With the Christmas break just around the corner, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire took time out of his busy schedule to speak to SwansTV about the club’s pre-season program, the Swans’ newest recruits and the plans for the New Year.

John, we’re well and truly into pre-season and the playing list has been finalised. Are you happy with the new group?

Yes we are. There have been some changes as there always is at the end of the year, but we’re really excited about the players we’ve brought in both through free agency and particularly through the draft period as well. We’ve got some quality at the top end and we believe the younger kids we’ve got coming in have got really big futures ahead of them, so we’re really pleased with how it all ended up.

We had a fairly diverse group arrive through the National Draft. What can you tell us about our four new draftees?

Obviously early on it’s about getting the best players we can possibly get, and we thought Zak Jones and the way he went about his footy was fantastic. He’s a real competitor and after we saw his highlights, we just loved his vision and the way he went about it. He’s got that sort of fierce, competitive spirit written all over him. He’s the kind of player who can play midfield or as a small defender and we’re really pleased with how he’s going.

George Hewett is a kid who has a real upside if you look at him in recruiters’ terms. He was the youngest kid in the draft this year, so he’s obviously very young and has been playing against kids who were 12 months older than him, so that experience we think will hold him in good stead. He’s got great decision-making skills and has a great kick on both sides and he’s a very smart footballer, so we’re going to take our time with him and just make sure he’s physically well developed.

Toby Nankervis is a kid who was an All-Australian ruckman and is 19 years of age. He’s a player who really is a competitor, takes a really good mark and has really good ball skills. We’ve been really pleased with how he’s going this pre-season.

Finally, Aliir Aliir is a player we believe can fill a key defensive role at some point down the track, but has still got a long way to go. He’s been really enjoying pre-season so far and has shown great agility and great speed and now he’s working on the other areas he needs to get right but we’re really pleased to have him in our group.

A couple of delisted free agents arrived at the club as well over the off-season. What can we expect from Tom Derickx and Jeremy Laidler?

When we went into the free agency period before the draft we wanted to sure up our ruck stocks and we didn’t want an enormous reliance just on Mike Pyke, so Tom gives us that ability to be able to play in the ruck and has played at AFL level before and we believe can still play some real quality AFL football and that’s why we recruited him.

Jeremy Laidler is a player who can play down back and a couple of years ago had a really good season with Carlton. He’s courageous and is a terrific mark and kick and we think he can help our defensive stocks.

We also picked up two very different rookies. What can you tell us about Lloyd Perris and international rookie Patrick Mitchell?

Lloyd is a kid who we’ve had a really good look at over the last 12 months and he’s just a fanatical worker. He’s one of the best runners in our team so far, if not our best, and he’s right up there with Hannebery and McVeigh and those players, so he’s got great endurance.

Patty Mitchell is obviously just learning the game and he’s been terrific. His application has been superb. He’s got a great vertical leap and he’s really picking up the game well, so we believe he’s got a future as well.

One player we certainly can’t forget is Lance Franklin, who has officially started training with the group. How exciting is it to have him at the club?

It’s terrific. Lance is obviously a quality player and is a four-time All-Australian, a two-time Coleman medallist and a dual premiership player. He’s been able to play at the highest level now for a fair while and we believe he’s got a lot of good footy ahead of him. His ability on the training track and his athleticism, his speed and his size, all of these things will really benefit our team and will help the development of players like Sam Reid.

The first-to-four-year players have been back at the club for almost a month now. Who has impressed you on the training track so far?

We’ve been really pleased with how our younger kids have come back and worked over the last month. They’ve had a really tough running program over that period and that’s been really hard for them at different times. We’ve been pleased with how they’ve come through and players like Brandon Jack, Dan Robinson and others have really contributed and pushed each other hard over the pre-season period. Dane Rampe is the one who has been at the top of that pack, so we’ve been really rapt with how they’ve gone and it’s been really solid. I’m sure they’re really looking forward to having a bit of a rest over the Christmas break, but we’ve still got a few weeks to go.

We finished the 2013 season with a pretty lengthy injury list and a number of those players are back on the track now. How is that group coming along?

We’ve still got a few that we’d like to get back in January. Players like Goodes, who has gone really well in his off-season and his leg is really strong, is just starting running now and hopefully in January he’ll be able to ramp that up and start getting outside and doing a bit of ball work. Roberts-Thomson is on a similar path and Mike Pyke had a bit of a knee issue and is a bit along the same lines, so we’re expecting a few of those players back in January.

Gary Rohan has been going well so he’s picking up where he left off last season, so a few of those players who we were missing throughout the year will hopefully get a strong pre-season under their belts.

There have also been a couple of inclusions in the coaching ranks with Marty Mattner coming in as an assistant coach and Josh Francou heading up the development team. What can you tell us about their appointments?

Josh was obviously one of the really high quality players to come out of South Australia and has been an All-Australian player and a top-line player for Port Adelaide. Over the last few years he’s been working as a coach at the North Adelaide Football Club, so he’s got some great experience. He’s also a teacher, which is vital in a development role when it comes to teaching younger players so we’ve been really pleased and he’s a great addition to our staff.

Marty Mattner is someone we all know really well and he’s got a role in our club as well. He’ll be working on stoppages with Stuey Dew and he’s going to be a fantastic asset for us.

There are just under two weeks left until the Christmas break and then the boys are back in January. What have the players got coming up in the New Year?

It’s really important to get a good period of training over the Christmas break and while everyone is away from the club, it’s important we keep that training schedule up and that hard work up. It’s amazing how quickly the first game comes around come January so we need to make sure we do well over the Christmas break.

We’re really looking forward to getting up to Coffs Harbour at the end of January. We enjoyed our trip up there last year, it was fantastic, so it will be good to go up there and really have a few days to round off our preparation before the pre-season series starts.