John Longmire throws down gauntlet to players with season on the line against Collingwood

JOHN Longmire has declared Sydney’s freefalling season boils down to a simple choice his embattled playing group must make this Saturday night at the SCG. Either they want it. Or they don’t.

Kieren Jack and Lance Franklin at Sydney training. Picture: Phil Hillyard

JOHN Longmire has declared Sydney’s freefalling season boils down to a simple choice his embattled playing group must make this Saturday night at the SCG.

Either they want it. Or they don’t.

Longmire wiped any semblance of possible excuses completely off the table as the coach levelled his direct challenge to the playing group, designed to cut straight to the core.

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The Swans are expecting to get influential leaders Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack back for the crunch clash against third-placed Collingwood, but Longmire warned not even that may make a difference.

He refused to buy into talk of Lance Franklin’s busted body or the fact several members of his young forward line have also been unable to train in key sessions over the past few weeks due to concerns over their workloads.

Longmire said the Swans might have 99 problems, but the only one they need to focus on fixing is rolling their sleeves up and getting dirty.

John Longmire addresses his players during the loss to Essendon.

Whether the Swans play finals football this year or don’t, it will be a choice the players have made.

“Two weeks ago we were in the ring. Today we find ourselves out of it. Do we want to jump back into it or not? They’re the simple questions,” said Longmire.

“Everything is a choice in this game and we’ve got a choice in front of us right now.

“We’ve got a choice whether we want to get back into the ring and stand up, or not.

“We have a choice as a playing group to play hard, fierce football and that’s the choice we have to make.”

Longmire was blunt in his assessment the Swans had few good players last week against Essendon and is sick of veterans like McVeigh being forced to shoulder all the responsibility.

“We need all players to lift. The load has been left to too few over the last two weeks,” he said.

“It’s not acceptable and we’ve got to do something about it.

“(Jack and McVeigh) have been training well and both a real chance.

“(McVeigh is a key) but we’ve also got to share that load and keep evolving that load. He’s a very smart player and he drives high standards on and off the field but that load needs to be shared not just with Jarrad but throughout the whole group.”

Longmire said calls out of Melbourne for the Swans to revamp their style are off the mark.

The coach firmly believes a simplistic approach is the only one that will work in a potential crisis like this with the Swans’ final four games against teams all currently sitting in the top eight.

Disappointed Swans players walk off Etihad Stadium. Picture: Michael Klein

If the Swans make the finals they’ll either be finals ready or worn out already but Longmire wants to find out what his players are made of.

There’s only one thing he wants fixed against Collingwood.

“Let’s just get our pressure on the opposition up to a level that’s required at AFL level instead of trying to fix everything,” he said.

“If you try to fix everything sometimes nothing gets fixed.

“We need to play a fierce brand of football. We need to put enormous pressure on the opposition.

“We need to make sure that anyone who plays for the Swans plays with a certain brand of football and ultimately it’s about applying enormous pressure on the opposition.”

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Originally published as John Longmire throws down gauntlet to players with season on the line against Collingwood