Devastated Sydney coach John Longmire conceded he got it wrong by selecting an injured Sam Reid for the AFL grand final against Geelong, admitting he felt as if he personally let his players, staff, board and Swans supporters down.
Longmire was ashen-faced when he fronted a press conference after Saturday’s 81-point mauling at the hands of the rampant Cats – the heaviest sustained by the Swans in more than seven years, stretching back to round 16, 2015 against Hawthorn, in an 89-point loss at Stadium Australia.
Callum Mills, John Longmire and Nick Blakey look on as Geelong players collect their premiership medals.Credit:Scott Barbour
“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost a game like that,” he said.
“Normally, we give our supporters what I think is pretty good value for money. We just think physically, mentally, we didn’t give ourselves a chance today to do that.
“We really let ourselves down and our supporters down, no question. From the first bounce, the game looked as foreign as what we’ve played it this year. There’s no element that we got right.”
Reid was subbed off early in the third quarter for Braeden Campbell, and had no impact on the game whatsoever. The 30-year-old was clearly still hampered by the adductor injury he suffered in last weekend’s preliminary final win over Collingwood.
Sam Reid lasted barely a half in the grand final before being subbed off with injury.Credit:Getty
“We made a mistake there too,” Longmire said.
“Not much went right. We were obviously confident, that’s why we picked him, but we made a mistake.”
Longmire said he saw nothing in Sydney’s preparation that suggested a result like this was brewing.
“We’ll look back and reflect on it and go through it and work out why, but leading up to the game, there was nothing that stood out,” he said.
“We obviously had a tough game last week, but we felt like we recovered OK.
“No aspect of the game looked like the way we wanted to play, and we hardly got anything right, from the selection of Sam to the way the game looked.
“We just didn’t have our heads in the game from the very start, when they were getting defensive stoppage goals like they got in the first quarter, that we’d planned for and done well before – it’s one of our great strengths, and they were able to do it. We weren’t able to think clearly or perform at that level that we should have.”
Asked how he was feeling himself, Longmire was stark: “I just personally feel like you let a lot of people down and let your players down, you let your supporters down, you let your staff down, let your board down. That’s how you feel.”
There was, unsurprisingly, a sombre mood in Sydney’s rooms after the match, as players embraced friends, family and each other as they tried to wrap their heads around what had just unfolded.
It was a shockingly bad end to a season with so much promise, as the Swans rose from being beaten elimination finalists last year to a team that finished third on the ladder, knocked off reigning premiers Melbourne in the first week of the finals, and even comprehensively beat Geelong – the AFL’s clear benchmark – in round two.
“We’ll look at the reasons why,” Longmire said.
“But I’m confident in the playing group. If we go through [the squad], most of our players would have all improved this year. We just buggered it up today.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players that are coming through that have shown great intent and great willingness to improve. When the dust settles out of today, you reflect on the gains we’ve made as a team.
“In the shadows of today, it takes a bit of time before the light comes up. But it’ll come up.”
