THE SYDNEY Swans have moved closer to finally fielding all of their celebrated quartet of key forwards, with Adam Goodes having his first team training session for three months.
At one stage on Friday, Goodes, Kurt Tippett, Sam Reid and Lance Franklin all came together in one group on the SCG, generating off-field chatter about their collective value and goal outputs.
Thus far star recruit Franklin has only played with Reid.
Goodes and Tippett are both recovering from knee injuries and have yet to play this season.
They are both expected to be available in the next two to four weeks along with Reid, who has been sidelined with an Achilles problem after playing the first two games.
Valuable tall man utility Lewis Roberts-Thomson, who filled in up forward in Reid's absence last week, wasn't sure where he would fit in once all four established forwards were available.
"I'm not entirely sure how things will pan out," Roberts-Thomson said.
"But if everyone is playing well. then there's a healthy competition for spots across the board. Hopefully it will make the team better."
Roberts-Thomson had a injury setback himself when he missed round two with a groin injury.
It was at this time last year that he suffered a knee injury that prevented him playing another senior game in 2013.
"I learnt that I can't push my body to the limits all the time and I need to be patient and I need to sit back and take my medicine," Roberts-Thomson said.
One of just three dual premiership-winning Swans players in the current squad along with Goodes and Ryan O'Keefe, 30-year-old Roberts-Thomson is excited about the emergence of several young players and their growing impact on the side.
"I don't want to jinx anything, but I think the team we have at the moment is very exciting," Roberts-Thomson said.
"The young guys coming through, they really provide some speed and some outside run and they really add to the overall makeup of the side."
The Swans play their first SCG game of the season on Sunday against North Melbourne.
"For us it's going to be a really, really big team challenge across the board," Roberts-Thomson said.
"We're going to have to attack the footy and make our tackles and try not to give North too much breathing space."
