A young Sydney side was forced to rejig its forward line in Saturday's defeat, with Isaac Heeney joining superstar forward Lance Franklin on the sidelines due to injury. 

Aliir Aliir was thrown forward to good effect as he finished with two goals, while Tom McCartin also returned from injury to boot two goals as the Swans finally found some rhythm inside 50. 

In more promising news, Sam Reid made it through Saturday's training session unscathed as he recovers from a long-term calf injury, with the veteran forward expected to be in the selection frame ahead of next week's clash with Hawthorn.

"We went in last week with Isaac Heeney at centre-half forward and with Luke Parker at full-forward," Sydney coach John Longmire said.

06:33

"We needed to get some height in front of the ball, so we did that tonight to try and do that.

"Obviously, with Tom coming back in, that was useful … it was good to get him back in the team. Aliir was a target up there and kicked a couple of goals."

Will Hayward also kicked two goals as he returned to the forward line after playing in defence over the last few weeks.

“We were happy with what he did last week down back so we think that he can play at both ends,” Longmire said.

“It is part of his education as well but last week we thought he did some really good things down back.

“We have trust in him to go at either end to get some versatility in our team as well.

“He showed some good signs up forward for us and kicked a couple of goals so if he can go to either end and embrace those challenges that come at times then that will provide a bit of longer term flexibility for us.”