“Jarrad called me yesterday and said he was keen to play and so he came in today and came in to the team meeting in the morning, and then trained, and trained really well and looked pretty sharp,’’ Longmire said.

“We all know how tough it has been for him but he appreciated coming back into the club and getting out on the training track and focusing on Brisbane this week.

“He trained well so he’ll definitely play this week and it’s great to have him back in the team. He’ll focus on what he can do and he’s been very good at that in the past.’’

Longmire said he believed Tadhg Kennelly, who announced his retirement today, might feel a weight lifted by his decision.

“We’ve all been through that where you’re thinking about retirement. There’s that stage where you start to worry about things you shouldn’t worry about, so sometimes by taking away that burden you do play with a  bit more freedom and hopefully that happens with Tadhg and it will be great to see him running around this week.’’

It has been an emotional time at the Club in recent weeks, but Longmire said everyone was standing strong.

“It has been ok, we’ve got a really strong playing group and a leadership group that is strong,’’ he said.

“Having a group like that makes it easier to focus on what we need to worry about and that is playing footy and training and preparing to play footy. Our players have been fantastic at doing that and hopefully it keeps going.’’

Longmire said he expected a tough outing against a young Lions side this Saturday afternoon at 4pm the SCG.

“Brisbane have been very good. They were 29 points up against the Eagles last week, who are a top four team, and only just got beaten.

“It took West Coast everything they had to beat them. They have been very competitive against some of the best teams going around including Collingwood so we expect a real battle from them, they’ve got some talented kids and they still have superstars like Simon Black.’’

The Swans must beat Brisbane to give themselves a chance to play a home final in week one of the AFL finals series.

Watch the Swans battle for a home final when they take on the Brisbane Lions at the SCG from 4.10pm this Saturday afternoon. Click here to purchase tickets.

The team to face the Brisbane Lions is:

B: R.Shaw, T.Richards, A.Johnson
HB: M.Mattner, H.Grundy, N.Smith
C: J.Kennedy, A.Goodes, J.McVeigh
HF: R.O'Keefe, J.White, M.Spangher
F: D.Hannebery, S.Reid, B.McGlynn
Foll: S.Mumford, J.Bolton, K.Jack
I/C: C.Bird, T.Kennelly, L.Parker, G.Rohan    
Emg: P.Bevan, L.Jetta, N.Malceski

 

In: J.McVeigh
Out: B.Meredith

Milestone: N.Smith - 50 games, D.Hannebery - 50 games