Sydney Swans coach John Longmire and co-captain Luke Parker joined GWS coach Leon Cameron and co-captain Phil Davis for a joint press conference on Monday.
Sydney and GWS are set to square off in Sydney Derby XVIII at Giants Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Here are some key quotes from the press conference.
Longmire on Dane Rampe, Colin O’Riordan
“We’ve got a couple who will be out this week. Rampe will be out and O’Riordan will be out. A ball landed in Rampe’s eye in Sunday’s game, so he’s got some bleeding in his eye and it’s too big a risk to play. As for Colin, he has some groin issues. He pulled up a bit sore, we just found that out and so he’ll be out as well.”
Parker on Swans’ approach to rest of season
“It’s obviously new territory for myself and some of the other older boys. Not playing finals is flattening but at the end of the day we’re all competitive and we want to win. We wanted to win on the weekend and we want to continue to win over the rest of the year. You want to know we can match it with some of the best teams in the competition and no doubt the Giants are right up there this year. We’ll be looking to really test ourselves against that quality of AFL team.”
Longmire on the possibility of Sam Naismith returning to the AFL this week
“It’s probably unlikely. If we thought he was right to play we’d certainly select him. He got through 60 minutes in the NEAFL on the weekend. We’ve had a brief discussion about it today and we’ll go into a bit more detail this afternoon and tomorrow. At this stage it’s unlikely. We’d like to see him play another game just for his own confidence. He’s missed nearly two years of football. As good as he was on the weekend, we’ve got to make sure we make the right decision for him and the team. It’s not just about this week for him; it’s making sure we make the right call.”
Longmire on Lance Franklin
“The plan is for him to play again this year. He ran again today and ran well, and he’ll be looking to train next week. We need to keep the foot down in regards to his return to play.”
Parker on the ruck situation
“It’s not ideal for the midfielders to not have a genuine ruckman. Hayden was fantastic last week and probably got a bit of a touch-up on the weekend, but he’s a competitive beast and we know he’ll come out this week against a few big boys and have another crack. We’ve just got to adapt to that and that’s what we’re dealing with. If you look at the Bulldogs they’re another team that doesn’t have a dominant ruck, but they do pretty well in the clearances. Having a recognised ruckman isn’t the be all and the end all. Having Sam Naismith out there would be a great help, but we’ll see how many times he walks past Horse’s office to put up his hand this week.”
