Sydney Swans coach John Longmire and captain Josh Kennedy met with Giants coach Leon Cameron and captain Callan Ward for a joint press conference at the SCG on Tuesday.
The Swans and Giants will face off in Sydney Derby X1V at the SCG on Saturday night.
Here are some key quotes from press conference.
“You know you’re always in for a tough contest against the Giants. They’re ability to use the ball on the outside is very well noted but their inside pressure and contested footy is up there with the best in the comp. Certainly from our perspective we really need to set ourselves to bring that area of our game and make sure it’s at its best to match it with them.”
Kennedy on the Giants’ strong midfield
“The battles that Kennedy and Ward have had over the journey don’t get any less. You’ve got two of the absolute quality on-ballers in the competition going to head-to-head on the weekend.”
Longmire on elite on-ballers Kennedy and Ward
“We’ve got an enormous amount of respect for the Giants. We have had some great clashes and have played them twice this year already in pre-season games. Both teams understand each other very well and on Saturday it will just come down to who plays better on the night.”
Longmire on the respect the rivalry carries
“As for Zak Jones, we won’t know until he trains or attempts to train on Thursday. So we’ll give him until then to see how he pulls up. Dan Hannebery pulled up fine after the Port game. It was the knee he hurt in the grand final a couple of years ago so it was a bit concerning when it first happened, but he’s dodged a bullet there and will be okay. As for Sam Reid, we expect him to play.”
Longmire on the Swans’ injury front
“It’s always a very high-intensity game against the Swans. They play a terrific brand of footy that we’ve always respected and it will be no different on the weekend.”
Ward on the Sydney Derby rivalry