Senior coach John Longmire says staff and players have moved on from the Swans' 171-point win in Round 15, and are looking ahead to the rest of the season. Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, June 28, he touched on Lance Franklin, Tom McCartin and playing Geelong on the SCG this Friday night. 

On Round 15

“It was quite a unique situation with the West Coast Eagles injury list. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a club decimated with injuries. A good thing from our perspective is that we went out there and executed what we wanted to do.”

On Geelong

“We move on this week. It’s been in our players’ minds to put Round 15 aside and know the contest and availability of Geelong’s team will be fairly different. They’ve got a couple of players back this week and they’ll be even stronger. We prepare for their best.”

On Lance Franklin

“He’s coming along quite well. He’s going to do some training tonight which is a good sign. He ran on Monday and pulled up well from that. We’re just mindful of how much training he needs to do to come back and get ready to play. We’ll make that call tonight.”

On Tom McCartin

“He’s okay. He got through the [VFL] game. We had him time limited and he finished up at the start of the last quarter, so he’s pulled up really well which is a good sign. He’s going to train tonight, and we’ll make a call on him. We want him to come in and play well for the rest of the year whether that’s this week or not.”

On Joel Amartey re-signing

“Joel’s been fantastic for us and he’s been here for a few years. But he’s unfortunately had a few injuries and hasn’t had a good run at it. Through this rehab he has been excellent. His professionalism, his size and shape now. He’s a big power forward and we need to make sure we keep him healthy and on the park. His speed and power is enormous.”

On Isaac Heeney

“He played well last week but we’ve put that aside pretty quickly and now we're looking to the rest of the year. We missed him the week prior in Brisbane. Clearly, he gives a forward target but also plays midfield. We’re confident he’s going to play some really good footy in the back end of this year. He trains hard, he works hard. He might have had a few quiet weeks, but we know what he’s capable of doing – we saw that last week.”

On strategy heading into Round 16

 “We’re looking ahead of us this week. We know what Geelong can do, we know they’re a really good team but we’re also confident in what we can do. A new opportunity and game this week. We need to put our best foot forward.”

On the back end of the season

“They’re all important games and in our players’ minds it’s giving ourselves a chance as individuals and a team to play really well. We need to do that this week. We’re about what’s in front of us now.

On the ladder

“No matter where we are on the ladder, top four or top two or making the finals, I’ve just never looked at it [like that]. If I started drifting the players would as well and it’s just not beneficial for us. We’ve got to make sure we put one foot in front of the other, get training right tonight, meetings right tomorrow and then get into the Cats.”