Lance Franklin is skating on thin ice despite escaping suspension as Sydney's injury problems left Kurt Tippett in line for a belated return for Friday night's clash with Geelong.
The Cats were dealt a major blow when superstar midfielder Patrick Dangerfield was given a one-match ban by the match review panel for his tackle on Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer. The sanction rules him out of contention for this year's Brownlow Medal, for which he was the raging favourite to go back-to-back.
Franklin was handed a $1500 fine for making unnecessary contact to the face of former teammate Luke Hodge. It was his second classifiable offence, coming after his hit on Richmond's Connor Menadue, which means he is just one misstep away from copping a suspension.
For the second time this season, injuries are threatening to derail the Swans' campaign, this time as they aim to lock away a finals berth that seemed improbable several months ago.
Swans coach John Longmire said Josh Kennedy is in doubt for the daunting road trip to Geelong while Sam Reid, Gary Rohan, Jake Lloyd and Sam Naismith will need to prove their fitness at the main training session on Wednesday.
Tippett's hopes for a recall hinge on whether Naismith recovers after copping a knock to his hip just before half-time against Hawthorn.
Reid's availability will also be a major factor in selection as he would be an automatic inclusion if fit. Callum Sinclair starred two weeks ago with five goals but disappointed against the Hawks.
Tippett, whose last senior game was in round 10, has endured a wretched season due to injuries and poor form.
But even through his lean run Longmire maintained Tippett was a key part of the club's plans.
The highly paid ruckman/forward was in a rich vein of form until breaking down midway through last year. He has impressed in his past two games in the seconds but time is running out for him to make an impact.
"He's a chance," Longmire said. "He was really good the week before and didn't play on the weekend. He's feeling a lot better now, he's moving a lot better.
"But a bit depends on Sam Reid's availability as well.
"It's about how the whole team looks, but also how Naismith and our other talls pull up."
The Swans are in a dilemma with three-time club champion Kennedy. They would dearly love to have their captain available for such a big game but will be loathe to risk him knowing a setback could have major ramifications for the rest of the home-and-away season and possibly the finals.
"We've got to get there. We need to make a decision on whether he's right or not," Longmire said.
"It's not black or white answers. It happens every week where you make those decisions and you hope to get most of them right."
"Not sure if he's going to play this week or not. He had a scan, it was a bit inflamed but certainly a lot better than what our medical staff thought. That's a good sign. We'll have to see how the week pans out."
The Swans were unable to cover Dane Rampe, Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Isaac Heeney at the start of the season when they lost six games in a row.
But they roared back into finals contention with 10 wins out of 11 before dropping last week's game to Hawthorn.
"We felt as though we didn't play as well as what we have been playing and a bit of that is a credit to Hawthorn with how well they're going at the moment," Longmire said.
"We've got a few things to work on coming out of the weekend and hopefully we can put that into practice this week. It's probably all areas of the game we were down a little bit on."