Sydney coach John Longmire is not used to missing out on September football and is not about to declare the current Swans’ campaign a lost cause.
With the exception of 1996, when he was injured for the whole campaign, Longmire played in the finals in his last five seasons with North Melbourne from 1994 to 1999.
As a senior coach, Longmire has steered the Swans to the finals in each of his first six seasons beginning in 2011.
That streak is in grave danger with the Swans propping up the ladder with a 0-5 record.
Longmire says he hasn’t written the season off but acknowledges his side needed to find form quickly.
On paper, Sydney have a chance to kickstart their season over the next five weeks.
In that period, the Swans play the four teams immediately above them with 11th-placed St Kilda their top-ranked opponent.
Some might view such a draw as an opportunity to generate some much needed momentum, but the pragmatic Longmire wasn’t about to place special emphasis on the block of games starting with Saturday’s MCG clash with Carlton.
“We see every week as an opportunity to get some momentum and this week is no different to last week as far as how we view the game,” Longmire said.
“There’s no easy games in AFL football … we need to play better regardless who we play.”
A hip injury to Kieren Jack has opened up an opportunity for his younger brother Brandon to play his first senior game since the 2015 semi-final loss to North Melbourne.
“He’s been one of our more consistent performers,” Longmire said of Brandon.
“He didn’t play at all last year, despite putting in some pretty consistent performances in our reserves.
“He’s kept pushing his case, kept playing well week in, week out, and you can’t ask for any more than that.”
Nic Newman and Jeremy Laidler have also earned a recall, while key defender Harrison Marsh is out with a hamstring injury and Jordan Foote has been omitted.
Swanny
Guest
Swannies Lol. 0-6. The dynasty of losing to the most incompetent club in the competition. Wait it's Sydney who are incompetent. All that arrogance u displayed. This is such great karma for u
Swannies
Guest
Swans will blow Carlton off the park and start their resurgence up the ladder. Both Swans and Hawks are the sleeping giants.
kick to kick
Guest
When a team is down, the winning habit goes AWOL and a match that should be in the bank becomes a danger game. A Carlton victory this weekend isn't out of the question. On the stats the two teams are surprisingly even. Carlton has only 4 fewer disposals per game than Sydney and 25 more marks. On average scoring shots Sydney has a skinny point four advantage (20.2 to 19.8) and an equally bare point eight advantage on inside 50s (49.8 to 49). Sydney's disposal efficiency at less than 70% is the worst in the league this year so a narrow advantage in possessions becomes meaningless. Carlton only needs to lift a little to be a real chance. If that happens any talk of the Swans making finals will evaporate.