The Swans will be without dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes, who was ruled out of the match with a knee injury earlier in the week, while defender Tony Armstrong has been omitted.
Coach John Longmire said the Swans’ senior players needed to step up in the absence of Goodes against an in-form Blues side tomorrow night.
“(Goodes is) obviously an important player and everyone knows how good of a player he is, but hopefully it’s just a one week injury and he’s available next week, which would be a real plus for us,” Longmire told SwansTV.
“We need to make sure we cover for his absence this week.
“Our senior players in the team need to play well and the players that we’ve brought into the team also need to play their role so it’s a very simple equation, we just have to go out there and do it.”
Everitt returns to the side after missing last week’s loss to Port Adelaide with an Achilles injury, while the younger of the Jack brothers will play his second senior game, after making his debut in round 11 against Adelaide.
Longmire said he hoped both players would inject some much-needed pace into the side.
“The last three of four weeks Andrejs has actually been pretty good for us in our back six, and also through the wing, where he has given us some real run,” he said.
“His Achilles was a bit sore last week, so unfortunately he didn’t make it up, but hopefully this week when he comes back into the team he gives us what he did before he got injured, which was providing up with some real run.
“We know that Brandon’s last quarter over in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago was OK for us and now he’s had a taste of senior footy, hopefully he’s a bit used to it.
“We hope he can come in and bring what he’s really good at, which is genuine speed whether that be chasing down opposition players trying to move the ball or crumbing in our forward half.”
Longmire said Friday night’s game was about getting back to a Swans’ brand of football and producing a consistent effort throughout the match following the disappointing loss to the Power.
“We just need to make sure we come with a real intense, four-quarter performance,” Longmire said.
“It’s about our pressure offensively and defensively, and it’s a two-way game that we need to play, because that’s what we do when we’re at our best.
“We’re also coming up against one of the best contested ball teams in the competition, so we need to be good and strong in the contests and get our hands on the ball and make sure we get the ball moving into our half.”
Longmire added that he expected the Blues to be hungry for a win following some close calls against Hawthorn and Essendon before their round 13 bye.
“They’ve had some close finishes and some real good games that they’ve played against some quality opposition,” he said.
“We know at their best they are a quality team and we need to make sure that their gun players and their stars, which they have a number of, don’t get their hands on it.”
Sydney Swans v. Carlton
SCG
Friday, June 28, 7.50pm
B N.Malceski, T.Richards, D.Rampe
HB A.Everitt, H.Grundy, N.Smith
C D.Hannebery, J.Kennedy, J.McVeigh
HF J.Bolton, K.Tippett, T.Mitchell
F L.Parker, M.Morton, B.McGlynn
Foll M.Pyke, R.O'Keefe, K.Jack
I/C C.Bird, B.Jack, J.Lamb, J.White
Emg T.Armstrong, T.Membrey, X.Richards
In: A.Everitt , B.Jack
Out: A.Goodes (knee), T.Armstrong
