Senior coach John Longmire appeared in front of media on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Friday's nights elimination final against Carlton. He discussed strategy, the return on Tom Papley and Justin McInerney, and the Swans turning point late in the season.
On the main focus before finals
“It’s always a couple of things. We trained over the weekend and made sure to get the balance right between freshening some of the players up and working hard. We had a tough training session on Saturday to sharpen up. We know full well that we’ve got to be really good in the contest to get it done this week. That was our focus over the weekend. This week we’re looking at Carlton and what they do and working through that.”
On fourth quarter efforts
“First and foremost, we’ve been doing a lot right in a fair bit of the game – we just have to do it for longer. There’s a couple of things we looked at. But we have to make sure we strive to do what we do to get us in those positions in the first place. Most importantly we’ve got to do it from the first bounce this week. Carlton haven’t been in the finals for a few years. They’ll be ready to go and jumping out of the blocks."
On Tom Papley and Justin McInerney
“They’ve been tracking really well. Papley was really close to playing against Melbourne. He trained really well on Saturday and trained well yesterday. If he gets through training tomorrow, he’ll play.
“Justin is tracking along really well. He’s had a couple of weeks of training now. We’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow after his training session and hopefully he gets through that and is available for selection as well.”
On the end of the season
“50 percent of the teams that made finals last year didn’t make it this year, including last year’s premier, so it’s a tough thing to do every year. It can be underestimated how hard it is to make finals every year. The whole competition is set up so you don’t do that essentially. I’m really proud of the resilience of the footy club and the players to keep pushing along and keep working at what we need to do. They’ve been able to do that to give us a chance on the starting grid. I’m really pleased with that. Now we need to start again. We go hard at Carlton this week who have been fantastic and in the second half of the season probably the best-performing team.”
On the Swans turning point
“There are a few things involved. We’ve had player availability, particularly with structural players that we didn’t have in the first half of the year which makes a big difference to our team and our set up and our rhythm. Then it’s about having the confidence that what we do is pretty good, even in the first half of the year. We just needed to finish off some games which we’ve been able to do for large parts of the second half of the year which held us in good stead to charge into finals.”
On finals experience
“We’ve got a lot of young players in our midfield and key forwards. We’ve been fortunate to play finals even though they’re young. What that does is prepare the players for the expectation of how hard and tough it’s going to be. It goes up a level in finals. The pressure around the ball, you need to be hard and clean. The execution of your game plan needs to be absolute. We have that understanding but we also know every season is a new story and you need to prepare yourself and go again. Whether you’ve played finals the year before or not. We need to make sure we’re ready to go and Friday night we have to be ready for that first bounce.”
On lessons from last year’s Grand Final
“We just have to keep improving. That’s all we can do. This year is a chance for a new story. We started off the season that way and we’re certainly focussing on that leading into another finals series. We’ve done a couple of things right this year and hopefully we do a couple more things right before the end of the year.”
On the AFLW win
“It was great to be out there and watch that game. Sitting in the crowd with the boys was fantastic. To sit there and see them come back the way they did and seeing how much work they do and how big a preseason they’ve had was awesome. The smile on the player’s faces was terrific.”
On the importance of Isaac Heeney and Tom Papley
“They’re players that have been around for a while and understand what it’s about. They understand the importance of playing well and playing to your trademark every week. We’re confident they can help those younger ones a bit. Everyone has a role to play whether you’re young or old – it doesn’t really matter – no one takes notice of it when the ball bounces. You’ve got to get the job done. Ultimately that’s what we’ll be talking to our players about.”
On contested balls
“It’s really a strength of Carlton’s there’s no question about that. They’re number one in the competition. We’ve been ok at putting pressure on so contested footy and pressure will have a large say in the game. It’s about nullifying one strength and maximising ours. Both teams will be trying to do the same thing and there’s no question that we have to make sure we win our fair share of the footy to get in the front half. Finals games are always about maximising ground position. It starts at the source and they’ve got a wonderful midfield so we’ll need to make sure ours is up and about.”
On Sam Wicks
“He’s been important to allow pressure on the oppositions exit. He’s one player that does get after the opposition and put pressure on their defensive exits. We’ve got to get the ball to ground.”
On Tom McCartin
“[Charlie Curnow] is one of the premier forwards in the competition and it won’t just be about Tom. We’ll have to put on enormous pressure up the ground as a first point of call. Secondly, we have to make sure it’s a team-orientated defence. We’ve got to all work together to be able to help each other in our back half. They’re a good mix of super talented talls that take big marks and give targets down the line but also small level players that are able to get to ground level. We have to make sure it’s a pressure game.”
