Young guns fuelling Sydney’s sudden AFL resurgence as John Longmire trusts youth in key roles

Sydney’s supposed rebuild has begun in earnest with little recognition as John Longmire has called on 14 players with less than 50 games experience to play key roles this season.

The future is now, insists Ollie Florent, as an exciting band of young Sydney Swans strive to usher in a new era of glory for a proud club.

And there’s no time like the present with a hungry group determined not to let 2019 simply be remembered as a ‘rebuilding’ campaign.

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Fourteen players with less than 50 games apiece have played key roles in coach John Longmire’s side so far this season.

In the recent victory over North Melbourne, the Swans fielded their youngest team in over two decades (since round eight versus Adelaide in 1997).

The Swans have also had more debutants than any other team in the competition across the past four years — and played in finals each of those years.

Florent, 20, is part of the ‘under 50’ group and he insists the excitement around the club is palpable.

Sydney Swans have used 14 players this year with under 50 games experience. Picture: Phil Hillyard.

“Really, it’s up to us to decide our future and what we want to do with it,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“I’m really excited for the future and the boys are just as excited as the fans.”

Much has been made of experienced players leaving the club in the off-season and the absence of seasoned campaigners due to injury woes but Florent says this is no case of kids being thrown in at the deep end and being asked to sink or swim.

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“I think it’s really helped that we have some great mentors around the club, such great players that have been through this kind of era before and know what it takes to win games with a younger group,” Florent said.

“Players like Luke Parker, Josh Kennedy, Lance Franklin, Dane Rampe have really taken the opportunity to say ‘this is a younger group and we’re going to do everything we can to make them play key roles at such a young age’.

Ollie Florent is one of the rising stars leading the swift resurgence of Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard.

“Then the coaches for giving us responsibility and belief that they trust us to go out there and play those roles. And credit to the younger players for saying this is our opportunity and we’re going to take it.”

While a large chunk of the squad lacks appearances, milestones and years of accumulated experience, what it doesn’t lack is a ravenous work ethic.

“A lot in our group have really flourished through training standards, work rate, led by a lot of our leaders,” Florent said.

“It’s not about talent, it’s about how hard you’re willing to work and we have got a lot of young players on our list willing to put in the work to get better. We want to have success, make finals and win premierships.

“We are not satisfied with where we are (on the ladder) at the moment. We had a great win over West Coast before the bye and now we want to build on that against Hawthorn.

“I think winning is a big key to developing. Against North Melbourne we had a young team and we really wanted it. A lot of the boys grow from that. I think Friday night’s going to be another big one.”