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Friday, October 5, 2012

Longmire confident Swans can keep stars

Updated October 02, 2012 20:34:48

Sydney coach John Longmire is confident potential salary cap issues won't break up his AFL premiership winning squad and is looking for improvement from his next generation to keep the Swans a step ahead of their rivals.

While the salary cap invariably makes it hard for a premiership winning club to retain all their key players, Longmire believes the Swans have some wriggle room because of all the highly paid stars that had retired or left the club in recent times.

"There's dual grand final players, premiership players, best and fairest winners, there's been a number of players that we've lost over the last three years," Longmire said.

"We think we've got some terrific young players coming through our footy team at the moment that have got a bright future ahead of them and we want to make sure that they are part of that future."

Longmire identified improvement from the clutch of youngsters already established in the side - and from others on the fringe - as a key factor in Sydney staying ahead of their rivals.

"We need the next generation coming through, the players that didn't play on the weekend, Benny McGlynn, Gary Rohan, there's a lot of players there," Longmire said.

"Tony Armstrong, Tommy Walsh, Trent Dennis-Lane, Jed Lamb, there's a number of players in that next group that we think can come through."

Longmire conceded Sydney could lose players who sought more opportunities at another club.

"We'll look at that over the next couple of days and clearly that's OK, I think in the end we're all big enough to look at the bigger picture," Longmire said.

"Some players may (leave) and some players may not, we're not sure at the moment."

He wouldn't comment on suggestions Sydney could chase Adelaide forward Kurt Tippett.

Longmire lauded the efforts of Sydney's emerging key forward Sam Reid, who he said had a fantastic game in last weekend's grand final.

"We feel he's developing along quite well, we think he can get better and we know he'll get better."

Longmire stressed he wouldn't rush dual premiership-winning 301-game midfielder Jude Bolton into deciding whether he wanted to play on.

Sydney has been an active player in trade week in recent years and Longmire didn't rule out moves from the Swans in this year's three-week period or in the free agency market.

"We don't close ourselves off to anything, but we are also mindful that we need to make some smart decisions at this time of the year," Longmire said.

"At the very front of our mind is we need to get better."

Delivering a premiership might seem the perfect time for Longmire to push for a contract extension, but he seemed embarrassed by the suggestion.

"I'm not quite bold enough to be doing that just yet, I'm still feeling my way, I've only coached two years," Longmire said.

He said the only Sydney player requiring off-season surgery was Irishman Walsh, who underwent a shoulder operation on Tuesday.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, sydney-2000, nsw, australia

First posted October 02, 2012 20:33:12

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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Cats confident of no Hawks hangover

Updated April 11, 2012 15:37:36

Geelong coach Chris Scott admits his side will carry a physical toll from Monday's bruising clash with Hawthorn into Sunday's meeting with North Melbourne.

But he is confident the reigning premiers can overcome that challenge.

Scott expected courageous captain Joel Selwood, who copped several knocks to the head, and star forward Steve Johnson (corked thigh) to face the Kangaroos.

North has a day extra to recover from what was a vastly easier clash with Greater Western Sydney, which it won by 129 points compared to the Cats' two-point comeback victory.

But Scott said his Cats had proven their resilience.

"We've got a few corkies, we do every week," the coach said.

"Steve's was significant, it did affect him towards the end of the third quarter.

"He seemed to be able to get through it well in the last quarter, so we'd expect him to be okay, but it's pretty early days.

"Are we going to be affected because it was a hard game? Probably, but we've got to be able to rise above that.

"I don't have too many doubts about the mental side, but we won't know that for sure until Sunday afternoon."

The other challenge the Cats face is scouting their opponents.

Scott said the Kangaroos' lopsided encounter with the Giants was hardly worth analysing, the Cats instead reviewing North's round one clash with Essendon.

"It's not (the Giants') fault. Everyone understands, I hope, what GWS are trying to do and the difficulties they face," Scott said.

"Essendon put up a pretty strong contest in round one and if we're going to learn anything about North, that's probably the best indication we'll get."

Scott said he had no issue with some clubs being advantaged through the fixture by playing the Giants and fellow expansion club Gold Coast twice, while the Cats meet them each just once.

He said it was reasonable that top clubs faced a tougher draw.

"I'm certainly not going to complain about the draw and I don't think anyone else should either," Scott said.

Ruckman Orren Stephenson should return from a virus to play his second AFL game and help Trent West combat Kangaroos big men Hamish McIntosh, Todd Goldstein and Drew Petrie.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, geelong-3220

First posted April 11, 2012 11:30:51

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Clarkson confident Roughead ready

Updated April 09, 2012 13:20:07

Hawthorn believes its cautious approach to Jarryd Roughead's comeback from a snapped Achilles tendon on Monday against Geelong at the MCG - the team he was hurt against - will help him make an impact straight away.

