Buddy finished with three majors in the nailbiting win over the Crows, his third a genuine contender for goal of the season after he gathered the ball almost on the half-back flank before charging down the boundary line and threading it through.

Adelaide defender Daniel Talia chased gamely as Franklin almost messed up his second running bounce, but the superstar Swan still managed to finish from 40 metres out, hard up against the boundary line.

"It wasn't bad," Swans coach John Longmire said of the spectacular goal.

"He did a couple of really good things. Last quarter I thought he was big as well."

Franklin's heroics set up a 13th win from Sydney's last 15 matches and kept alive their top-four hopes as the club's remarkable turnaround continues to gather momentum.

Adelaide had more scoring shots, more disposals, more contested possessions and twice as many free kicks, but still found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Franklin's fourth season as a Swan started horrendously with six straight losses, but he and the Swans have run into form when it matters most.

In more excellent news for the Swans, captain Josh Kennedy returned from a hamstring injury after missing the past two matches and racked up 31 touches and a goal.

"He was super in the first half in particular; he was champing at the bit to get back into the team and after a couple of weeks out he was really sharp," Longmire said.

"He trained superbly during the week and he doesn't like watching.

"It was an absolute arm wrestle, two good teams in pretty good form going at it pretty hard and we were able to get it right in those last five minutes.

"They had 20 inside 50s more than us and scoring shots and we were on the wrong end of that as well – you can't escape that fact.

"I just think the players thought through it really well and won some important balls. Whether it was our leaders or some of our young players winning some important moments in those instances.

"You're playing away and they've got the momentum in the last quarter and the crowd's behind and they've got a couple of goals in front. To be able to hold that and stop it at those two goals and get the goals back it was a sign of a really strong maturity in our team.

"It gives us confidence just to be able to know we can play a good standard of footy away. That's a good sign, but you still have to deliver."

Adelaide's loss has also left the door ajar for GWS to claim the minor premiership, although they will need to beat West Coast this weekend and Geelong in the final round, while hoping the Crows stumble next week against the Eagles.