The Sydney Swans have set themselves the goal of becoming the AFL’s best defensive team.
The scope of their task will become clearer on Friday when they lock horns with the acknowledged lockdown experts and reigning premier Collingwood in an NAB Cup clash at Etihad Stadium.
New coach John Longmire has put an even greater emphasis on the merits of full ground defence.
“We’ve had it implemented in our game plan last year, and all the years Roosy (former Sydney coach Paul Roos) was here, but I think it’s more emphasised this year, Swans halfback Nick Malceski said.
“We want to make sure that we’ve got the best defensive team in the league, and it’s one thing we’ve been working on thoroughly this pre-season.”
Longmire said defence had always been a focus, but the bar had risen from year to year, with forwards now taking on more responsibility for applying pressure.
“If your defensive aspects of your game are right, they tend to look after your offensive side of the game,” Longmire said.
“If you look at our total tackles inside our forward 50 from 05-06, we were one or two in the competition compared to what’s happening now.
“It’s another 150 above that, so it’s a big total and we need to make sure we keep lifting the bar.
“You look at when we played our best footy in the past, 05-06, our pressure was outstanding. Even last year when we played our best football our pressure is very good and we’ve got to be a bit more consistent in regard to that.
“There’s no doubt coming up against Collingwood, that will really test it because obviously they were the best team in the competition from last year, so we need to be on our game.”
He said they needed to get better in a lot of areas, especially ball use, after flogging the Giants and being upset by the Suns.
Malceski revealed Longmire hadn’t made major changes since taking the reins from Roos.
“It’s pretty much all the same, he brings his own personality, but its not much different to Roosy, so he’s slotted in really nice,” Malceski said.
Longmire said centre half back Heath Grundy and midfielder-forward Ryan O’Keefe would both play this week after missing last Saturday’s matches.
Malceski said playing Collingwood would give Sydney a good chance to see whether their game plan would hold up.
“Obviously it’s going to be a hard challenge for us and we’ve just got to bring our A-game,” Malceski said.
Sydney hasn’t beaten Collingwood for several years.
“They do have the wood on us, so it would be good to snag one back, even if it’s the NAB Cup, but it would be better in the season obviously,” Malceski said.
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