Ahead of a Round 24 clash with Melbourne, senior coach John Longmire appeared in a press conference on Monday, August 21. He discusses Round 23, Lance Franklin's farewell at the SCG and the upcoming finals series.

On the Swans locking in a finals spot

“The whole competition is set up to not play finals every year. It’s a real challenge every year to put yourself in a position to have another go and it’s a good achievement to be able to get there. We still have a game to play this week. We play Melbourne and there’s a lot on the line for both teams. There’s going to be a massive crowd at the SCG and there’s still a lot to play for and we’re looking forward to that.”

On the secret to the Swans late season success

“We got some more player availability. If you look at the first half of the year and the consistency of that. Sometimes it’s as simple as that. Once you’ve got some consistency in your key personnel it makes a big difference. The synergy the players we were able to get after playing together certainly helps.”

On Tom Papley

“He’s ok. He pulled up well today so he’s still a chance to play this week. He feels pretty good. We’ll see how the week progresses. It would be good to have him in the team and available.”

On the Ben Keayes goal

“Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge how disappointed I’d be if I was Matthew Nicks. There’s no question that you get disappointed when those kinds of things happen. They don’t happen very often but if you’re on the wrong side of it you get very disappointed. The AFL have acknowledged that. It’s disappointing for the AFL, disappointing for the umpire involved. We feel for him as well. Footy can be a cruel game sometimes.”

On challenging Tom McCartin’s suspension

“We’ve decided to challenge it because we feel it was an accidental football incident. The ball deviated. Tom didn’t brace let alone elect to bump. Because of the ball and which way it bounced Tom didn’t have a lot of choice. We’d like him to be available this week but once again the appeal is based upon the incident.”

On Lance Franklin’s farewell at the SCG

“It’s terrific to be able to farewell the big fella. It will be great to have him back and it’s good to be able to acknowledge that. I’m sure the crowd will get a lot out of it; he’ll get a lot out of it and hopefully his family does too. To acknowledge one of the all-time greats is important.”

On Round 23

“I think we played a fantastic brand of footy – at three quarter time we were 32 points up. We did a lot right for most of the game and played really well. They’re entitled to have their turn at momentum. Adelaide was playing at home and had a really good run at it in the last quarter. We lost ground position, beaten at clearance and then we were trying to dig the ball out of the back half which we didn’t do successfully. We lost a number of contests through that period which were important. We’ll look at that and hopefully improve.”

On last quarter efforts in recent rounds

“Obviously you have to be able to win – that’s most important. Particularly from the position we’ve been in where we didn’t have any wriggle room. We still have to get better in the contest. In the last quarter [against Adelaide] there was a number of contests that we still have to get better at. Including, when we win the ball and be clean, but also our effective tackles.”

On Joel Amartey and Justin McInerney

“Joel will look to do some training this week, so he’d be a chance at this stage. We’ll have to see how the week goes for Justin. He’d have to have a big ramp up this week to be available from what he’s been doing.”

On team selection

“We’ll pick our best team available this week from the players that are available and fit. There’s plenty to play for this week. Big game, Melbourne, top four team. Both teams have plenty on the line.”