Swans unchanged for Hawks clash
The Sydney Swans will take an unchanged team into Saturday night's match against Hawthorn at the MCG
Swans coach John Longmire said the side that recorded a 60-point win over the Brisbane Lions at the SCG last weekend would be given another chance this Saturday against the in-form Hawks, who have won their last five matches.
“We thought long and hard about it, and we thought the boys from last week were pretty good,” Longmire told SwansTV.
“We thought we’d give them another opportunity to play this week against an absolute top notch quality opponent.”
Young Swan Jed Lamb, who made is AFL debut last Sunday, will get another opportunity this weekend following an impressive performance as the starting substitute.
Longmire said the 20-year-old’s efforts against the Lions were enough to secure another senior match this week.
“Jed did a pretty good job last week in the limited time, so it will be good to give him another go at it and see how he goes again,” he said.
“It’s obviously a great experience to be playing senior football, so we’d like to be able to play him for a couple of games in a row and give him another taste.
“He’s really relishing the opportunity to be playing senior footy and he’s a good kid and he’s working really hard, and this gives him a chance to play on the MCG which is a great experience.”
The coach added that he also hoped to see repeat performances from Sam Reid and Lewis Jetta, who both produced season-best games against Brisbane last week.
“Sam’s first quarter was fantastic and hopefully he puts a number of those quarters together now,” Longmire said.
“He certainly moved very well and marked the ball well and hit the scoreboard, so that was really good for him.
“Lewis Jetta I thought the longer the game went the better he looked.
“They are both very important players for us and they are both young players, but they both play really key roles for us, so it was good to see them playing so well last week.”
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s match, Longmire said both teams had undergone personnel changes since last year’s Grand Final, but added that he expected the Hawks to take in a strong side.
“They are a little bit different and so are we, but nothing changes in regards to Hawthorn’s talent levels or work rate or what they do as far as a unit is concerned,” Longmire said.
“They are a very good team and they score heavily and they use the ball so well and they’ve got some talent all over the field.
“They’ve got a number of dangerous players, it’s not just one dangerous player, and they’ve got danger everywhere.
“It always comes down to whether we can put in a four-quarter, quality performance against the Hawks.”
Hawthorn v Sydney Swans
Saturday May 11, 2013
7.40pm EST
MCG
B N.Malceski, H.Grundy, N.Smith
HB M.Mattner, T.Richards, J.McVeigh
C L.Jetta, R.O'Keefe, B.McGlynn
HF D.Hannebery, S.Reid, K.Jack
F A.Goodes, M.Pyke, L.Parker
Foll S.Mumford, J.Kennedy, J.Bolton
I/C T.Armstrong, C.Bird, J.Lamb, D.Rampe
Emg M.Morton, T.Walsh, J.White
No Change