The Sydney Swans return to the SCG for the first time in over a year when they face the Adelaide Crows on Saturday March 27 in round two of the 2021 season.
Coming off a season-opening victory over the Brisbane Lions, Longmire has his side ready to face an in-form Adelaide side.
Adelaide are coming off a 12-point victory over last year’s grand finalists, the Geelong Cats, and Longmire knows the upcoming clash provides another great opportunity.
Whilst Longmire was impressed by his young stars in round one, he knows that the upcoming clash against Adelaide will provide his side another opportunity against an in-form opposition.
“It was what Adelaide did on the weekend. They had a lot of young players and were enable to put enormous pressure on the opposition and win a game of footy against last year’s grand finalists.” Longmire said when asked about the upcoming opposition.
“Adelaide have won four out of their last five games, they won three out of four at the end of last year. They are in good form, confident with how they play, and if you look at their first half, they had enormous pressure.”
“They have confidence in what they can deliver the team, as far as on the scoreboard and they were able to pressure the opposition and still kick 15 goals. We expect a very, very tough game this week because they are obviously in form.”
Sydney will be buoyed by the return of Lance Franklin who is set to return to the action this weekend with Longmire confirming he will make his long-awaited return this Saturday night.
Sydney's forward line functioned well without Lance Franklin on the weekend, with the team kicking 19 goals for the match, and taking 23 marks inside 50 to Brisbane's five.
Longmire wasn't giving anything away in regards to team changes.
“We will work through that [what it means to the forward line with Lance returning]. We were clearly pleased with how it went this week against Brisbane, but it’s another week so we need to keep getting better.”
“We will work through the selection at the end of this week and decide which way we go but one thing we do know is Lance won’t be playing every week, so we need a full squad in form to make sure we get through the season. A full squad in form, if we have that, that is what we want.
Franklin returns to the side, his first game since the final round of the 2019 season, which also coincides with Sydney’s return to the SCG.
With members and fans returning to see footy live this weekend, Longmire said the side would be buoyed by their return.
“We are thrilled to get back here. It’s great to be able to get back in front of a crowd on the weekend with a decent crowd in Brisbane but it will be great to be back here at the SCG on Saturday afternoon and play on our home deck.” Longmire said.
“It’s something our players have been looking forward to for quite a while and we get out there and hopefully in front of a big crowd.
“Hopefully they are nice and loud and we can really play a strong brand of footy.”
Sydney return to the SCG on Saturday March 27 for their round two clash against the Adelaide Crows. Click here to secure your seat at the footy.
