Is Longmire cooked?

[Nico]

I think Stoddart has the makings of a very good, quick midfielder. Problem is he has missed a fair bit of footy so his fitness levels are likely well down. I can see him being a fast improver next year, but please don't try to make him a run off half back flanker.

[Snork]

I also loved Dawson and his goal last night, didn't think, backed his skill and kick from outside 50. Hopefully he has shrugged off his injury concerns and gets a run at it for the next couple of years as he is just what we needs, big bodied and skilled. Still think we have a heap of positives from the year but am worried about the middle as not sure Kizza can get it done moving forward. Hanners could be the recruit of the year if they cotton wool him for the rest of this year along with Reid, Melican and Bud. Imagine what we would look like with these four fit?!?!

[stevoswan]

In the end the only thing that matters is his relationship with the board.
Look at Buckley. Amazing that he held his job as long as he did. He obviously was able to repeatedly make his case and had they not moved up the ladder this year may well be on shaky ground again.
Are the board frustrated with Longmire?
Is he not delivering what he said he would?
Have they questioned his game plan and sought changes that he hasn't been able to deliver?
Do they think that the quality of players we have should be performing better?
Are they sympathetic to the injury list?
How much good grace does he have to allow for poor team performance?
Has there been assistant coach dissent?
Etc?
Etc?

They'd have a list of questions to answer and move from there.
In all likelihood, they are a bit more pragmatic than most fans who call for his head after a few poor performances.
They would have their own criteria that he's need to satisfy to feel safe in his job.

So everyone can speculate as much as they like as fans, but in the end it's all just that.
A very different story when looked at professionally.

Great post but the last sentence poses the question.....is it actually being looked at 'professionally' or just from within? I know we fans are not part of the system but sometimes outsiders see things insiders don't see or just refuse to acknowledge.

[Blood Fever]

'Fake news'......yes there is a lot of that going around these days but you can't just write off every footy news story. They're not all made up surely.....I don't think blind loyalty to a club excuses ignoring something that might have credence and in a lot of ways, makes a lot of sense. I love Horse as much as the next Swans fan but everyone has their limitations and no one is perfect.

Why would you believe this particular story when it is hearsay and gossip?

[TopEndSwan]

Longmire’s not cooked. The team is.

It’s hard enough to win with one or two key players out.

We’re missing half a dozen - Reid, Hanners, McVeigh, Rohan, Jack, Mills, Melican, Naismith. Add to that the injured and fatigued that are playing - Buddy, Papley, Grundy, etc.

It’s frustrating losing, but it’s got little to do with Longmire’s game plan. If it did, why were we doing so well before the bye?

[Swanny40519]

Longmire’s not cooked. The team is.

It’s hard enough to win with one or two key players out.

We’re missing half a dozen - Reid, Hanners, McVeigh, Rohan, Jack, Mills, Melican, Naismith. Add to that the injured and fatigued that are playing - Buddy, Papley, Grundy, etc.

It’s frustrating losing, but it’s got little to do with Longmire’s game plan. If it did, why were we doing so well before the bye?

As I see it Horse's game plan is based on a team defence and contested football. We play a congested style of game and try to achieve a high tackle count. This requires players winning contested balls all the time and heavy tackling. You can see how years and years of this style of football has taken its toll on players - Hanners, Jack, Tippett, Reid and now you can see Buddy and Joey are now playing injured. Plus a lot of the younger guys are nowhere as good as they were early in the season.

We recruited faster younger players but the game style Horse wants is not winning on the outside but pressure and strength on the inside.

We just have enough fit players anymore to play this style.

If Horse cannot change his style (which is the same since he took over senior coaching) then he should go. The Swans Football Club, and I think the players as well cannot afford another year like 2018

[AnnieH]

Jeez. Here we go again. Horses' head on a bed pillow please!!

HORSE DOESN'T PLAY.

Blind Freddie can see that our players are injured, tired and beaten. Playing finals 16 years in a row takes it's toll.

