Sydney Swans coach John Longmire addressed the media at the SCG on Morning afternoon.

The Swans fell to the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Saturday, and they will host the Adelaide Crows in their first home game of the season on Friday night.

Here are some key quotes from the press conference.

Midfield battle

“We got well beaten in the midfield. Between the arcs we were really poor at both winning the ball, which is the most important thing, and in transition. We were very poor at winning the ball in those scramble situations between the arcs. They were certainly able to play the game they wanted to, but the main element was getting our hands on the footy in the midfield area. Everything else tends to flow off the back of that.” 

Maintaining intensity

“We have to be better for longer. There are no tricks in this game. If you don’t have the ball in your hand you’re not going to be able to convert into opportunities in front of goal, and the opposition is going to convert that into opportunities more than you. So that’s what stood out to us and that’s what we need to be better at.”

Daniel Menzel’s setback

“He hurt his groin last week on the final drill. He gave his groin a tweak but he’ll be back training in a couple of weeks. It’s a slight setback with his groin but not too significant. He actually feels really good today.”

Trio eyeing return

“Kieren and Tom played in the NEAFL practice match on the weekend and they both got through really well, which is a good sign. We’re not sure where that sits them in regard to senior selection this week – whether they’ve done enough. But we’ll talk about that this week. Ben had a slight knock to his knee in the NEAFL game, but we’re hoping that’ll be okay. If he’s able to get through our training session on Wednesday, he’ll be in with a chance. We’ll look at the mixture of the team and what it looks like, and what Adelaide’s team looks like will come into as well.”