Defender Lewis Melican has taken a step closer in his return to senior football joining his senior teammates in training.



The 21-year-old had a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury suffered against Greater Western Sydney in Round 3 which has prolonged his stint on the sidelines.

Head of Football Tom Harley said Melican was close to pushing his case for a return from injury.



“With the fact it was a recurrence of an injury in the final stages of his rehabilitation you’re forced to take a more conservative approach,” Harley said.

“He won’t play this week but going into next week we would hope he has had two weeks of full training.

“We will assess him early next week but he is right at the end phase of his rehab now he is back training with the group.”

Dan Hannebery will continue to push his case for a return to the senior side after training with the main group on Tuesday.

“He trained this morning so we will see how he recovers from that,” Harley said.

“We have got another training session on Thursday and we expect him to get through that and we will make a call then.

“His return is certainly close.”

Star forward Lance Franklin has already been ruled out of Saturday night’s match.

Young Swan Jake Brown suffered a shoulder strain in Saturday’s NEAFL win which will see him on the side line for at least the next fortnight.