SUPERSTAR Sydney spearhead Lance Franklin has had knee surgery and faces a delayed start to pre-season.

Franklin had both knees operated on last off-season.

Speedster Zak Jones also had the same procedure.

"Both Lance and Zak have had knee arthroscopes. It's not uncommon for this time of year," football manager Tom Harley told sydneyswans.com.au.

"They're minor procedures in the overall scheme of things, but it is surgery and it's really important that when you do have the opportunity of an off-season, you take all the time you need to rehab properly

"They'll work their way through an off-season with a rehab program, with a view to see them back in training as quick as possible.

"It's only a short period now before Christmas. The AFL and the Players' Association have mandated three weeks over Christmas is a break.

"Our boys will be breaking mid-December, so obviously we want to do as much work as we can pre-Christmas to have them up and going on the seventh of January when they return."

Franklin has dipped below 17 games in a year once since debuting in 2005.

The 31-year-old was named the Virgin Australia All Australian captain despite being seriously limited with his training load after dealing with a persistent heel complaint.

After a season marred by hamstring issues, which needed surgery in July, defender Lewis Melican has gone under the knife for a knee problem.

"We obviously wanted to give him every chance to play towards the end of the season, which meant we delayed the knee arthroscope. He's had that but we're expecting him to be ready by Christmas," Harley said.

Ruckman Sam Naismith is continuing to recover from a March knee reconstruction but will be ready for the start of the 2019 campaign.

Young star Callum Mills is on track for day one of pre-season after a freak foot injury suffered while playing with a gridiron football.



"He was starting to really ramp up his running towards the end of the season, so not expecting any hiccups with Callum," Harley said.

Injury-prone forward Sam Reid is similarly tracking well, having been a chance to play finals had the Swans gone deeper into September.