When does the blowtoch get applied to John Longmire?

[B0SK]

Consider this-

In 2012 the Swans were Premiers largely on the back of the gameplan and club culture established by Paul Roos.
Longmire certainly deserves some of the credit for the victory, but you could draw parallels to Geelong's Chris Scott who also enjoyed ultimate success thanks largely to the hard work of his predecessor Bomber Thompson.

Fast forward two years and the Swans have acquired two of the league's highest paid players without having to give up a thing, to address what was commonly regarded as their weakest area of the ground.

Sydney went into this season regarded by many experts as the likely Premier.
They had the easiest draw of any top 4 team, a more settled lineup than any team in the AFL thanks to an extremely gentle run with injuries and zero suspensions, one of the least-taxing Preliminary finals in recent memory and an extra day over their opponent to recover for the Grand Final.



Yet despite all that, John Longmire could not motivate his side to play one decent quarter on Saturday.

Many of his matchups were highly questionable or just plain wrong.
He gambled on injured players like Reid and Grundy who utterly failed to perform.
He didn't make any significant changes at half time that paid off.
He even failed to produce any answers for this abysmal performance in his post match presser.



This ranks as one of the most disappointing Grand Final coaching performances I've seen since I began following football more than 30 years ago.
Thus far it's been Sydney's players who have copped all the flak but is it fair that Longmire should escape the blame when the buck is supposed to stop with him?

It's been said the Swans didn't turn up mentally or had begun drinking their own bathwater which may well be true, but it is the responsibility of the coach to make sure the player's heads are in the right place before the ball is bounced.

Sydney have the AFL's oldest team and the clock on their premiership window is ticking.
Longmire's job remains safe for now but the pressure is now squarely on his shoulders to prove the 2014 GF was an aberration, not a sign of things to come.

 

[barmy44]

longmire could have made all 'the right moves' during that GF, and hawthorn were still going to give them a flogging. there was no room or time for the players to do anything, swinging them around positionally wasnt going to change that.

longmire has gone 6th, 1st, 4th, 2nd in the last 4 seasons — he is safe for a while to come yet, i think.

 

[AlibiMonday]

When will Hawthorn supporters learn to sit back and enjoy their premiership, without spewing continuous bile over Sydney?

 

[Zarrix]

Not going anywhere. Yes could have done more on GF day (not letting Mitchell do whatever he wanted for example), but no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[HowYouDoin]

What are you talking about? Swans are still a better team then hawthorn. They just came into the game with a terrible mindset and were punished for it.

 

[vide0n]

What are you talking about? Swans are still a better team then hawthorn. They just came into the game with a terrible mindset and were punished for it.

I don't agree

I don't care how good you are during the rest of the season. Great teams don't have ridiculous lapses on the most important day of the year.

In hindsight that Round 1 loss to GWS was quite ominous. What was Hawthorns worst loss this year? To in-form Port Adelaide while the Hawthorn side was depleted?

 

[bugalugs213]

Coach of the year!! he'll get an extra 3 years added to his contract. Like the media they went off and gave the flag to swans, and some award to Longmire a week early

 

[Zarrix]

What was Hawthorns worst loss this year? To in-form Port Adelaide while the Hawthorn side was depleted?

Probably that loss to North. Only time all year they looked disjointed and lost the plot.

 

[Beachsleeper]

Seriously, Hawks fans, show the doctor where 2012 touched you.

I get that you're sore about Buddy. I get that you threw Kennedy away for nothing and then he blossomed and that robbed you of just the kind of family legacy that makes Langford's 2014 (and last month in particular) such a great story. I get that you don't like COLA and would rather slander Sydney with it continuously rather than have any kind of rational debate or analyse your own history of poaching players. Fine.

But guys, take the win. It was immense. I sat there at the ground as gutted as I've ever felt at a football game. It was brutal.

But guys, take the win.

You really want to flood the Main Board with your neuroses and show just how unsatisfying back-to-back flags can apparently be?

The blowtorch applied to Longmire? For real?

I thought we'd lost. I'm not so sure if we did anymore.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

What are you talking about? Swans are still a better team then hawthorn. They just came into the game with a terrible mindset and were punished for it.

They were beaten in all four quarters of the match, comprehensively.

Sydney beat the Hawks earlier this season, when Hawthorn were without several of their best players. The next time they met, Hawthorn ran all over them to run away with an emphatic victory.

Hawthorn's best beats any side ATM. The question is can another team force their game-plan on Hawthorn, and not the other way around.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

What are you talking about? Swans are still a better team then hawthorn. They just came into the game with a terrible mindset and were punished for it.

Disagree. If Hawks had a better injury run,they would have finished on top of the ladder.

 

[Moist Biscuit]

Longmire wasn't the one who made crucial errors. Put it this way, Longmire had the same amount of disposals as Jetta up until halfway through the second quarter and he wasn't even playing. It's fair to blame a part of the loss on Horse, but he's under no pressure to keep his spot. Mcveigh, Parker, Grundy, Richards, Jetta, Rohan, Lloyd, Tippett, Pyke were all crap, you can't blame the coach for players not turning up to play.

 

[Hodgepodge]

It was always said by commentators on the radio that this year would be a failure if Sydney didn't win it. They splurged big time and are under pressure to win one before 2016.

