SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire lauded the return of Ben McGlynn from injury in Saturday night's 46-point victory over Greater Western Sydney at the SCG.
McGlynn had been comfortably one of the Swans' best players over the opening eight rounds of the season before he missed the round nine victory over Essendon due to illness.
In his second game back he broke his thumb, forcing him to sit out another two weeks before fighting his way back into the team to face GWS.
A player that doesn't always earn the plaudits afforded to some of his higher profile teammates, McGlynn is valued extremely highly at the club, earning a place in this year's leadership group.
And he was straight back into the fray on Saturday night, finishing with 15 possessions, five marks, four tackles and a goal.
"He's an important player for us Benny," Longmire said after Swans' 10th win in a row.
"He gives us real life and energy.
"For him to miss a couple of weeks, we were tossing up whether he would come back in this week or not, but he was able to get through training and train pretty well.
"He's had a great year, he's a leader and has elite endurance and speed.
"We need him back in the team and it was good to get him back in."
Another important player for the Swans is clearly forward Lance Franklin, who starred once more on Saturday night with another five goals to take his season tally to 40.
He is now within three goals of Coleman Medal leader Jay Schulz, who plays against Adelaide on Sunday.
But just as pleasing for Longmire as Buddy's goals is his tackling pressure, laying four tackles on Saturday night and forcing two holding-the-ball decisions.
"He's hitting the scoreboard pretty well and moving really well around the ground," Longmire said.
"Some of his tackles tonight were outstanding. His pressure and chase down from behind – there's very few stats as effective as a chase-down from behind.
"It lifts you as a team and knocks the wind out of the opposition a little bit.
"His goals are obviously really important, we know that, he can do that, but we've been really pleased with both sides of the ball with Lance.
"We always thought he could chase and put pressure on and he's certainly able to do that.
"He's got such a big presence and wing span when he's up and going and it takes a bit of getting past."
Asked if there was anything Franklin wasn't doing well, Longmire replied with a wry smile: "I'm sure we'll find something during the week."
One other Swan that earned some of the coach's praise was ruckman Mike Pyke.
In his second game back from a long layoff with a hamstring injury, Pyke was under pressure to perform against GWS ruckman Shane Mumford, one of the form players of the competition.
Mumford still won the hit-outs 33-22, but Pyke impressed with his follow-up efforts and just about broke even with the All Australian contender.
"We were pretty happy with how Pykey went," Longmire said. "We thought he did a good job against Mummy.
"It's not as if you're going to get on top of him, it's more about trying to nullify his impact on the contest because he's been so good.
"Pykey was one-out doing that job with a bit of help from Sam Reid, which was handy, and he did it pretty well."
