John Longmire says he will leave no stone unturned before the Swans line up against the competition’s newest team, GWS on Saturday night.

Longmire said his team has done extensive research to ensure they are prepared to take on GWS, who will play for their first AFL premiership points in the game at ANZ Stadium.

He said while the team will treat GWS like any other opponent, the club has taken extra steps to ensure they know everything they need to about the AFL’s newest club.

“It’s a different challenge when you’re confronting a team that’s playing their first game, but we’ve  been fortunate enough to get a good look at them over the last month, so we’ll be well prepared as we always are for a game of AFL football,” he said.

“We’re certainly treating this like any normal game in regards to that, and even a little bit more so because we’ve had to do more homework on some of the players that we may not know a lot about.”

Longmire said he and his players will go into Saturday’s game expecting the unexpected from Kevin Sheedy and his GWS team.

“In the end we’ll play what we see in front of us on game day. We’re planning for a few scenarios but ultimately we want to make sure we’re hard and tough at the footy and we use the ball well and make sure they don’t," Longmire said.

“Whether they put numbers behind  the ball or around the stoppages who knows, but we can’t get too concerned about that and will prepare our players for a number of different scenarios but ultimately we think that over four quarters we’ve got to make sure we pass the test…no matter what tactics get thrown at us."

With many writing off GWS’ chances ahead of Saturday night, Longmire stressed that their pre-season form was proof the team needs to be treated as a serious competitor this weekend.

“The reality is I went down to Lavington a few weeks ago and saw GWS beat Gold Coast, who we had a really good battle with on the weekend, and I saw them play against Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs in round one, in which case they got within a kick of both teams,” he said.

“They are the facts when it comes to their performance…that’s what happened, and our coaching staff know that and our playing staff know that.

“You talk to any coach in the competition and they will tell you that any team can beat another team on any given day and we’re going to prepare like we would for round 15, round 14 or the first week of the finals.

“I would be disappointed if any of our players or coaches thought anything different.”