One the subject of coaching... where are the assistant coaches and what do they do exactly? Is Stevie J the forwards coach? What a great addition he's been to the coaching panel (not). I don't like Stevie J, I've never liked Stevie J and I think he's poison to the club. Buddy was kicking better under the part-time care of Plugger. Who coaches the midfield? Kirky? WTF are you Kirky? Where's the bloods spirit you purport to have? Why aren't you instilling it into the kids?

Dare I say it, we have to go back to basics. We have to man up, play the ball and not the man, kick to someone on the lead, etc.
It's all very well to stop goals at the other end (and it seems very hard for us to get the ball out of the backline, but that's another story); but if you're not kicking goals up the other end, you're losing the game.

[RogueSwan]

So with Jones and probably Grundy out next week what I don't want to see is the same boring hang in there type of game plan. Let the kids have a crack, I don't give a stuff how much we lose by so long as we have a go. The way we played tonight anyone would think we were coached by Ross Lyon.

That was our problem on Friday night, the team didn't know when to hold back and not play run and gun. Plan b needs to be play uncontested/Hawks footy when there are no obvious targets or the other team has the momentum.

[Markwebbos]

I know youse all hate Robbo on here. He had this to say about us. The last sentence is an interesting one. Category: | Herald Sun

Sydney has lost its mojo and the finger is being pointed at coach John Longmire, led by Herald Sun columnist Dermott Brereton.

The Swans are in a trough and maybe they can work themselves out of it, but the trends are disturbing.

Over the past four matches - from which they have won one (North Melbourne) and lost three (Geelong, Gold Coast, Essendon) - the Swans are 16th for inside 50m differential, 17th for time in forward half differential, 13th for points scored, 15th for points scored from turnovers and 15th for scores per inside 50m.

In other words, they don’t get inside enough, can’t keep it inside 50m, don’t score enough when it’s inside and cough up the ball too much which leads to opposition scoring.

If it wasn’t the Swans, you’d think this team was a complete rabble.

[RogueSwan]

As I see it Horse's game plan is based on a team defence and contested football. We play a congested style of game and try to achieve a high tackle count...

Nope, this may be the result but it hasn't been the way the team has (wanted to) played for a long time. The basics are to win the contested ball and spread as fast as possible, they are not trying to create another contest. It just isn't being executed, possibly through lack of experience, at the moment

[liz]

Nope, this may be the result but it hasn't been the way the team has (wanted to) played for a long time. The basics are to win the contested ball and spread as fast as possible, they are not trying to create another contest. It just isn't being executed, possibly through lack of experience, at the moment

A lack of experience. A lack of fit, hardened bodies.

It continues to baffle me why some people can't distinguish between plan and execution (not you, clearly).

The basics of the game are the same for every club - win the ball and use it well when you do. There may be some variation in the emphasis teams place on different mechanisms for winning the ball, and in how they move it when they have it, but the fundamentals are just that. At the moment, our guys aren't capable of winning the ball or using it well when they have it, which is the result (I believe) of a combination of the available personnel, fitness of those personnel, physical development of some of those personnel, and confidence. Nought to do with game plan.

[stevoswan]

Why would you believe this particular story when it is hearsay and gossip?

You know that for a fact do you?

[aardvark]

The thing is you see, if we keep Horse long enough, eventually his game plan will come back into vogue. A bit like flairs. Unfortunately I'm too old to wait another 20 years. I had to wait 47 years for the first one.

[liz]

You know that for a fact do you?

Unless there's a first hand source for the story, it is - by definition - either hearsay or made up. Either way, it doesn't have a whole heap of credibility.

[Markwebbos]

Unless there's a first hand source for the story, it is - by definition - either hearsay or made up. Either way, it doesn't have a whole heap of credibility.

In theory, in a reputable publication, journalists cannot run stories unless they have sources, and if the sources are anonymous multiple sources. So if the Age journos were talking about this publicly (although they've never gone to print with it) that would imply it's come from sources and more than one at that.