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Buddy Franklin set for Swans debut

Prized Sydney recruit Lance Franklin will make his debut in Swans colours on Thursday night in the AFL club’s pre-season clash with West Coast.

The former Hawthorn key forward was on Tuesday named in a 29-man squad alongside fellow stars Lewis Jetta, Mike Pyke and Lewis Roberts-Thomson for the match at Blacktown International Sportspark.

The quartet were rested from last week’s drubbing of cross-town rivals Greater Western Sydney but did get a hit-out in the Swans’ intra-club match earlier this month.

Tom Mitchell, Rhyce Shaw and Sam Reid, all returning from injury, will also get the chance to log some game time on Thursday, as will rookie defender Xavier Richards.

Reid said he was excited about lining up alongside new teammate Franklin following his arrival on a nine-year, $10 million deal late last year.

“He’s obviously a pretty talented player,” he said.

“He’s brought a lot of stuff from Hawthorn to us. His knowledge is great and he shares that with us.

“As a forward group we’ve trained a bit together now, so it’s looking good and I’m looking forward to playing with him.”

The 22-year-old premiership player said Sydney are preparing for a tough battle against the Eagles, who hammered 2013 grand finalists Fremantle by 84 points last week.

“We’ll need to tie up a few things we weren’t quite happy with against GWS,” Reid said.

“We were a little bit off and they were able to move the ball a little bit easy.

“We definitely need to tighten that up coming against West Coast who are in good form.”

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