John Longmire said changes will be made to the side that went down to St Kilda by 28 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Swans’ coach said Saturday’s poor performance will lead to an assessment of both the team’s structure and personnel ahead of this Sunday’s round 10 match against the Western Bulldogs.
“It’s not about sending messages, it’s about reacting to what you see in front of you and if what you see in front of you is a continued poor performance from an individual or a group of individuals then you make changes and that’s what we look at,” Longmire said.
“That’s what we’ll do this week and there will be changes, but how many I’m not sure, but there are (changes) most weeks.
“You sit down and look at it in the cold light of day and make sure you make changes that are worthwhile adding to the team and we’ll do the same again this week.”
Swans’ ruckman Shane Mumford could be in the mix for Sunday’s clash at the SCG after six weeks on the sidelines with a back injury.
Longmire said while Mumford is no certainty, he will be considered if he gets through this week’s full training schedule.
“Obviously a bit of it will depend on whether Mumford gets through training this week and if we decide to play him in the seniors or reserves,” he said.
“That will evolve as the week goes on. At this point he’s been able to do a little bit of training one-on-one on Thursday and trained with the reserves on Saturday and trained again today, and then he’ll do that again Wednesday and Friday, so we’ll see how he goes.
“It’s always tempting (to bring him back) because of the quality player he is, but that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed a walk-up start.
“We need to make sure his body is OK and that he’s resilient enough to be able to handle not only one game but the rest of the season.”
Despite having a bye last weekend, Longmire said there were a number of Swans’ reserves players who could also be in the mix for selection against the Bulldogs.
Longmire highlighted the performances of utility Matt Spangher and backman Tony Armstrong as stand-out players in the club’s reserves.
“(Matt) Spangher is pretty fit, and is a naturally fit player anyway and he played off limited preparation last year and did quite well,” he said.
“Also Tony Armstrong has been knocking on the door for a bit, and there are still a few players there who we would consider.”
“It’s not ideal (that the reserves didn’t play), but it’s certainly not beyond the stretch of imagination that those players could come into the calculation for this week’s game.”
Whatever changes are made this week, Longmire said a lift in intensity will be required ahead of Sunday’s game.
“We’ll look at changing the structure at different points and maybe some personnel, but we can change structure and personnel but really it’s about the attitude when the opposition have really cranked it up on the weekend and we didn’t respond,” he said.
“That was the most concerning thing and we’ve got to make sure that we respond with the type of football that we know we should.
“Our challenge is to look after what we can control, which is what happens on the weekend and what happened on the weekend was clearly disappointing.”
