LONGMIRE

[AnnieH]

Hope you people who bagged him out are eating fries with your words.

[teddys mum]

Nope - short term pleasure for long term pain/mediocrity is all that can come of not tanking and playing in finals. We should be be playing our youth, trading our experienced players and working the draft.

Turn it up! Swans only lost half a game more than last year, and have reached the same week in the finals too. Swans haven't played this many inexperienced players for more than a hell of a long time. Final six - yeah baby (oh but the coach has nothing to do with it and in fact we'd probably be top two without him - not!)

[barry]

Horse made some ordinary moves earlier in the year, so criticism was justified.

Always thought he had to win a final to get a pass mark, which he has done.
If we beat Hawthorn, I'll call him a good coach.

[caj23]

You sound like you're really disappointed we won Caj. Missed an opportunity to really bag horse huh???

your comprehension skills are obvioulsy extremely poor aardvark if that's what you got from my post

Very happy with the win, but I'll continue to reserve judgement on the coach until next season, which is what longmire's defenders have been calling for all year.

One finals win is a pass mark in my book, a preliminary final berth would exceed expectations at this stage given some of the tripe we have served up this year

[aardvark]

Very happy with the win, but I'll continue to reserve judgement on the coach until next season, which is what longmire's defenders have been calling for all year.One finals win is a pass mark in my book, a preliminary final berth would exceed expectations at this stage given some of the tripe we have served up this year

I comprehend this post as being about right. You have by your own admission been very harsh on a first year coach who again by your admission has got better as the year has progressed.

[Teasdale77]

Longmire deserves a break from the hindsight experts and those here who are selectively correct, ie, they only pop up after games when Longmire allegedly fails their conditions for him to be judged a success (where's that wolfman dude?). Horse's biggest problem is that he has a list that struggles by hand or foot to consistently put the ball on the tits of a teammate. They are hard at the ball, they man up, they zone off, flood, pressure, contain, slow the footy, and do everything the coach plans ... except kick straight at goal and at teammates.

If the kicking improves across the board, the next thing Horse will do is free the reins for play on footy and I know I'll be happy but I have no hope for the moaners on here

[Auntie.Gerald]

caj23 - I still say if Franklin was out all season like Braddy for us........it would have been atleast 2 to 3 losses more then they had.............add to that Craig Bolts not playing all season. Braddy could have kicked 50 goals easy

[Cardinal]

Deep down I have this concern we are winning in spite of horse. Don't know how we are going to be able to rebuild given the compromised draft.

[bandwagon]

Deep down I have this concern we are winning in spite of horse. Don't know how we are going to be able to rebuild given the compromised draft.

This is a very curious perspective.
Regarding rebuilding - well how about the following young players for starters:
Johnson, Hannebery, Reid, Parker, Rohan, Bird, Jetta, Kennedy, Smith. I haven't been so confident about our youth for years. And we have a apparently very good F/S pick this year.

[PFC1943]

I agree with these positive comments. I cannot understand how "so called" supporters can be so negative over & over again. I have a message for the negative contributors to this site - there are 17 other teams out there, if you are so unhappy with YOUR team, go & support one of the other teams!

[Primmy]

I have nothing but confidence in Horse. When I get to a training session I watch with satisfaction as he chats to players one on one, no matter where they are in the order of things. Obviously very approachable.

Haven't always agreed with everything done, but what would I know. I don't get paid the big bucks.

Now, on another note; if we can get Sam to listen to what Malcolm Blight was saying about his kicking, he would improve his accuracy. Much as Blighty annoys me, he is a good teacher. He made a good constructive observation about Sam and his goal kicking, more importantly how to address the problem. All positive.

Much should also be said about Henry. Those boys played/started as ressies this year (well a goodly number anyway) and they have arrived ready to play at a reasonable seniors level. Well done to you Hank.

[Cardinal]

Part of my confusion arises from Horse's distinct lack of game plan. He has chopped and changed so much over the course of the year. Who knows what structures we are trying to implement. I just hope that we don't end up like West Coast in reverse next year particualry given the potential improvement of so many other teams outside the 8 this year.

[dimelb]

Part of my confusion arises from Horse's distinct lack of game plan. He has chopped and changed so much over the course of the year. Who knows what structures we are trying to implement. I just hope that we don't end up like West Coast in reverse next year particualry given the potential improvement of so many other teams outside the 8 this year.

I don't think Horse lacks a game plan. He has the Swans mantra -contested ball, mind your man, tackletackletackle, runrunrun - but has experimented with players in different roles. The last few weeks have been more stable in that regard; perhaps the biggest single factor is the enhanced balance and striking power of the forward line with the inclusion of Spangher and the decision to keep Jesse there. The back six have been pretty stable all year and it really helped to have LRT slot straight back in when Reg went down. I was impressed with the way he got them back to basics in the final break last night. We are settled at the right end of the season, and I'm looking forward to next Friday.

[Jewels]

Deep down I have this concern we are winning in spite of horse. Don't know how we are going to be able to rebuild given the compromised draft.

What further rebuilding needs to be done? We have uncovered some wonderful young kids in all three areas of the game plus we have what I read to be a super talent in Tom Mitchell to join the ranks next year. Our mix of young and experienced is fantastic and starting to really gel at the right time and at this moment in time I struggle to think of any retirements next year. I think we are one of the better placed clubs through this draft period.

Part of my confusion arises from Horse's distinct lack of game plan. He has chopped and changed so much over the course of the year. Who knows what structures we are trying to implement. I just hope that we don't end up like West Coast in reverse next year particualry given the potential improvement of so many other teams outside the 8 this year.

Distinct lack of game plan??????? West Coast in reverse???????
You could (as many of us did) say that up until the Richmond debacle, but this last four weeks have shown us a wonderfully united team, playing for each other and following a terrifically structured plan.
This is Longmires first year in the top job! Brad Scott commented on "Insider" the other night that no matter how long you spend as an apprentice, it's a whole different kettle of fish in the top job. Four weeks ago, I was on the verge of writting him off also, but the team I've seen running out in the red and white this past four weeks makes me so proud and gives me so much faith for the future!
Even if we are bundled out next friday, I'm a very happy old Swan cause I think the future looks very bright indeed.

[Bas]

Apart from Mitchell, this year's draft will be interesting to see what gem's they can find.

I remember looking at Longmire at the kids clinic during the May holidays last year. He was walking around and joining in and you would never have seen Roos do that. I thought then that there was something different about him.

We criticized Roos and Eade for years in not playing the youngsters and this year we have uncovered some extraordinary talent.

So no matter what happens from here, Longmire has been successful in his first year. I think a possible preliminary final is a touch advanced where the team should be but great experience for the guys - to be able to play in a game that would get them into a grand final.