 

[B0SK]

Longmire wasn't the one who made crucial errors. Put it this way, Longmire had the same amount of disposals as Jetta up until halfway through the second quarter and he wasn't even playing. It's fair to blame a part of the loss on Horse, but he's under no pressure to keep his spot. Mcveigh, Parker, Grundy, Richards, Jetta, Rohan, Lloyd, Tippett, Pyke were all crap, you can't blame the coach for players not turning up to play.

Thats my point samcoppo11. Isn't it the coach's responsibility to ensure the players go into the game with the right mindset? Clearly that didn't happen.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

I used to hate watching Sydney under Roos, they served up Ross Lyon style negative football, only marginally better than what Melbourne serve up under Roos. Sydney under Longmire are a good team to watch. He's a good coach, but his team copped a beating on the weekend. It happens. Fortunately sane people tend not to judge others on one game, but rather their entire body of work.

 

[Jack2Jack]

6th, 1st, 4th, 2nd...If those are the results that put you under the blowtorch 16 other coaches need to go as well. Lol at everyone keep brining up the 'soft draw' Sydney also played more games against top 8 sides than any other team, played more games against the eventual top 4 than any of the other 3...but no let's keep using last years ladder to determine how difficult the draw was!
And no the 2012 game-plan WAS NOT the one Paul Roos was using (and still uses). He needs to get better tactically, develop a plan B and sort out some weaknesses, but it's far from blow torch time, if he fails to address the areas he needs to over the off-season and they bundle out meekly again next year then maybe the heat deserves to come.

 

[BF Tiger]

One day I'd love Richmond to be so successful that rather than celebrate I could just be bitter.

 

[Moist Biscuit]

Thats my point samcoppo11. Isn't it the coach's responsibility to ensure the players go into the game with the right mindset? Clearly that didn't happen.

They might have had the right mindset, a coach can only do so much. Horse wasn't the one who punched a ball that should have been a mark (Grundy), or kept a ball in that should have gone out (Parker) , or had two simple passes smothered (Tippett), or stuffed up twice running into open goal (Jack), or kick it out straight to luke Hodge who runs into an open goal.All of those mistakes resulted in goals, that's 7 goals difference from just stupid costly errors.

 

[HowYouDoin]

They were beaten in all four quarters of the match, comprehensively.

Sydney beat the Hawks earlier this season, when Hawthorn were without several of their best players. The next time they met, Hawthorn ran all over them to run away with an emphatic victory.

Hawthorn's best beats any side ATM. The question is can another team force their game-plan on Hawthorn, and not the other way around.

You mean when they beat them by 10 points?

 

[Judd2Sewell]

6th, 1st, 4th, 2nd...If those are the results that put you under the blowtorch 16 other coaches need to go as well. Lol at everyone keep brining up the 'soft draw' Sydney also played more games against top 8 sides than any other team, played more games against the eventual top 4 than any of the other 3...but no let's keep using last years ladder to determine how difficult the draw was!
And no the 2012 game-plan WAS NOT the one Paul Roos was using (and still uses). He needs to get better tactically, develop a plan B and sort out some weaknesses, but it's far from blow torch time, if he fails to address the areas he needs to over the off-season and they bundle out meekly again next year then maybe the heat deserves to come.

Agreed. Horse won't get the blowtorch treatment due to the whole side playing poorly on one day out of the year.

 

[worthy]

What are you talking about? Swans are still a better team then hawthorn. They just came into the game with a terrible mindset and were punished for it.

Let's see:
We had a harder draw
Had a horrid run with injuries to topline players
Lost our coach for a few weeks

And still managed the same amount of wins as Sydney 17 - 5, with about 2% difference in percentage.

Naah, you got that wrong.

 

[Kwality]

Agreed. Horse won't get the blowtorch treatment due to the whole side playing poorly on one day out of the year.

& nor should he - what sort of ignorance is required for the thought to even get a gig.

 

[DaVillaBlues]

IF and only IF The Swans don't win another flag in the next 3 years, he still has plenty of credits in the bank, but yes, was thoroughly outcoached by Clarko on GF day (whom to be fair, appears to be a once in a generation coach)

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

I reckon Longmire will be fine, at least for another 12mths. The Swans have invested pretty heavily in their squad and it's strong across the board. Fail again next year and some might start asking some questions, but I think he's very much fine for now.

 

[Jedstar]

Seriously, Hawks fans, show the doctor where 2012 touched you.

I get that you're sore about Buddy. I get that you threw Kennedy away for nothing and then he blossomed and that robbed you of just the kind of family legacy that makes Langford's 2014 (and last month in particular) such a great story. I get that you don't like COLA and would rather slander Sydney with it continuously rather than have any kind of rational debate or analyse your own history of poaching players. Fine.

But guys, take the win. It was immense. I sat there at the ground as gutted as I've ever felt at a football game. It was brutal.

But guys, take the win.

You really want to flood the Main Board with your neuroses and show just how unsatisfying back-to-back flags can apparently be?

The blowtorch applied to Longmire? For real?

I thought we'd lost. I'm not so sure if we did anymore.

It's a select group of fans. I don't group all the Swans supporters together just because there's a few toss bags on this site. Most of us are just chuffed with the back to back. Stop falling for obvious bait.