How a 112-point loss saved the Swans’ season

One month ago, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire sat in the post-match press conference at Adelaide Oval struggling to articulate what had happened after a 112-point defeat to Port Adelaide . Longmire had never experienced a defeat like it in his coaching career. But instead of immediately telling his players exactly what had gone so disastrously wrong, he decided to listen to them and gave them two days off.

“I guess at that point of the season we needed to – we spoke about it before that game – to be able to go away and have a couple of days and freshen up,” Longmire said. “And the feedback we listened to after that game, we acted on. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it.



You’ve just got to act with the feedback you get, and we did that, and we were able to refocus.” What a difference two days make. In the Swans’ case, it helped them save their season.

Since that defeat, the Swans have put together a four-game winning streak, starting with a hard-fought three-point win against Collingwood at the SCG that helped them secure the minor premiership and followed, most recently, by a six-point qualifying final comeback win against the Giants . That victory earned the Swans a crucial week’s break, and Longmire’s men are now primed for a preliminary final rematch with Port on Friday night at the SCG. Tom Papley talks to John Longmire at training.

Credit: Getty Images Port Adelaide, who play a high-pressure game that frequently unsettles the opposition into coughing up turnovers, boast an 8-0 winning streak against the Swans. Longmire believes his team’s response against the similarly high-octane Giants side at the SCG provides a blueprint for the Swans to follow against this tactic..