Kennelly's quick return

IRISH AFL star Tadhg Kennelly is set to make his season debut at the weekend less than a fortnight after major knee surgery.

The Listowel man has been praised by the management team of the Sydney Swans for his dedication to regaining match fitness.

If Kennelly returns to the SCG on Sunday it will be only 10 days since he left the operating table after an arthroscopy on a tear in his medial cartilage. He has been working tirelessly to come back for the Round 2 match against Fremantle.

Coach Paul Roos said, while Kennelly was no certainty to play, he was impressed by his conscientious efforts at recovery.

"For a guy to come back in 10, 11 days is staggering. What they have been able to do now with medical science is quite amazing. I know Tadhg, basically from the moment he got out of hospital, was preparing to play against Freo. He had the pump on his leg, and he had ice packs going left, right and centre to stop the swelling, so really it's the first 24 hours, 48 hours, he's done everything right. So, structurally, the injury is actually fixed, it's really only the wounds around it where you go in with the arthroscope and how sore they are going to be."

Kennelly was expected to be out for three weeks.

Swans physiotherapist Matt Cameron said the recovery was the quickest he had seen. "He's one of those mad Irishmen, he's pretty tough. Pretty good [chance to play], he'd be better than 50-50.