Longmire 'wasted' MCG's best seat

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire, left, lifts the premiership cup with captain Jarrad McVeigh after last year's grand final. Source: Herald Sun

JOHN Longmire is happy to concede he wasted the best seat in the house on Grand Final day.

As an enraptured crowd watched a thriller, the Sydney coach was locked in match-day mode.

What were his thoughts when Daniel Hannebery plunged into the mouth of the beast, marking against the flight as Sam Reid and David Hale simultaneously crunched him?

"I was just concerned he might have got himself injured," Longmire said.

And when Lewis Jetta turned on the afterburners, sprinting away from Cyril Rioli on the centre wing?

"I didn't notice it until after the game. It wasn't something I appreciated at the time," he said.

It was a mighty game, full of stunning achievements such as Buddy's brilliance; Mike Pyke's incredible last term; Adam Goodes' miracle goals on one leg; and Hannebury's constant last-term interventions.

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire shakes hands with the umpires before the grand final.

And it was up for grabs until Nick Malceski's sealer with 34 seconds remaining.

Longmire refused to exhale with relief until six seconds remained, when Hannebery intercepted a handball to parry Hawthorn's last attacking thrust.

Yet as the months since that game have unfolded, Longmire's appreciation for its sheer quality and drama has grown immeasurably.

Radical tax footy's hot seat

As Longmire says of Hannebury's mark: "It wasn't until you look back on it after the game that you realise what an incredible effort it was, going back against a ruckman and a centre half-forward.

"I look back on it and it was an incredible Grand Final from both teams, just having a crack and playing really good footy.

"It is amazing the difference 10 points can make or a couple of minutes of footy.

Sydney coach John Longmire, left, in a sea of red-and-white as the players celebrate the 2012 premiership.

"Hawthorn won some important stats, and both teams had momentum at times in the game, and it could so easily have gone either way."

But for all his team's extraordinary defensive intent and unrelenting pressure, Longmire is honest enough to admit this game was something of a heist given the amazing statistics that were in Hawthorn's favour.

Sydney has always conceded territory to opponents, but did Longmire think his side could win with a staggering 18 fewer inside-50s and only 38 per cent of game time in their forward half?

"Not really," he said.

"That's what keeps us on edge, the few areas of the game that we didn't get right.

"Some things went OK for us, and our players played an unbelievable pressure game of footy, with 110 tackles and some things went our way which were really important when you have statistics like that which don't go our way.

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire, centre, with captain Jarrad McVeigh and Adam Goodes at the victory parade through George St, Sydney.

"Our pressure stats were so crucial and our ability to kick straight, too. We lost the contested ball really well, we lost clearances, and we lost inside-50s.

"But we make no apologies that over a long period of time we have had a strong focus on defence.

"We think that (type of) footy stands up in finals, and when you get numbers like that in a Grand Final from a defensive point of view, that's what we hang our hats on from week to week."

Longmire's concession stacks up with numbers hard to believe.

Champion Data stats show Sydney had a 5-19 centre-clearance imbalance, lost clearances 35-58, inside 50s 43-61, and had 18 more turnovers coming out of the back half than Hawthorn.

They also had five fewer scoring shots than Hawthorn - 21 (14.7) to 26 (11.15).

We make no apologies that over a long period of time we have had a strong focus on defence

So how did Sydney win it?

Through straight kicking, a game-plan based on pressure that dragged Hawthorn down to 43 per cent kicking efficiency and 40 forward-half turnovers, and 26 more total tackles ... and a bucketload of individual brilliance.

Take Canadian former rugby union star Pyke, whose herculean last quarter included the soccered kick forward that eventually allowed Malceski to kick the sealer.

"He rucked unchanged for 22 minutes (in the last term) and at one stage ran across to the boundary and it wasn't until he saw Mummy (the injured Shane Mumford) sitting there in the red vest that he realised there was no interchange for him, so he turned around and ran back on," Longmire said.

"From where he's come from four years ago never having seen an AFL game, what he has done is a real credit to him."

Or Ryan O'Keefe, whose 15 tackles, 28 touches and job on Sam Mitchell saw him win the Norm Smith ahead of Franklin (3.4 and 24 touches), McVeigh (21 touches, two goals) and Hannebery (29 possessions, one goal).

Longmire says now he can't split the three midfield stars on their performance.

"There were a few pretty close together. McVeigh is up there, and O'Keefe and Hannebery. Not in any particular order, but they all played great games," he said.

Look up the last two minutes on Youtube, admire Bruce McAvaney's stupendous call, and consider Hannebury's impact.

He picks Jordan Lewis's pocket at half-back with 2.05 minutes left, handballs to Malceski for the sealer, and twice is involved in the last passage of play when Hawthorn tries for that last hail Mary.

"His ability to do that in the course of the game but also to keep running as hard as he did deep into the last quarter was incredible," Longmire said.

"There was 34 seconds on the clock (after Malceski's goal put Sydney 10 points up), and I remember looking at the (coaches) box and there wasn't any celebration. When Hanners got that intercept with six seconds to go, I thought, that was it. It was the first time I relaxed."

He says now he was always confident Mumford would pass a fitness test on his hamstring, even if rumours of a late change swept the MCG on game morning.

"When he went off the training track I was concerned. But to the doctor and physio's credit they said he would be OK. And they said that when I asked them a number of times - on Thursday and again after the (Grand Final) parade on Friday, and he was.

"He went into the game not 100 per cent but in good enough to do a really good job for three and a bit quarters."

So why is John Longmire prepared to discuss the Grand Final triumph when a year before him Chris Scott would barely mention his side's 2011 premiership win.

Probably, because despite his admiration for the 44 players assembled that day, he has already moved on.

In fact, it took him less than 48 hours.

By the Monday after the Grand Final he was flying to interview Kurt Tippett, determined to improve his list.

By then, he had scrutinised those Grand Final statistics and realised his side needed to improve.

"I don't think (the premiership) changes what you should do the next year. I read a comment from Hawthorn that they needed to respond. Well it's a response from us, too. We know we need to get better and just because you won by 10 points doesn't mean you have an entitlement to sit back and relax.

"Obviously, it was a wonderful experience for us all, but it doesn't change the approach to the off-season."

The litmus test of his list's determination to go back to the well this year came on the first day of pre-season.

"For me it was the first group of players that came back. (Sam) Reid and Jetta and (Luke) Parker and Alex Johnson and Jed Lamb, the young kids came back in such good condition, and from the first training session they were up and going really well.

"You are not quite sure with younger players how they will respond and react and whether they will want to get better.

"It is great to achieve a premiership but it doesn't mean it will automatically happen again.

"To see those 19 and 20 year olds come back in good condition, it was a good sign."

Sydney might have its veterans in Goodes, McVeigh, O'Keefe, Ted Richards, Jude Bolton and co, yet the nucleus is young and promising.

And when you add Tippett, it is astounding that they are not prohibitive odds to repeat the dose.

Longmire is excited by that young group, even if other vibrant talents in Gary Rohan and Tom Mitchell, missed most of last season with injury and seem long-term projects.

Can Sydney improve?

"I hope so," Longmire said.

"First of all, you have got to, because history suggests everyone else does. But Reid is 21, Hannebery and Parker are 20 or 21, Lewis Jetta is still young. Josh Kennedy is still only 24.

"We think a number have still got really good footy ahead of them."

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