Sydney Swans senior coach John Longmire spoke to the media today, ahead of the Swans Round 9 clash against Essendon on Saturday.
See what Longmire had to say on Tom Hickey, ruck options, slow starts, players returning from injury and more.
On Tom Hickey
“We felt in the end that we wanted to get some more training into him and a game at a next level down, which he was able to do on the weekend. He got through that and has pulled up really well so he’s a chance this week, we’ll make that decision in the next couple of days whether he plays or not, but the good thing is he got through the game, pulled up really well and was able to train again today.”
“We know he’s a good player for us, he was superb for us last year, and this year coming off the back of that knee missing four weeks it was good to get a game in him on the weekend. We’ll look at what that role looks like, there’s obviously Tom (McCartin) and Peter (Ladhams), the forward mix and what that looks like as well.”
On playing a two-ruck option
“We’ve been playing the one ruck, with a key forward ruck as a support. We feel like it’s an area we can explore with two ruck’s at some stage but we’re not sure when that will be. Whether it’s this week or in coming weeks, we believe we can explore it a bit further but it depends on the opposition and what we feel they can do, and what the other key forwards in our team can do as well."
"There’s few things in that mix, we certainly haven’t ruled it out and there’s a likelihood we’ll be seeing it in coming weeks.”
On Harry Cunningham injury
“Harry has been ruled out until after the BYE. He’s got an abdominal strain that means he won’t be available to be selected until after the BYE."
On the slow starts:
“There’s a few other things we need to get right other than team selection in this regard. Whether it’s the back-to-back 6-day breaks, the training loads, there’s not one clear answer for that. It’s a combination of a few things, clearly we want to get better at it. I’m not sure it’s just team selection, we’re looking at a few things in its entirety and hopefully we can improve it because we need to get better at it.”
“We looked at our training loads, it’s not just about trying something completely different. Maybe our training loads need to alter a bit, we’ve had a few back-to-back 6-day breaks this year and we’ve looked at that and what that looks like in our program, making sure our players are fresh at the back end of the week. What we do on today’s training, Thursday’s training session, all that comes into it and ultimately though, we’ve got to be prepared to compete at our hardest when the ball is bounced, it’s a simple equation that we need to get right and we haven’t got it right as often as we need to.”
“I think the players have got a reasonably good handle on what to do the night before match day, I think it’s a bit more simplistic than that. We’ve got to come to play a bit earlier, clearly we have to do that.”
On Paddy McCartin returning:
“It was good to get Paddy back. He’s played a good role for us this year, he’s been able to play down back which is a new role for him so he’s learning all the time and he’s been pretty good. With Tom McCartin down there as a key defender, the two of them have been working together really well with each other, he was an important addition to the team last week.”
Thoughts on Essendon:
“Their midfield got going, (Sam) Draper in the ruck was super. Particularly in the last quarter they were able to get some forward momentum, their midfield were running hard, their half backs as well, and when they got it up front they were able to score and finish really cleanly. It’s a credit to them the way they finished off the game, we saw a real forward brand of footy that they were able to play and a really aggressive brand of footy.”
Get your tickets early for this Saturday night blockbuster with a bumper crowd expected at the SCG. The Bombers will be back in town to take on the Sydney Swans, so round up your mates for what’s sure to be a great game of footy!
