![Griffith has received an early-season boost with the return of key forward Henry Delves for the remainder of the year. Picture by Les Smith Griffith has received an early-season boost with the return of key forward Henry Delves for the remainder of the year. Picture by Les Smith](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/179282453/5f8903af-f6c6-4642-9e30-83d604912bd3.jpg/r0_0_2953_2505_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Griffith has received an early-season boost with the return of key forward Henry Delves for the remainder of the year.
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Delves returned to the Swans in 2023 after a season playing with Ainslie and he finished the year having kicked 29 goals across 18 games.
But his plans for the 2024 season had been up in the air and the Swans were uncertain if he was going to be able to return this year.
However it has all come together for the two parties and Delves has been named at centre half forward for the Swans clash against Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong on Saturday.
Griffith coach Greg Dreyer was delighted that Delves would be returning for the remainder of the season.
"Yeah for sure," Dreyer said.
"He's had a bit on early in the year with work.
"He's decided that he can come back and play now which is great news for us."
With the departure of Patrick Payne over the off-season, the Swans had been without a key target down forward.
Dreyer admitted the Swans had been a bit undersized inside forward 50 and he believed Delves inclusion would be a huge boost for his side.
"Yeah we have been," he said.
"We've had a few blokes float through there, but no real definite key forward.
"Isaac Conlan is a good young player, but he's obviously very young still and you don't want to put too much pressure on him.
"He was getting the best defender, so to have someone like Henry step in with his experience is a big plus for us."
Delves is one of five inclusions for the Swans ahead of their clash with the Lions at Ganmain Sportsground.
Riley Lucas, Daniel Peruzzi, Heath Northey and James Girdler all return for the contest against GGGM and Dreyer said it was good to have some solid inclusions for such a big game.
"This will probably be our best team to date I think," he said.
"Whether we are going to click, we've got to wait and see."
The Swans enter the clash after going down to the Bulldogs last weekend by 10 points in what turned into very difficult conditions.
Dreyer said he had mixed feelings following that contest, but was hopeful his side would respond strongly against the undefeated Lions.
"Last week was such a difficult game in the weather for both teams," he said.
"Turvey got that jump in the second quarter and we clawed it back a bit, but to their credit they played and defended well.
"We had opportunities and didn't take them and I was disappointed with the loss of course.
"I think it's us, Turvey and Coolamon battling between ourselves at the minute, we had our opportunities and it's only us to blame to be honest.
"But it was just a wrestle in the second half as it rained so much, so good effort to try and get back into it but disappointing we had that lapse."
The Swans handed the Lions a rare loss at home last year after they kicked six unanswered goals in the opening term.
Dreyer said his side would be aiming to get off to a hot start, but admitted he was unsure how they'd go against an in-form Lions outfit.
"You always want a good start," he said.
"I think it's just a matter of us going in and having a bit of a swing at it and see how we go.
"It's Henry's first game and we've had a few out and this is probably the strongest team that we've been able to put on the park this year.
'We'll be looking to start well as usual and just compete hard, that's all we can do at the minute.
"Just competing and trying to improve ourselves."
It's not all good news though for the Swans as Dreyer revealed they could potentially be without young defender Willem Vaessen for a few weeks.
"He's got a broken nose," he said.
"He broke it part way through the second quarter, he come off for a bit to stop the bleeding and then he went back on.
"He played very well actually, but he's since had x-rays and he has three fractures in his nose."
The Lions have also made two changes to their side ahead of the clash as Tom Banuelos and Kirk Mahon both return to face Griffith.