Banfield back to boost Swans
Swan Districts are banking on having Todd Banfield to help drive their charge towards finals, with the former Brisbane and Richmond forward ready to make his playing return today.
Banfield, 24, has been named for Swans reserves against Perth at Steel Blue Oval in what will be his first outing since being de-listed by Richmond at the end of last year.
The 53-game AFL player had loomed as a significant recruit for the cash-strapped Swans.
But he received a setback when he broke a leg during pre-season training, with team officials initially fearing the injury would force him to miss the entire season.
Swans coach Greg Harding praised Banfield for getting his body back into playing condition far earlier than expected.
“To quote the surgeon, the way it fractured, it was like when you have a car accident,” Harding said. “People brace with their feet during head-ons and it just shatters their leg.
“He started running pretty early. He’s done a ripping job to be able to get back and be in a position to play. We’d hoped that we’d get him back at some stage this year, but to be honest given the injury I was fearful we wouldn’t see him at all.
“All the testing that we do and the specialists say he’s ready to go in terms of where he’s got his body to.”
Banfield could return to the league side against East Perth next Saturday.
Swans are a win outside the top five heading into a critical month.
They face bottom side Perth twice, starting with this afternoon, and also meet a struggling East Perth and Claremont in a run of fixtures suited to a climb back up the ladder.
The black-and-whites have also been boosted by the inclusion of Matthew Jukes, who has finally recovered from a bout of osteitis pubis.
“We’ve got enormous upside in our season,” Harding said.
“We really have mixed our effort in the first eight games, but we see the season as being really, really open.”
Former Hawk Jarryd Morton will return from injury as Perth seek their second win of the season.
Fremantle defender Zac Dawson will play his first game for 2015 when he lines up for Peel Thunder today against Claremont at the Showground. The 29-year-old is returning from a serious groin injury.
Despite being named as an emergency for Fremantle, Matt de Boer will also play for Peel.
