New recruits Lance Franklin and Jeremy Laidler will make their Sydney Swans debuts this Saturday when the club takes on GWS at Spotless Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Franklin, who played 182 games with Hawthorn over nine seasons, will play his first game in the red and white this week, while former Carlton and Geelong defender Laidler, will play his 27^th AFL game this Saturday afternoon.

Swans coach John Longmire said he was excited to see two new players line up with the club in this weekend’s round one clash.

“We have a couple of players who will be playing their first game for the Swans, which is really exciting,” Longmire told SwansTV.

“Obviously Lance Franklin will play his first game for the club this week and we’re really looking forward to having him running around for the red and white.

“Jeremy Laidler is also playing and he’s had a terrific pre-season, so he plays his first game for our club as well.”

Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Sam Reid will also line up in the season opener after missing the majority of the 2013 season with injury, while Rhyce Shaw, whose season ended in round 22 when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, will play his 100^th match for the Swans this week.

Young midfielders Luke Parker, Tom Mitchell and Harry Cunningham have also been named for Saturday’s match after producing encouraging performances over this year’s pre-season.

With so many players available and in good form, Longmire said the coaching staff faced some difficult decisions at the selection table this week.

“It got down to a pretty tough selection this week,” he said.

“Unfortunately it’s probably pressed a few players out of the team and particularly Ryan O’Keefe, who is not playing in the seniors this week.

“He’s obviously a very important player for us and we still expect him to be an important player for us this year.

“He’s still got a big role to play for this footy club this year on the ground but unfortunately he couldn’t get a game this week.

“The way we picked the team this week was based upon this week’s match-ups and he didn’t get a game, but knowing what a quality person he is, the quality character he is, he’ll bounce back into the team pretty quickly.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s match, Longmire said he expected to face a much-improved GWS side, which has been bolstered by the inclusion of senior players Shane Mumford, Heath Shaw and Josh Hunt.

“They’ve got enormous talent all over the park,” he said.

“We’ve seen their pre-season and they played really well against us and they had a great win against St Kilda and played some real quality football down in Wagga.

“Then last week against Adelaide they pushed the Crows and lost by just eight points.

“They’ve got some enormous talent and they’ve got some experience in this year that will prove invaluable for them and they’re well-coached by Leon (Cameron).”

In other team news, Swans defender Alex Johnson is set to make his long-awaited return to the field when he lines up for the Swans reserves in a curtain-raiser clash against UWS.

Johnson, who missed the entire 2013 season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in last year’s pre-season competition, will play a half of football this weekend.

The Swans reserves clash with UWS will begin at 12:50pm, with gates at Spotless Stadium set to open at 12:45pm.

GWS v. Sydney Swans
Spotless Stadium
Saturday, March 15, 2014
4:40pm

B N.Smith, T.Richards, J.Laidler
HB J.McVeigh, H.Grundy, N.Malceski
C R.Shaw, K.Jack, L.Jetta
HF C.Bird, S.Reid, D.Hannebery
F B. McGlynn, L.Franklin, G.Rohan
Foll M.Pyke, JP. Kennedy, T.Mitchell
I/C (from) H. Cunningham, L. Parker, D.Rampe, L. Roberts-Thomson