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Friday, March 29, 2024

Swans to overcome AFL adversity: Longmire

Sydney coach John Longmire admits having four players in quarantine is far from ideal but the Swans will not be complaining as they push towards an unlikely AFL premiership.

The Swans pulled off a heroic Sydney derby win on Sunday night, hauling in a 35-point deficit to defeat GWS by 26 points, putting them just a game outside the top-four.

They did it without star midfielder Callum Mills, as well as Harry Cunningham and Colin O’Riordan (medical substitute), leaving Longmire emotional and as proud as he could have been post-game.

It was balanced out by GWS missing Toby Greene and tagger Matt De Boer.

Mills, Cunningham, O’Riordan, as well as ruckman Callum Sinclair – who was not picked to play the Giants – are isolating for up to 14 days after attending a COVID-19 exposure site.

Fifteen players and staff members in total from the two Sydney-based clubs attended the Wallabies’ Test match against France in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

“They’re in isolation and it’s far from ideal. It’s our staff as well,” Longmire said.

“They’ve got some exercise equipment to try and keep them mentally and physically sharp.

“Our head fitness guy is one of the guys caught up in this.

“We’ll be confident they’ll be able to do as much as they can with their strength programs. We won’t put them at risk though (in returning to play earlier than they are ready).

“We don’t spend too much talking about what we haven’t got so we talk about some of the opportunities that these challenges present.”

Both NSW clubs remain hopeful families will be allowed to travel into Queensland to reunite with players and staff, with the Swans and Giants having been away from home since June 22.

The Swans are scheduled to play Fremantle at Metricon Stadium on Sunday.

It will be the second game between the clubs this year after the Dockers prevailed in a two-point thriller at Optus Stadium in round 10.

AAP

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