Sydney Swans coach John Longmire addressed the media at the SCG on Monday afternoon.
Sydney recorded its first win of the season in its clash with Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, and the Swans are not set to face Melbourne at the SCG on Thursday night.
Here are some key quotes from press conference.
Will Hayward, Jarrad McVeigh injuries
“Will had an operation on his jaw yesterday so he’s out for four weeks, and Jarrad hurt his quad and is probably out for anywhere between six and eight weeks. Will’s an important goal-kicker and a fantastic young player, so it’s very disappointing to have lost him. Jarrad, on the other hand – he was again really good on the weekend with his work down back in his organisation and ball movement.”
Replacements for Hayward, McVeigh
“We have two players out of the team but there are a few players underneath who we’re confident will be able to come in and fill roles for us. James Rowbottom, James Rose, Kieren Jack – there are a number of players who pulled up well and performed well on the weekend.”
Working with the SCG
“We work with the ground staff on making sure we spread the load and that’s all we can do. We’ve been training and playing on the SCG for a number of years and that’s all we can do. We leave these decisions with the AFL and the AFL Players’ Association to keep monitoring. When you’re training out there as much as we do, we try to work with the ground staff to spread the load. We understand that others will make decisions on what happens to the ground and we’ll do our bit to help out.”
Isaac Heeney’s fitness
“He hurt his ankle in the last JLT game and dodged a significant injury. He’s been training with that for a couple of weeks, he certainly felt really good going into last week’s game and his performance was fantastic.”
Five-day turnaround
“There won’t be many of them doing the whole session and that’s only natural. We saw what Geelong were able to do off a five-day break. We’ll get our boys in the best possible condition, and we’ll do what we can do to get them moving, but we understand it’s not going to be a normal week in terms of their preparation. But that’s part of the adjustment and we’re confident they’ll be able to do that.”
Heath Grundy’s back injury
“Heath will be out for another couple of weeks. His back’s still not 100 per cent so we’re going to try to take the time to get it right.”
