The Swans are set to take on the Adelaide Crows at the newly redeveloped Adelaide Oval, which was tested out for the first time in the weekend’s South Australian showdown between the Crows and Port Adelaide.
Swans coach John Longmire said his team is excited about the challenge that awaits, but aren’t expecting any help from what will be a vocal home crowd.
“It will be a big game in front of a packed house at their new stadium,” Longmire told media on Monday.
“We saw on the weekend with a packed crowd that the people in Adelaide have really embraced it.
“We go to an environment where we expect it to not be all that friendly.
“We’re on the road this week and it’s a good opportunity for us.”
Following last weekend’s results, the Crows are in the same position as the Swans, with both teams still looking to put their first points for the 2014 AFL season.
Longmire said it was likely both sides would be working on the same areas ahead of Saturday afternoon’s round three clash.
“(Adelaide) are talking about winning contested ball, like we were last week, so we’re expecting a fierce response from them,” Longmire said.
“That’s what they’re discussing in the media over there, so they’ll be focused on that aspect and want to improve as we will.”
Despite suffering a second consecutive loss, Longmire remained positive about his team’s situation and said they would be focused on making more improvements on the track this week.
“We just want to get on the winners’ list,” he said.
“That’s what we want to do, but it doesn’t change the way we prepare or our day-to-day review and how we train.
“Whether we win a final or you lose a game or two games, you still focus on the aspects you can improve on.
“We’re in the same situation as we are on Mondays every week, and that’s trying to improve and we’ll be trying to do that against Adelaide this week.”
The Swans will again be without Kurt Tippett for this weekend’s match, with the coach suggesting the key forward was still “a couple of weeks away” from full fitness.
“He’s been running and has been pulling up really well,” he said.
“Because he’s pulling up well, we wanted to review his program for the next couple of weeks and that’s getting done today and then we’ll see what his next couple of weeks look like.
“The expectation at the moment is that he does some sort of training on Friday and then some more team training next week.
“It will still be a couple of weeks, but hopefully that’s all it is.”
Longmire also confirmed that fellow tall Lewis Roberts-Thomson would face another test this week after missing the club’s round two match with pelvic soreness, while Gary Rohan, who was subbed out of the match with leg pain would also be assessed later in the week.
“’LRT’ we’re hoping will do some sort of training tomorrow, so he’s come up today,” he said.
“Gary Rohan with that nervy pain that he’s still feeling down his leg, he should be able to train on Thursday, but we’ll have to wait and see.
“It’s a bit of an unknown.”
