Sydney Swans, John Longmire slammed over Logan McDonald grand final call

The Sydney Swans and coach John Longmire are being slaughtered for repeating a horror grand final mistake.

Everyone would love the benefit of hindsight, but the next best thing you can do is learn from your mistakes.

It seems John Longmire and the Sydney Swans are very slow learners following Saturday’s horror 18.12 (120) to 9.6 (60) grand final thrashing against the Brisbane Lions.

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Two years ago, the Swans opted to pick key forward Sam Reid for the grand final with Geelong, despite the fact he was carrying an adductor injury.

It was a disaster, with Reid managing one mark, four disposals and zero impact in a call that Swans coach Longmire took full responsibility for after the 81-point mauling against the Cats.

“We were obviously confident, that’s why we picked him, but we made a mistake,” Longmire said at the time.

“Personally, you feel like you’ve let a lot of people down.”

History repeats – Logan McDonald this year and Sam Reid in 2022. Photos: Phil Hillyard

Longmire looking for answers on Saturday. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Over the past week, Longmire had been reminded and asked about the Reid decision, mostly in relation to injured skipper Callum Mills (hamstring), who was running his own race to make the opening bounce against the Lions on Saturday.

The Mills decision was made early, with the captain ruled out on Wednesday to put all that speculation to bed nice and early.

But there was another player that had been largely overlooked in the build-up, Logan McDonald.

Another Sydney key forward, McDonald injured his ankle against Port Adelaide in last week’s preliminary final and sat out Sydney’s first training session of the week.

But there were only ever quiet murmurs around his availability, dwarfed by the noise around Mills

He then took very little part in the Captain’s Run on Friday, but afterwards teammate Will Hayward said there were no doubts over the spearhead.

“He just had to get through training which he did. He was fine. He’s 100 per cent ready to go,” Hayward insisted.

“He’s super important. He’s a big connector for us. He’s a hard runner and a hard match-up. We’re super pumped that he got up.”

Hindsight, it turns out, is a wonderful thing as 22-year-old McDonald produced one mark, one disposal and even less impact than Reid 24 months ago, before he was subbed out early in the third quarter of Saturday’s 60-point thrashing.

Logan McDonald at Sydney’s main training session on Wednesday. (Photo by Phil Hillyard)

And during the grand final parade. Picture: Mark Stewart

Watching on, former Essendon forward Matthew Lloyd said on 3AW: “I’d sub Logan McDonald right now — he can hardly walk.”

Once the sub was finally made, all and sundry were making the same point after the sad sight of the ineffective McDonald sitting on the bench.

“Logan McDonald subbed out with an ankle that never looked right,” journalist Jon Ralph tweeted. “A single kick to his name.

“Sydney needs more run so there is a tactical element to it. The club was adamant he was right to play but in retrospect it’s hurt them.”

Reporter Daniel Garb was more direct, tweeting: “Logan McDonald subbed. Sam Reid 2022 repeated.”

The result slumped Longmire’s grand final record to 1-4.

Sydney's Callum Mills was ruled out early in the week. (Photo by Phil Hillyard)

McDonald’s leg after the preliminary final. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The longest tenured coach in Sydney history, the 53-year-old Longmire won a flag in his second season in 2012, but has since lost deciders to Hawthorn (2014), Western Bulldogs (2016), Geelong and now Brisbane.

Ralph was thinking of Mills when he sent out another post on X.

“How would Sydney captain Cal Mills feel to be ruled out this week when Logan McDonald played and looked proppy from the first minutes of the game with his ankle injury and was a non-factor?”

A number of fans were feeling a similar way.

“Sydney and carrying injured players into a Grand Final. Name a more iconic duo,” was one comment.

“Shouldn’t have been picked,” another said simply.

“When will clubs learn? Never seems to work,” asked another.

“Picking a cooked key forward 2 grand finals in a row definitely was an interesting strategy,” stated another.

The Lions were far too good in the decider. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“Nothing short of embarrassing for not only the coach, selection committee but the fans who have to cop it every GF,” wrote a fifth.

“Never learnt a thing from 2022,” added another.

There were a few, however, that felt the McDonald situation had little impact on the overall performance of the Swans, who were never in the hunt on Saturday.

“Made no difference, they did not get enough quality fwd 50 entries even if he were fit,” was one comment.

“Irrelevant — makes no difference,” wrote another.