LANCE Franklin remains on schedule to start pre-season training with the Sydney Swans on time, according to coach John Longmire.
 
Franklin took indefinite leave from football on the eve of the finals to deal with ongoing mental health issues, subsequently revealing that he also suffers from mild epilepsy.
 
The Swans' senior players are due to return from off-season leave on December 1 and Longmire told News Ltd that Franklin should be among them.
 
"We expect him to be starting his training like everyone else and joining in the pre-season," Longmire said.
 
"He’s been on holidays and so have I. I haven’t seen him but he’s due back on the first of December."
 
Franklin joined the Swans as a free agent at the end of the 2013 season on an extraordinary nine-year deal after winning two premierships in a nine-season career at Hawthorn.
 
The mercurial spearhead kicked 79 goals in his first season at the SCG to win his third Coleman Medal and finish equal second in the Brownlow Medal.
 
Before his health problems arose, he kicked 47 goals from 17 games in 2015.
 
Franklin turns 29 in January.