Following the Swans’ 10-point loss to Hawthorn in Melbourne on Saturday night, Longmire said the Hawks had “more good players” than the Swans did, and stressed the importance of a strong team performance against the Bombers this week.
“(Saturday night) was a really tight game and I guess what made the difference in the end was the weight-of-numbers performance from Hawthorn,” Longmire told media on Monday afternoon.
“They had just a few more good players that what we did.
“We didn’t think we had a lot of good players on the night and that’s what made the difference in the end.
“Our players have been consistently playing well for a fair while, so we need to get back to that and be a bit more consistent than we were on Saturday night.
“We need to bring that this week because Essendon have won three in a row and are in some good form.”
Essendon will enter Friday night’s match with confidence following a string of impressive victories over Port Adelaide, Richmond and the Western Bulldogs.
Longmire highlighted the Bombers’ brilliant form in attack, including young gun Jake Carlisle who has been a standout performer for Essendon, booting 14 goals in the last three matches.
“Carlisle is in some super form, so we know what Essendon’s best is and they’ve shown that over the last three weeks,” the coach said.
“Certainly when he’s in form he’s one of the best contested marks in the competition.
“If you saw the game against the Bulldogs, he took a couple of marks three or four deep and he’s really got clean hands.
“When he’s playing with that sort of confidence he’s hard to stop.
“We need to play well and it’s another big game for us on Friday night.”
The Swans could receive a boost this week, with Rhyce Shaw nearing full fitness after missing the last four matches with an ankle injury.
Longmire said Shaw would face a test on Wednesday afternoon in order to prove his fitness ahead of this week’s match.
“Rhyce Shaw is a chance to come back this week,” he said.
“He ran well today and we expect him to train on Wednesday and certainly if he gets through training on Wednesday, he’ll put his hand up to play.”
The coach also confirmed that Kurt Tippett had recovered well from his first game back from a knee injury, but said Dan Hannebery was unlikely to play this week.
“Kurt Tippett pulled up okay, but Daniel Hannebery won’t play,” he said.
“He’s probably looking okay for next week, but might be a bit short this week.”
