SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire has compared Adelaide dangerman Patrick Dangerfield to Adam Goodes and says curtailing the Crow's influence will be key when the sides go head to head at the SCG on Saturday night.
Dangerfield was in scintillating form against Port Adelaide last weekend, finishing with 39 disposals, eight marks and a remarkable 14 inside 50s as Adelaide improved to 4-1 for the season.
Goodes was also in vintage form against the Hawks in Launceston on Sunday, helping the Swans stay undefeated so far in 2012.
Dangerfield appeared to find plenty of space against the Power, which Longmire said can be hard to counter.
"The challenge with Dangerfield is that often when you're trying not to let him run free, he runs free anyway because he's so quick," Longmire said ahead of training on Thursday.
"It's a bit like Goodesy. You can try to have someone on him, but he has a burst of speed and he's so powerful that he can generate a five-metre gap with whoever he's on very quickly."
Adelaide has regained its penchant for contested football this season, which has also been a Swans trademarks for so long.
And it promises to be another slogfest at the SCG. In the last 10 matches between the sides, only twice has either side managed to kick a score over 100 points.
The Swans were praised for their contested football in the second half against Hawthorn but had to overcome a poor start, and Longmire knows they need to start better against the battle ready Crows.
"It's going to be a really contested brand of footy," he said.
"They've got some of the strongest contested ball players in the competition in (Scott) Thompson and Dangerfield and a couple of the best key forwards in (Kurt) Tippett and (Taylor) Walker, who are both really menacing on their day.
"We have to start better with our contested ball."
While the SCG is traditionally a stronghold for the Swans, the Crows will have few fears heading to the historic ground.
Adelaide has taken the four points on its last three visits to the SCG and hasn't lost in Sydney since 2004.
Longmire expects to face a confident Crows side on Saturday night.
"The teams are so different now," he said.
"There's different coaches on both teams, there's certainly different players, so all it does from Adelaide's point of view is give them some confidence coming to the SCG.
"They know they've played well here before and that's fair enough.
"Regardless of that, it's just about what we can control as a team and we can try to control that hard, contested brand of footy."
James Dampney covers Sydney AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD
