While all eyes have been on Collingwood forward Chris Dawes’ fitness this week, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire is just as concerned with trying to stop the Magpies leading ruckman Darren Jolly.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow night’s do-or-die Preliminary Final clash with Collingwood at ANZ Stadium, Longmire said curbing Jolly’s influence is one of his side’s top priorities this weekend.
The Swans coach said Jolly was the most dangerous midfield player in tomorrow night’s knock-out final.
“I think it starts with Jolly if you’re talking about a potent weapon; he’s an important player to their set-up,” Longmire said.
“Then it’s a matter of (stopping) Pendlebury, Beams, Swan, Thomas and you could just keep going. They’ve got some A-grade stars in their midfield and is one better than the other? Well if so, then not by much because they’re all absolute quality players.”
Longmire highlighted Jolly’s recent performance against West Coast’s All-Australian ruck division of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui, as well as his performance against the Swans in round 20 as examples of how important the former Swan can be to the Collingwood side.
“I thought Darren Jolly played really well against us last time (they) were up here at ANZ Stadium,” Longmire said.
“I thought he was outstanding and he is in career-best form … and is one of the premier big men in the competition and has been for almost a decade now.”
“He took on the All-Australian ruckmen in Naitanui and Cox, and he played really well, so it’s our challenge to make sure that we can get our hands on the ball or at least nullify his influence both at the stoppage, but also around the ground, because he is just so smart and experienced.”
While the Swans recent record against Collingwood has also been a topic of interest this week, Longmire said there was no secret to breaking the Swans’ losing streak against the Pies.
“It’s just about hard work,” Longmire said.
“Sometimes you go looking for different things and you try and do different things that may or may not work.
“I know what does work, and that’s working hard for four quarters, that’s what does work and that’s what we expect our players to do tomorrow.”
Longmire said there would be no different approach going into tomorrow night’s game, but rather just a focus on what has served the team so well so far this season.
“(Inside the club) we just talk about stats and vision and just show them what they do well and where we think we need to do well,” Longmire said.
“That’s basically it, there’s not rocket science to it, there’s no magic formula, we know that the biggest challenge ahead of us tomorrow is to be able to play four quarters of hard, contested footy.
“It doesn’t get more complicated than that, it’s very simple and I think you’ve got to break it down for the players to be really simple as well.
“They know what’s ahead of them and they know the challenges ahead of us tomorrow night and that’s just being strong and contested and tackling hard for four quarters.”
