By Daniel Cherny
Sydney star Luke Parker won't resume training until 2017 after undergoing knee surgery to hasten his recovery from a PCL injury.
The midfielder isn't the only Swan to go under the knife either, with emerging small forward Tom Papley set to be unable to run for two months because of surgery to deal with compartment syndrome.
Luke Parker suffered the injury in the preliminary final.Credit: Getty Images
Parker, 24, suffered the injury in the Swans' preliminary final win against Geelong at the MCG. He played in the grand final defeat the following week against the Western Bulldogs but was restricted to 19 disposals.
Swans football manager Tom Harley said the club had been hopeful Parker wouldn't need surgery, but with his progress slow - it was decided that an operation would be the best option for the on-baller.
"Rest and recovery is the best typically [for a PCL] and Luke has been doing that since the Grand Final. He was starting to ramp up his training but the injury has regressed slightly," Harley told the club's website.
"It was decided a couple of days ago that an arthroscope is the best course of action and we fully expect Luke to recover well."
The surgery is not expected to prevent Parker playing in round one.
Papley's setback is more significant. The goalsneak who kicked 29 majors in 20 games this year - his first year at the club - developed the problem in pre-season training.
"He required surgery last week to release the pressure in the compartments in both legs," Harley said.
"There's some wound healing initially that he will need to recover from and he will be off legs for the best part of eight weeks.
"It's disappointing but the success rate for this type of surgery is really high, so we're looking forward to Tom recovering well and hitting the ground running come the new year."