday. The Swans contemplated early last week bringing Hickey straight into the senior side but instead opted to ease him back from the high-grade medial ligament injury he sustained in late March. The 31-year-old amassed 23 disposals, 26 hit-outs, 14 contested possessions, six clearances and a goal against Werribee to prove he was ready for a senior return. But defender Harry Cunningham (abdominal strain) will be sidelined until after Sydney’s round 13 bye in mid-June, in a significant blow for the 158-gamer. Recruit Peter Ladhams has impressed in Hickey’s absence and looms as the club’s long term No.1 big man, with coach John Longmire admitting he was keen to see how they would work in tandem. “We feel like it’s an area that we can explore with two rucks at some stage,” Longmire said. “We’re not sure when that will be – whether it will be this week – but we’re certainly hoping in coming weeks that we’ll be able to explore that a bit further. “It depends upon the opposition and what we feel like those guys can do and what the other key forwards are doing in our team as well, so there are a few things in that mix but we certainly haven’t ruled it out.” The Swans have reviewed their training loads after trailing at quarter-time for the fifth time in eight matches this year on their way to a shock 14-point loss to Gold Coast at the SCG on Saturday. They have had a series of six-day breaks this season, including back-to-back in the past fortnight, but conceded five goals in the first 16 minutes against Hawthorn in round 6 with 10 days between games. “It’s not just about trying something completely different. Maybe our training loads need to alter a bit, because we’ve had a few back-to-back six-day breaks this year,” Longmire said. “We’ve looked at that, what that looks like in our program and making sure that our players are freshest at the back end of the week. “What we do on today’s training and what we do on Thursday’s training session all comes into it. “But, ultimately, we’ve got to be prepared to compete at our hardest when the ball’s bounced. It’s a simple equation we’ve got to get right, because we haven’t got it right as often as we needed to.” Sydney will try to snap a two-match losing skid on Saturday night, again at the SCG, against a resurgent Essendon, which got six goals out of Peter Wright last weekend. Longmire tipped the McCartin brothers, Tom and Paddy, to get the job on Wright at various times. “They were able to get some forward momentum, their midfield were really running hard and their half-backs as well,” he said. “When they got it out in front; they were able to score and finish really cleanly, particularly in that last quarter – it’s a credit to them, the way they finished off the game. “We saw a real forward brand of footy they were able to play and a really aggressive brand. We know that’s what Essendon can deliver when they’re playing their best.”

AFL: Sydney considering pairing Tom Hickey with ruck recruit Peter Ladhams against Essendon on Saturday night

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