rotator cuff in his left shoulder in a 2023 ‘Mad Monday’ inciden<\/a>t, returning in round 18 before a hamstring injury ended his 2024 season early.<\/p>\n Callum Mills in action at a Sydney training session on February 6, 2026. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
Missing out on the 2024 Grand Final loss to Brisbane, the All-Australian midfielder then suffered plantar fasciitis and was ruled out until round 11 last year.<\/p>\n
A minor hamstring strain set Mills back before Christmas, but Swans assistant coach Mark McVeigh says the skipper has returned in the new year to put on impressive displays from half-back in intra-club match simulations.<\/p>\n
Mills is likely to stay stationed in defence, with star goalkicker Charlie Curnow’s arrival freeing up Isaac Heeney for more midfield minutes.<\/p>\n
Isaac Heeney (left) and Charlie Curnow in action at a Sydney training session on February 6, 2026. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
“Yeah, he stood out, didn’t he?” McVeigh said on Friday.<\/p>\n
“Having a really strong pre-season, obviously, he’s had his ups and downs the last few years, but we thought he looked really comfortable.<\/p>\n
“He feels really good out there. He stiffens up behind the ball, so a really big positive.”<\/p>\n
Charlie Curnow in action at a Sydney training session on February 6, 2026. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
Mills isn’t the only player impressing in defence, with untried youngster Ned Bowman looming as veteran Dane Rampe’s heir apparent after a move from attack.<\/p>\n
Drafted in 2024 with pick No.26, the 19-year-old – in Lance Franklin’s iconic No.23 guernsey – has convinced Swans coach Dean Cox enough to line up in the senior squad for match simulations.<\/p>\n
Former co-captain Rampe, 35, is set to go off-contract at the end of the year after being re-drafted as a rookie again alongside Jake Lloyd.<\/p>\n
Isaac Heeney in action at a Sydney training session on February 6, 2026. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
“Ned’s shown that his ability in the air is really strong, and then he also can run in half-back and be a real line-breaker for us,” McVeigh said.<\/p>\n
“He’s got a unique ability to be able to contest in the air, but also when he hits the ground, he’s pretty dangerous.<\/p>\n
“He’s going to have to really step up this year.<\/p>\n
Caiden Cleary and Angus Sheldrick in action during a Sydney training session on February 6, 2026. Picture: Phil Hillyard<\/p>\n
“We’ve got some ageing players, and Dane Rampe is going really well, but we can’t have him forever.<\/p>\n
“We think Ned Bowman is a player that’s following closely in his footsteps and can give us some real steel behind the ball, but also can give us some great run.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two seasons scuppered by injury, Callum Mills is on track to play appear in the Swans’ first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-461962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}