THE SMILE was back on Swans coach John Longmire's face following a comprehensive 101-point demolition of Melbourne at the SCG on Saturday night.
But it wasn't the 21.12 (138) to 5.7 (37) scoreline, the spread of goal kickers or the four-quarter effort that most pleased the coach. Rather it was a one-sided 82-51 tackle count he found most rewarding.
Despite dominating the possession count 395-353, the Swans were still able to stifle the Demons whenever they did manage to get hold of the ball.
It was a stern response from a team that was embarrassed by its effort in last week's loss to Richmond.
"That was important. We had to keep our pressure up," Longmire said when asked about the Swans' ability to maintain their intensity throughout the game.
"I was really pleased we had 82 tackles to 51. That was probably the most pleasing part of the game from a coaching point of view.
"To win the tackles like that when we clearly had a fair bit of the ball was good.
"And it was good to bounce back after last week.
"We were really disappointed with our performance last week, as good as the Tigers were.
"The way the players set themselves early in the week and bounced back strongly was good."
The match heralded the arrival of the AFL's latest Irish experiment, with Tommy Walsh finally playing his first game more than two years after heading to Australia to join St Kilda.
Unable to crack the senior side at the Saints, he earned his chance at his second club and held his own in an encouraging display.
Fourteen possessions, six marks, four tackles and two goals means Walsh, who inherited Tadhg Kennelly's No. 17 guernsey, is likely to retain his place when the Swans face his former side next week.
"Was it worth the wait? Yeah it was," he said afterwards grinning, with his guernsey dyed red from an energy drink shower during the team song.
"It was special being my first game and everything, but the most important thing was we won the game.
"We set ourselves a lot of targets during the week and things we wanted to do and I thought we did them.
It was a new forward set up for the Swans, with Walsh employed to ease some of the pressure on Sam Reid.
After a slow start to the game as he adjusted to the pace of senior football, Walsh settled in well, pleasing Longmire.
"I thought he improved as the game went," he said.
"There were a couple of really strong efforts he was able to do in our forward line.
"We wanted another tall in our forward line and he kicked a couple of goals and got a bit of the footy and won some important one-on-one contests and helped Reidy out."
James Dampney covers Sydney AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs
