At 1:15pm this Saturday afternoon, the 2012 flag will be unfurled at the SCG ahead of the Swans’ round two clash against the Gold Coast Suns and their star man, Gary Ablett .
Speaking before the Swans’ first training session of the week, Longmire said the flag unfurling will be an important club statement before the Swans take on the Suns, who are coming off one of their best wins in the club’s short history.
“It’s a thank you to a lot of people, most importantly our supporters,” Longmire said.
“To be able to thank them for what they have gone through over a long time, particularly last year at the club is an important gesture.
“We’ve got to get the mix of doing that and then understanding that once that’s finished we’ve got the Gold Coast in about 20 minutes time and that’s where our focus is going to be.
“It’s an important statement for the club to be able to officially sign off on that and to thank everyone who is involved in it and then weigh it up with the responsibility of winning the game.”
Following an unbelievable individual performance last weekend, which saw Ablett collect 34 disposals, nine clearances and kick four goals in the Suns’ 13-point win over St Kilda, Longmire said one of his side’s major focuses will be curbing the influence of Gold Coast’s captain.
The coach said Ablett was one of the most talented players he has seen play the game and would take some beating this weekend.
“He is a pretty fair player and many say he is one of, if not the best player to play the game,” Longmire said.
“Many who would have seen the game on the weekend between St Kilda and the Gold Coast would agree with that statement.
“He’s just a super player who is in red-hot form at the moment.
“We’ve had our challenges beating him in the past and I’m sure we’ll have our challenges against him this week to restrain his output on the game.”
Longmire said the Swans would take a team approach when lining up on Ablett, with a number of Swans midfielders likely to rotate on the Brownlow medallist.
“We’ve got a few options and you always go in with a few options against (Ablett),” he said.
“Obviously McVeigh, Jack, McGlynn and those players who have played that particular role in the past are a chance to play on him.
“Sometimes you’ve got to have a few of those options to go on him at different times through the course of the game and I’m sure we’ll do that again this week.
“A bit depends on whether he plays forward or midfield, but that’s the real challenge on playing on the some of the great players, and you don’t get that opportunity every week to play on one of the best players in the game and he’s certainly up with there with the best.”
The Swans are likely to have a strong list to choose from for Saturday’s game, with a number of players pushing for a senior game.
Longmire confirmed that the only injury concern was veteran Adam Goodes, who sustained a minor knee injury on the weekend.
“We’ll see how the rest of the team pulls up this week and I think the majority of our blokes pulled up OK. Goodsey had a bit of a knock to his knee but we’re hoping he should be fine by the end of the week and the rest should be OK,” Longmire said.
“We were really pleased with some of our reserves players … Andrejs Everitt, Craig Bird, Jed Lamb played a really good half before we subbed him off or took him off the ground as an emergency, so those players played pretty well.
“Depending on what happens later on Thursday, the pressure is on for selection which is a good problem to have.”
