John Longmire confident Sydney’s record in close games won’t be a factor come finals

After its third loss by two points or less in a month, questions are being asked about Sydney’s record in close matches and coach John Longmire has responded.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JULY 13: Callum Mills of the Swans celebrates victory with teammates after the round 18 AFL match between Sydney Swans and North Melbourne Kangaroos at SCG, on July 13, 2024, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

John Longmire is comfortable in his side’s ability to eventually turn around their string of losses in close games after falling to the Lions by two points on Sunday.

It was the Swans’ fourth loss of the year, however, the combined margin in each of those matches was just 10 points. Conversely, the Swans’ smallest win of the year was their 14-point victory over the Western Bulldogs.

Although it’s not a trend he wants to carry into the finals series, knowing that his side had opportunities to win the games gives Longmire confidence that they will eventually be able to turn things around.

“It’s never okay (to lose), you want to win everyone,” Longmire said.

“But I mean, three out of our four games we’ve had opportunities in the last 10 minutes to win the game. And if you get three of those right, all of a sudden it’s a completely different narrative.

“They didn’t hit the front until 2:37 when Ah Chee kicked that goal. We’d fought back a couple of times in the last quarter despite being undermanned, came back and came back to hit the front when Lloydy kicked that goal with five minutes to go.

“Even the last minute or 30 seconds, we got the ball back in our forward half and gave ourselves an opportunity, just couldn’t kick a goal from the stoppage.

“So, there’s something that comes out of every game whether you win, lose or draw.”

Unfortunately, the Swans came out of the game with a lot more than a loss. Star forward Tom Papley is set to miss the rest of the regular season with a medial ankle ligament injury. Former captain Dane Rampe will also sit out the next one to two weeks with calf tightness.

However, Longmire was fairly positive on the news, with Papley’s demeanour on Sunday suggesting he felt it was going to be something much more severe.

“Unfortunately, Paps will probably be four to six,” he said. “But the good thing is it could have been worse.

“We were very relieved to get the results back of the scan. We sort of had our fingers crossed it wasn’t a crack, so it wasn’t. And so that gives him every chance to come back in really good nick.

Sydney will be without Tom Papley for at least four weeks.

“Ramps is probably only one or two so that’s once again, Sunday night we got on the plane thinking that a couple of key players might have been missing for a significant amount of time, if not the rest of the season.

“But the good news is that they’re not too bad.”

Will Hayward remains a test for Sunday’s match against the Western Bulldogs, as does James Rowbottom after missing last week’s match with a cheekbone injury.

Callum Mills is set to return after being managed in round 19. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

However, captain Callum Mills is all but locked in to return after being managed last weekend. The skipper was prepared to play against Brisbane, but the Swans were happy to take a cautious approach in his return.

“We expect Millsy to come back to the team,” Longmire said.

“We were mindful of him last week, he did a drill on the Thursday. He pulled up really well from that, but we didn’t want to push him too hard. And so it gives him another week of training, which he’s been able to do.

“It was just a bit tight last week, and given his prep we just thought it wasn’t a smart move to push him.

“And I’m glad we didn’t push him because he’s such an important player for us to be able to come back in once again with McInerney out, his role becomes very important.”

Originally published as John Longmire confident Sydney’s record in close games won’t be a factor come finals