Sydney Swans coach John Longmire has few problems with his team a game clear on top of the AFL but he is concerned with Lance Franklin's treatment in the side's win over West Coast.
Sydney beat the Eagles by 28 points at Patersons Stadium on Sunday to win an 11th straight match to now sit four points ahead of Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Fremantle and Geelong atop the AFL ladder.
However, things didn't completely go the Swans way, with tall forward Kurt Tippett a late withdrawal with knee soreness, youngster Zak Jones subbed out early and Franklin kicking just the one goal after an enthralling duel with West Coast defender Eric Mackenzie.
Franklin and Mackenzie were locked in almost endless wrestle throughout the afternoon, both when the ball was in their vicinity and when it wasn't.
Longmire wants to study the vision before fully forming a view, but clearly it was in Mackenzie's interest to restrict Franklin's free movement whether by legal means or not.
"I will have to go back and look at the free-kicks either way," Longmire said.
"I will have to go back and put some time into that, and have a real close look at it to see which way it should have gone."
The Swans were also forced to bring sub Brandon Jack into the game in the opening minutes, with third-gamer Jones out with signs of concussion after taking a high bump from West Coast forward Josh Kennedy.
"He just had a bit of blurred vision. He was OK immediately afterwards and came on a little while afterwards, it was just a little bit delayed," Longmire said.
With Dan Hannebery and Rhyce Shaw still missing, Tippett didn't take his place for Sydney and given the wet conditions it probably wasn't the worst game for him to miss, but Longmire expects him back to face Carlton on Saturday night at the SCG.
"He was fine during the game last week, he was fine all week and he trained here on Friday and we expected him to be fine," Longmire said.
"But he was a bit sore during training and pulled up a little bit sore afterwards.
"Obviously we would have preferred him to play, but he wasn't moving that well and was a bit sore afterwards so we decided to make a change."
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