Sydney Swans coach John Longmire addressed the media ahead of training at the SCG on Thursday. 

Sydney is set for a clash with North Melbourne at the SCG on Saturday night.

The NEAFL side will face the Aspley Hornets in an AFL curtain-raiser in the afternoon.

Here are some key quotes from the press conference. 

Dean Towers’ selection chances
“He’s okay at the moment. He’s got to get through the training session and be feeling good after that before he gets the all-clear. But he’s looking positive at the current time.” 

The threat North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein poses
“Even if Dean does get through the training session and plays it’s still a big challenge for him. Goldstein is in fantastic form. You could almost say he’s back to his best and he’s playing really well.”

The strain of Callum Sinclair’s significant rucking load
“We are conscious of that but it’s happening across the competition too. If you look right across the comp it’s a similar situation for a number of teams where there’s one clear ruckman. North Melbourne are another example of that this week. Majak Daw has been playing but he’s been down back as well. It happened last year and it’s happening again this year. Ideally you’d like to be able to share that at some point and it’s something we’ll consider but we’re not one out in that space. There are a number of teams in the same boat.”

Aliir Aliir’s progress
“He’s coming along well. Last week was his second game in about nine weeks, so it was good to get another game under his belt. He played that forward-ruck role for us in the reserves. His second half was certainly pretty solid. So we’d like to give him a look at that space in our senior team and at some stage pretty shortly. We think he can contribute in that area.” 

How long Lance Franklin and Dan Hannebery have left on the sidelines
“We’re not sure yet. It’s not something we can give an absolute answer on. Hannebery’s groin is feeling a lot better and I’d say he’s a chance next week but not a certainty. I just spoke to Lance and while he said his heel is getting better and better he hasn’t really tested it because he’s been given instruction to stay off it as much as he can. Neither of them are certainties for next week.” 

The firmness of the SCG
“The grass cover this year has been really good and certainly we’ve noticed not only the outfield that was resurfaced during the summer but also that the centre wicket has the most grass cover on it as it’s had in quite a while. So from that aspect we’re really pleased with how it’s tracking.” 

The threat North Melbourne poses
“North Melbourne have a very good, well balanced game style. They’re the second-best defensive team in the competition, so they’re defending really well. Offensively they’ve got a couple of key forwards up in that part of the ground. Both Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite are extremely dangerous, extremely talented. If they get Shaun Higgins back he’s another one. Jack Zieball’s been playing forward and when Ben Brown gets a launch at it he’s very hard to stop because of his height and his speed. Once again it gets down to that midfield battle and making sure that we can get some sort of advantage in that part of the ground because if it’s coming out of there very quickly to a Ben Brown or a Jarrad Waite they’ll kick scores because they’re very talented. We look at North Melbourne and clearly understand the value of Brown, Waite, Zieball in an attacking way and Higgins is another absolute talent. We’re aware of that and on the back of their great defensive effort this year they’re playing good footy.” 

Nic Newman’s progress
“He doesn’t have an injury – he was our travelling emergency for the NEAFL side on the weekend. It’s always a bit of a mix trying to get the balance right. As others have, he’s got a bit to work on. Ollie Florent has stepped up in that midfield role and that’s what happens – it ebbs and flows a bit. But we’re confident he can really contribute to our team as well and he was close last week and he’ll be close again this week.” 

SCG form
“I’m not one to stand here and say we need to make this ground this or that. The reality is we’ve played one good game here against GWS and a couple we need to get better at. We need to play well on our home ground. We can talk about it until we’re blue in the face but we actually have to go out and do it this week and really play a hard, strong brand of footy for four quarters and that’s what our challenge is.” 

Gary Rohan ahead of game 100
“I was there with Paul Roos when we first interviewed the kid from Cobden in 2009 at the Draft camp down in Canberra. It was the first time I had met Gary straight off the dairy farm. What a remarkable journey as far as a really talented kid back then with huge speed and a fair bit to learn and a few of the coaches actually commented last week on seeing him grow up as a person really quickly over that journey. He’s had some big challenges to overcome and he’s shown a remarkable level of resilience to be able to do that and it’s a great reward to finally be able to get to 100 games. His resilience has developed over time through life experiences and football experiences. Some get tested a bit more and challenged a bit more in those areas and he’s been able to come through and have a really positive outlook on the way he goes about life. It’s great to see him running around and playing some really good pressure footy. I thought last week he provided a real target for us in the front half. I reckon if you’re getting up at four o’clock every day seven days a week you’ve got to have some level of resilience and appreciation for getting to bed early because it’s a tough caper.”

Young emerging talent
“We probably had one of the younger forward lines we’ve ever had last week and it might be young again this week. It is an area we’re aware of and obviously our leaders give a lot of guidance but there’s also a really healthy expectation of those younger guys to contribute and be up and about and play some really good footy. The old saying of ‘the birth certificates go out the window’ is absolutely relevant. We played an extremely young forward line last week and if it goes the same again this week we’ll probably play against some experienced defenders – All-Australian defenders. But the reality is you’ve just got to get the job done and when you cross that line that’s what it’s all about.” 

Debutant Ben Ronke
“It’s just about understanding what his strengths are and that’s applying enormous pressure on the opposition and anything else is a bonus. Whether it’s Ben or any other young player that comes into the team, if you keep focus on the things you can do and should be able to do and that every player can execute, which is defensive pressure and tackling and chasing and getting after the ball, the offensive side of things tends to look after itself. Ben’s debut was very handy. It was good to see him finish with a couple of goals and provide that spark in the front half but he’s got to do it again and again and again.”