Matt Spangher and Gary Rohan are likely inclusions for this Sunday’s game against St Kilda at ANZ Stadium.
Speaking ahead of training today, Longmire said the pair were ‘a chance’ to play after making their way back from injury through the reserves.
Rohan, who has played the last two weeks in the reserves following knee and hamstring injuries, could add an injection of pace and enthusiasm that was missing from the team against Richmond last week.
“We’ve been really keen to get Gary Rohan back in the team. He’s been off for an extended period of time, so we’d like to be able to (include him) if he is able to train well today,” Longmire said.
“He’s done a fair bit of training as well during those two weeks. He’s a real burst player with some speed and hardness.”
Spangher, the former West Coast Eagle who made his debut as a Swan against the Gold Coast five weeks ago, has been earmarked to help youngster Sam Reid in the forward line.
Spangher looked promising against the Gold Coast Suns but tweaked his hamstring in the final term and missed two weeks. He returned to the field in the reserves two weeks ago and is now on the verge of a senior recall.
“Reidy has been great for us at centre half forward but sometimes he needs a hand and we’ll try to do that this week with Matt Spangher,’’ Longmire said.
Premiership player Tadhg Kennelly will play in the reserves this weekend as he tries to regain form, while Lewis Roberts-Thomson will also miss the game against St Kilda at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, due to a calf injury.
“Lewis has had virtually a torn calf for the past couple of weeks,’’ Longmire said.
“He got through the game last week but has pulled up sore and he hasn’t been able to train this week at all so he is out of the team.’’
Longmire said the coaches wanted Tadhg to get back to basics in the reserves and try to regain his confidence.
“Tadhg Kennelly has been struggling with a bit of form, and we’ve tried to keep working with it but we just had to break the cycle so he will go back to our reserves and hopefully get some form and touch there,’’ Longmire said.
“Tadhg is very disappointed. Naturally when you’ve played a lot of senior footy you’re disappointed. We’ve been speaking to him for a few weeks and trying different things to get some touch and some form back but sometimes the way to do it is to go to the reserves.’’
Longmire said they wanted to see him get his hands on the footy and take off for some “trademark Tadhg Kennelly runs’’.
Jesse White, Mark Seaby and Nick Malceski are the other players who are in contention before the 25-man squad is finalised at 5pm this afternoon on sydneyswans.com.au.
White or Seaby could come into the side to fill the ruckman/forward role that Roberts-Thomson has been playing, although Longmire said the wet conditions predicted for Sunday could have an effect on the final make-up of the team.
Longmire said no matter who played this Sunday, intensity was the key to being competitive against the Saints. “We want to see a lot better effort than what we produced last week, when our work without the ball and tackle efficiency weren’t great,’’ he said.
“We didn’t hit any key indicators so this week has to revolve around a four quarter effort against a team in really good form.’’
The 25-man squad selected to face St Kilda at ANZ Stadium on Sunday is below:
B: R.Shaw, T.Richards, A.Johnson
HB: M.Mattner, H.Grundy, N.Smith
C: J.Kennedy, A.Goodes, J.McVeigh
HF: L.Jetta, R.O'Keefe, C.Bird
F: D.Hannebery, S.Reid, B.McGlynn
Foll: S.Mumford, J.Bolton, K.Jack
I/C (from): N.Malceski, B.Meredith, L.Parker, G.Rohan, M.Seaby, M.Spangher, J.White
In: M.Seaby , N.Malceski , J.White , M.Spangher , G.Rohan
Out: L.Roberts-Thomson (Calf), T.Kennelly
