Senior coach John Longmire answered questions from the media on Wednesday, May 24, ahead of player preparation for Friday night's Marn Grook at the SCG clash with Carlton. Longmire touched on the Swans' growing injury list and last week's win against North Melbourne.
On Round 10 interchange controversy
“It’s a challenge – especially in the last few minutes of a game it can get quite hectic on the interchange bench. Quite often players will just come off if they’re exhausted or cramping and sometimes you can’t stop them. Mistakes happen.”
On personnel returning to play
“Tom McCartin won’t play and we will see how Hickey goes with today’s training session. He would be the only [player to return] at this stage.”
On Tom McCartin
“His [symptoms] are lingering for a bit longer than we hoped. It is what it is. You can’t do anything about it but you have to let the symptoms resolve completely. We’ll see what happens post-bye. Concussion issues are rising throughout the competition. Unfortunately, it has happened to some of our key players.”
On defending Charlie Curnow and Harry Mckay
“We’ve been without our key defenders for a large part of this year so we have to keep making do. Aaron Francis has come in a done a pretty reasonable job. We’ll have a look at Melican who has played the last couple of games [in the VFL]. We’ll have to make do against what are the best two marking power forwards in the competition.”
On the win against North Melbourne
“There are things to come out of the game that we thought we did well and things we can still improve on. We’re building to get better, putting personnel to one side, and we need to keep pressing forward. It’s always good to get over the line. Whether it was against the Giants or Port Adelaide we did a lot right in those games.”
On Peter Ladhams
“Unfortunately, he’s still on crutches and in a moon boot so he’ll be out for a number of weeks.”
On the Swans injury list
“Sometimes you just go through those runs and you learn things about yourself and about the team. It’s not always onwards and upwards but you’re still learning. That’s what we’ve got the opportunity to do. Lachlan McAndrew played last week, and he’ll play again this week. That’s what we’ll take out those games, that we keep learning."
On the pressures of coaching
“We’ve got to acknowledge that it’s not the only job in the country with pressure. AFL coaching has some unique pressures. You don’t really know it until you’ve sat in the chair 24/7. There are some unique challenges in this job that are unlike any other. If you’re not prepared to do it, don’t do it.
“Player demands are growing, and senior coaches have expectations to not only be the leader of their football team but in some ways, lead the community on a number of issues… You tip your hat to Damian, he’s done a great job with Richmond.”
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