Coach Alastair Clarkson said Roughead would be expected to contribute immediately.

"He's not in the side to be nursed through - he needs to be able to play," Clarkson said of the versatile forward-ruckman, who made a brief preseason appearance in the Hawks' campaign.

"That's why we've played him at Box Hill (Hawthorn's reserves) over the last couple of games to get that competitive nature into his game and to withstand the rigours of the game.

"We've been pretty cautious and conservative with his re-entry to playing competitive footy, but he's raring to go now.

"He's been raring to go for about six weeks. We couldn't keep him out any longer."

Clarkson expects Roughead to play "a number of roles" in Monday's match - though a stint in the ruck where there are different stresses on limb and ligament would appear unlikely first-up.

But action in the forward line as a tall foil to Lance Franklin is guaranteed as the Hawks attempt to address a shocking losing streak against the Cats.

Since the Hawks beat Geelong in the 2008 grand final, the Cats have won all seven encounters.

Clarkson has regularly spoken of how the Hawks have a gap to bridge to challenge the two best teams in the competition - Geelong and Collingwood.

The Hawks laid to rest their Collingwood ghosts with an impressive and hard-fought win to open their season last weekend.

Clarkson said if the Hawks could show the sort of resilience they displayed against the Magpies, they would give themselves every chance of breaking the drought.

"Both those sides have been the best sides in the competition the last three or four years and we've sat underneath both those sides," Clarkson said.

"We showed a resilience against Collingwood last week where were able to challenge, able to fight back and still win which was really pleasing.

"But we know it's another heavyweight battle tomorrow. At different stages, both sides are going to have control of the match.

"You've just got to make sure you hang tough in those periods of time where Geelong have the ascendancy."

Both sides go into the match without key players.

Star Geelong defender Matthew Scarlett is suspended, robbing the Cats of a proven match-up for Franklin.

The Hawks remain without skipper Luke Hodge, whom Clarkson admits could also miss next week's clash with Adelaide because of a calf injury.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia

First posted April 08, 2012 15:08:26

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Friday, March 16, 2012

Saints confident beyond Riewoldt's rule

Updated February 10, 2012 12:30:23

St Kilda star Nick Riewoldt may want to hand over the reins at season's end, but the AFL club is not worried about where to find a replacement when the time comes.

The talismanic forward was named as the Saints' skipper for the seventh straight season on Wednesday but, despite being excited about the honour, his time at the helm is limited.

But that revelation has not fazed new head coach Scott Watters, who told Grandstand Breakfast that St Kilda's next skipper will eventually emerge from his current crop of leaders.

"I think Nick's comment was probably more in principle than in a timeframe," he said.

"Nick would like to captain and play forever - as all players would - but at some point the reality is there has to be a pathway to another captain, whether that's 12 months, 24 months ... who knows?

"But part of the structure we've set up with the seven leaders plus Lenny [Hayes], that sort of sit in a supporting role to Nick and really drive the club, we would expect that a captain at some point will emerge from that seven."

Watters said it was a difficult choice to narrow the leadership group down to its current size in the first place.

"We think it's a really strong group. They're all really committed to shaping and driving the club as we move forward," he said.

"There's probably two or three leaders that sit outside that seven that were probably unfortunate not to get in.

"It was pretty competitive so it's going to set us up for [captaincy] succession really well I think."

Riewoldt will lead the group which consists of Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo, Sam Fisher, Leigh Montagna, Adam Schneider, James Gwilt and Ben McEvoy.

Veteran midfielder Lenny Hayes, returning from knee surgery, missed out but was given the official title of leadership mentor.

Watters said despite the size of the group, every player would have a job to do - and not necessarily an exclusively on-field one.

"Every club has probably got a leadership group or a captain or a vice-captain or some sort of set-up but the way that the clubs utilise that group is probably different," he said.

"From that perspective I want those in the leadership to have very specific roles and specific functions within the function of our club.

"They all have a portfolio they have to manage - whether it's community, whether it's player ... appearances, facilities or it might just be compliance.

"We have one leader that looks at are our players tracking well with skin folds, so that they've actively got something tangible [to do].

"You have 46 players and ideally I want another seven coaches on top of the coaches I've already got.

The players that are in our leadership group - they know footy and they've been around footy for a long time and ... I want to challenge them in a different way and give them the opportunity to drive our culture and drive our performance.

"That's what I see a leadership group as, not so much a figurehead that runs out and flips the coin. For me it's more about being able to get their teeth really into driving a club that they love and want to succeed."

The Saints begin their 2012 campaign on February 24 in their preseason cup openers against Geelong and Sydney at Docklands.

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, st-kilda-3182, vic, australia

First posted February 10, 2012 12:30:23

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