Sydney Swans coach John Longmire has lauded the resilience of his side following a spate of injuries to key players this season.

Speaking at the SCG on Monday afternoon, the coach said the Saturday’s 44-point win over Essendon, which was achieved without the services of premiership quintet Sam Reid, Rhyce Shaw, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Marty Mattner and Alex Johnson, was a true indication of the Swans’ depth in 2013.

“I think we’ve had a number of players out of the senior team and the thing that I’ve been pleased with is that we’ve increased the depth of our squad,” Longmire said.

“The players who have been coming in have played significant roles for us that we might not have thought of at the start of the year, and that’s a good thing.

“We’d like to get a few of those other players back as soon as we can after the bye but there are a few that don’t look like they’ll be back immediately so those players will continue to get opportunities.”

One player who is likely to earn another opportunity in this Saturday’s clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium is Tom Mitchell, who impressed in his first senior game against the Bombers.

Longmire said Mitchell, who collected 18 disposals, six tackles, three goal assists and one goal after coming on as the substitute, certainly made his mark.

“There would have to be a strong argument to put him out of the team and I’m not sure who is going to put that up at match committee but he was pretty good,” he said.

“He came on the ground and had a real impact offensively, defensively and had a lot of tackles and used the ball really strongly and really well under pressure.

“It was a good start for him and we feel as though he’s been able to get some really good match fitness in our reserves over the last few weeks and has been able to play the sort of footy that we know he can play and he came in on the weekend and had a real impact.”

The coach also praised the efforts of first-year player Dane Rampe, who has taken on a role in the Swans’ back six, as well as co-captain Jarrad McVeigh who has also been reshuffled into defence in the last month.

“Shaw, Mattner, LRT, Alex Johnson and those types of players in our back half have been important players for us and we’ve been missing those players for a number of weeks,” he said.

“We’ve introduced Dane Rampe and we’ve changed the team a little bit to make up for some personnel that we’ve been missing in the back six, but I think that that’s actually helped us at times.

“We’ve got players like (Nick) Malceski and McVeigh, and Rampe has been holding his own, and our keys have been playing quite well.”

The Swans depth will be called on again this weekend, with Longmire confirming that Tommy Walsh would miss the remainder of the 2013 season with a serious hamstring injury.

The coach said fellow key forward Jesse White, who kicked five goals for the Swans reserves against Belconnen on the weekend, could be in the mix for selection against the Crows.

“Obviously Jesse White is in line there, but we look at the structure of the team as well and what we need on that ground and the opposition and their personnel,” he said.

“We’ll look at all those things later on this week and we can see what we need and what players are available for us.”

With two strong wins behind them, Longmire said the Swans would need another consistent performance against Adelaide, who fell just short against Fremantle at home last Saturday.

“Freo we know are a pretty good team and Adelaide pushed them right to the end,” Longmire said.

“They’ve got some great midfielders through that part of the ground and if you look at the All-Australian squad that was announced last year, those players are still playing and are very good players.

“Their backline is intact and their forward line has been changed a little bit but they’ve found some players, like (Sam) Kerridge, who have bobbed up and kicked goals, so they’ve been able to add some potency and unpredictability to their forward line.”