DANE Rampe is expected to miss Sydney's showdown with Geelong's star-studded forward line but the Swans are upbeat that fellow key defender Tom McCartin will return from injury.
Sydney have suffered losses to Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast since a sparkling 4-0 start.
MEDICAL ROOM The full AFL injury list
Curbing the influence of Coleman medallists Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron will be key to the Swans' hopes of recording an upset at the SCG on Saturday night.
Hawkins and Cameron led the Cats to a 97-point win over West Coast in round six, when they shared a forward line for the first time.
Rampe is likely to miss this weekend's clash as he continues to recover from a broken finger, but co-captain Josh Kennedy wasn't ruling him out entirely given the star defenders famed powers of recuperation.
"He's an outside chance," Kennedy said with a laugh. "I think it's a tough call generally given the calibre that Ramps is."
Fellow defender George Hewett and key forward Sam Reid will be forced omissions but Kennedy predicts that McCartin, who skipped the loss to the Suns because of a tight hamstring, and Nick Blakey, who suffered a corked thigh in round six, will face the Cats.
"Tom will come back in and go up against a pretty dynamic forward line," Kennedy told reporters prior to the Swans' closed training session.
"[Blakey] will come out and fully train today, he'll be right to go. It is certainly frustrating (when injuries occur), we were coming into the season really healthy.
"But it's part of the game ... not an excuse. We feel like we've got some really good depth."
Kennedy was impressed with Hawkins and Cameron's connection but highlighted how former teammate Gary Rohan and other Geelong players proved potent threats.
"They've got some real power up there and their small forwards can do a bit of damage. Gazza kicked three goals last week," Kennedy said.
"[Sydney's defenders] are going to have to be on their toes.
"We're going to have to do our best to make sure the entries going into their forward line are as sloppy as possible, limit the numbers as much as we can to help them out.
"Same as every week, it'll take a whole 22 to help out."
The Swans have lost the contested-ball count the past two weeks, after getting on top of their opponents in that area the previous four weeks.
Kennedy felt it wasn't a coincidence that stat matches up with the team's win-loss run in the opening six rounds.
"It all goes hand-in-hand with the contested footy, the pressure, your intensity around the ball," he said.
"It has dropped off the last couple of weeks, so we've got to try and get that back up to where we know we can play at. It's a real strength of Geelong's too, so it's going to be a good contest."
