John Longmire adamant Taylor Adams will play important finals role for Sydney

John Longmire is adamant Taylor Adams will have a role to play in Sydney’s premiership tilt, despite looming as a hardluck story for the second finals series running.

Taylor Adams during a Sydney Swans training session at Tramway oval on September 2, 2024.. Photo by Phil Hillyard (Image Supplied for Editorial Use only - **NO ON SALES** - ©Phil Hillyard )

Swans coach John Longmire has confirmed Taylor Adams has a role to play in September regardless of whether he is named in their side this weekend.

Sydney is set to welcome back four players for their qualifying final against the Giants, with speculation arising that Adams would be one of the names squeezed out.

While he wouldn’t confirm the 30-year-old’s place to take on GWS, Longmire felt that the entire squad is set to have value over what he hopes is a big month for the footy club.

“I think that anyone who has had experience in finals is important,” Longmire said.

“We always talk about a whole squad of players that you need at this time of year. And we’ve had to get through the season with the whole squad.

“Taylor in particular has played a lot of footy for us this year, and we’ll need that over the coming weeks … everyone’s got a role to play in the squad.

“It’s important to be able to look at the team, what it looks like after the last training session and then select the team.”

John Longmire confirmed Adams remains firmly in his plans for the Swans this finals series despite returning stars. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Longmire confirmed that he hasn’t finalised his team for Saturday afternoon’s clash with the club’s final training session on Thursday morning. However, injured stars Tom Papley and Justin McInerney have both given themselves every chance to play.

They pulled up well after Tuesday’s training which was Sydney’s main session for the week, and barring any further setbacks should both pull on the red and white guernsey again for the first time in more than a month.

While he conceded there is a delicate balance between rushing them back for a final and making sure they have enough game time, it’s clear Longmire’s priority is picking the team that he thinks will win against the Giants.

“Papley, McInerney, McCartin and Heens, they all trained today and got through well,” Longmire said. “Hopefully, they do the same on Thursday.

“I usually don’t get too ahead of myself until the last training session. I wait a bit and kick that can down the road.

“We focus solely on this week and who’s available. They’ve been doing the training they’ve had to do over the last couple of weeks and been able to ramp it right up. This week, they’ve lifted as well.

“In Juzzy’s case, he’s got great fitness and is an elite runner. So it’s just about how he feels around the ball, at the contest, and he’s been doing all he can in that space. Paps is an A-grade quality player, and he was able to ramp it up significantly today which is a good sign.”

Papley and McInerney both got through Tuesday’s main training session unscathed. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Despite having a solid record over the Giants this year, the Swans are not taking their cross-town rivals lightly. Longmire felt that they could be the team to beat coming into September and will urge his players to treat the game the same way.

“We don’t spend a lot of time looking at (the Giants record),” he said. “The most relevant (match) is this year in terms of playing style and personnel because that has the most relevance.

“But even that, there are subtle changes, both teams have had players in and outs and will be a bit different this week.

“We’ve looked at what the Giants have done over the past month, and their footy has been electric. Their ability to run and gun, and to be able to turn defence into attack really quickly is a real strength of theirs.

“We know they’ll be virtually at full strength. They’re a team that’s won seven of their past eight games, the form team of the competition. We need to be at our best.”

Originally published as John Longmire adamant Taylor Adams will play important finals role for Sydney