Sydney Swans coach John Longmire addressed the media ahead of training in Bondi on Monday afternoon.
The Swans swapped Moore Park for the salty air of Sydney’s coast in preparation for Saturday afternoon’s clash with Essendon at the MCG.
Here are some key quotes from the press conference.
Callum Sinclair’s fitness
“He hasn’t been ruled out for the season just yet. He’ll be out for three weeks, we’d expect, to be able to do strengthening work on his shoulder. Then we’ll see how he goes after that. We’ll let his shoulder settle down, he’ll strengthen it up and we’ll take it from there. It doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to come back and it doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to have an operation; it just means we’ll have to wait and see over the next few weeks.”
Sinclair’s replacement
“We have a couple of options. Darcy Cameron has been injured, so we’re mindful of putting him at risk – and particularly if Callum doesn’t play for the rest of the year. So we don’t necessarily want to rush Darcy coming back from injury. It’s a quad injury and we don’t want to take the risk. If we push him for this week and we lose him we’ll be down two ruckmen for the rest of the year. We’ve just got to be smart with that. This week is important, but we’ve got to make sure we have ruck options for the rest of the year as well.”
Mid-season ruck recruit Michael Knoll
“He’s been here for a few weeks. It’s been such a whirlwind for him. He went from Melbourne to Adelaide and then halfway through the season packed up and moved to Sydney, so he’s been through a fair bit. He’s trying to settle his lifestyle down, he’s trying to settle into the groove of a new footy club and he hasn’t been playing football for that many years either, so we’re going through that at the moment. We think he’s got really good potential. Whether he plays this week or not we’re not sure. We’ll look at that as an option, but we’ve just got to make sure that when we play him that we play for two reasons: that he is right to go and that he gives the best possible chance for the team and himself to play well.”
Finals chances
“We don’t sit here and say, ‘Listen, it’s always about the result’. We’ve never been about that as a footy team wherever we are on the ladder. It’s about getting our process right, with the review meeting today, making sure our recovery is right and training this week. It’s about getting those steps and our process right. People on the outside can talk about what it means in that regard, but internally we’re just focused on that. That’s what works for us and that’s what we’ll continue to do. We’ll focus on the process of playing a competitive brand of football against the Bombers, who beat GWS who are one of the contenders this year.”
Essendon
“They run hard, they’ve got some flexibility in their team, they’ve made some positional changes and they’ve been able to adapt. They’re a good team with great talent.”
