DISAPPOINTED Sydney Swans coach John Longmire says the decision to strip his club of its cost of living allowance was made well and truly before the recruitment of Lance Franklin.
The AFL this week decided to phase out the Swans' 9.8 per cent allowance after howls of protests from opposition clubs.
Those protests reached a crescendo after the Swans managed to sign power forwards Kurt Tippett and particularly Franklin over the past two years.
A group of senior football figures travelled to the United States in July last year - attended by Andrew Demetriou, Gillon McLachlan and a host of club presidents and CEOs including Collingwood's Eddie McGuire - to help find solutions to the AFL's equalisation issues.
McGuire has been among the most vocal critics of COLA and Longmire believes that trip is where the seeds were planted to remove the Swans' allowance.
"There was a working party that went to the States during the course of the year and it was on the agenda then firmly," Longmire said on Thursday.
"It was front and square on the agenda when that working party came back, before Lance Franklin got here."
Swans co-captain Kieren Jack spoke strongly against the COLA decision on Wednesday, saying the club has been punished for taking a significant risk in signing Franklin to a nine-year deal.
Jack also said younger players in particular struggled with the extra expense of living in Sydney, something echoed by Longmire, who hopes a compromise can still be reached.
"It's disappointing it's been taken away from the entire list," Longmire said.
"If there's some good to come out of it, it's an acknowledgement from the AFL that there is an expense associated with living in Sydney.
"The formula I guess will take some time before that gets worked out."
The Swans are now turning their attention to on-field matters, with the side flying to Brisbane on Friday ahead of its final pre-season hit-out against the Lions the following day.
Adam Goodes, Kurt Tippett, Alex Johnson and Luke Parker won't be playing, but it will otherwise be a very strong side, boosted by the inclusions of Jack, Jarrad McVeigh, Ted Richards, Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn.
They were among a host of first-choice Swans that sat out last week's NAB Challenge defeat to West Coast.
"We'll field as strong a team as we can, who are all ready to play for this week," Longmire said.
"We're looking forward to having our last hit-out before the season starts next week. It's not far away.
"I think every team that comes into the last week tries to sharpen up their starting line-up and the way they want to play their football.
"The players that didn't play last week will be coming back into the team, which is good, and we play against a team that will also be virtually full strength.
"It's about trying to work as strong a brand of football as we possibly can."
Franklin was quiet in his official Swans debut against the Eagles on a night when the Swans were regularly second to the ball.
With the majority of his gun midfielders back, Longmire is expecting a different performance at Burpengary, 35km north of Brisbane.
Asked about Franklin's quiet debut, Longmire said: "That was because we didn't have any inside 50s.
"We get some pretty quality midfielders back this week, so I'm hoping to get some more ball forward.
"Sam Reid played really well the week before and didn't get much of the ball last week as well.
"Reid, Franklin, (Mike) Pyke, (Lewis) Roberts-Thomson,they'll all play some good game time this week and we can hopefully get some more ball forward."
Twitter: @AFL_JD
