By Emma Kemp
“You’ve got to be careful when the cameras are around.”
He was talking about what happened at Monday night’s Brownlow Medal ceremony, with Chad Warner and that comical viral video, but John Longmire could just as easily have been referring to his latest media stand-up.
Because, in many ways, this weekly press conference was indistinguishable from all the others the Swans coach has conducted throughout this AFL season and quite a few before it.
Held at midday on a Tuesday. At Moore Park. Agreeable in nature. Light on hard news lines.
The only perceivable difference was the presence of about four times as many cameras at usual – a dead giveaway that Longmire was preparing to take his team to a fifth grand final from his 14 seasons in charge.
Not that the marked increase in attendance had any effect on one of game’s least flappable figures, who all but confirmed key forward Logan McDonald should “get through training tomorrow and be right to play” after spraining his ankle against Port Adelaide but said hamstrung captain Callum Mills will have to press his case on Wednesday.
John Longmire fronted a lot more cameras than usual at Swans HQ in grand final week.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“Callum will train flat out tomorrow, that’s the plan,” Longmire said. “He will turn up tomorrow and train at absolute 100 per cent intensity, and we’ll see how we go.”
Will a call on Mills be influenced at all by that fateful decision to play an injured Sam Reid in Sydney’s 2022 grand final loss?
“In 2012 [grand final win over Hawthorn] we played Teddy [Richards], and he didn’t really walk all week – he had a crook ankle. And we thought, ‘How about playing you on Lance Franklin in the grand final?’ He got through OK.”
Longmire flawlessly picked his way through this 15 minutes of fame, barely pausing before delivering each lengthy answer but still managing to say nothing consequential enough to become a distraction as the 53-year-old attempts to add a second flag to his resume.
The gist of it was as follows.
What has he learned from his previous four deciders about ensuring his minor premiers are at their peak when they run out against Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday?
“Narrowing your focus. There’s a lot going on obviously this week, and it’s great to be a part of … it’s a great experience, but then it’s a matter of actually narrowing your focus on what really matters, doing you job and working for each other.”
Does he mention 2022, and that harrowing 81-point loss to Geelong?
“Not really. I don’t have to. The players, they understood it. We learned a lot out of that game.”
But will the players who were there be better for that experience?
“That’s part of learning, isn’t it. It’s part of the experiences, what your controllables are and where you need to direct your attention to, because there’s a lot going on this week.”
Does it get easier as a coach because he knows what to expect?
“Yeah, I think you understand that it is a different week and you have to lean into that and enjoy that part of it … it’s really about enjoying the process.”
Will Lions coach Chris Fagan recall Darcy Fort or Henry Smith to face Brodie Grundy after ruckman Oscar McInerney dislocated his shoulder their preliminary final win over Geelong?
“We haven’t quite finalised our team yet; selecting Brisbane’s team might be a bit hard for me.”
Is the hype around Sydney this year the biggest he’s seen to date?
“It’s extraordinary this year … one of the things that really fulfils you as a coach is to see the buy-in from our supporters and how connected they are to this football club … I’ve been through it a long time, and you see what’s happening this year – it’s gone to another level.”
Longmire would not even bite on claims the AFL is invading rugby league heartland, which prompted ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys to call the very concept “delusional”. Horse instead opted for “a conciliatory approach”.
“I’ve never been one that it’s about taking over or who’s winning that war,” he said. “I was born in NSW and obviously been up here for a long time in Sydney, but my kids – my sons and daughter – have played all sports: rugby league, rugby union, soccer, AFL, and I just think it’s wonderful. We feel so lucky to be part of this city, to be able to have a wide variety of sports, and I just think it’s another option for this city.”
And what did happen at the Brownlows, when Chad Warner polled votes for a game and was captured pulling a face, before Longmire cracked a grin in the background?
“We didn’t play that well that game and ‘Chaddy’ was a bit bemused I think,” he said. “I was laughing at Chad’s reaction, so it was just one of those moments. You’ve got to be careful what you laugh at. You’ve got to be careful when the cameras are around.”
Yes, we noticed.
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