SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire has stopped just short of labelling his team's demolition of premiership fancy Port Adelaide as the complete performance.
"To the players' credit, they were fantastic," Longmire said.
"As coaches we like to set the bar a bit higher, you can always be a bit better.
"It's amazing how many times plans materialise when you play with that kind of hardness and effort at the tackle and the contest."
Unlike last week against Essendon, the Swans were dominant from the outside, efficient going forward and punished the Power off turnovers to run away with a convincing 48-point win.
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"You prefer to get off to a good sort of start, particularly away (from home) in this sort of environment," Longmire said.
"To keep such a talented team like Port Adelaide to 44 points on their home ground is not an easy thing to do."
The Swans won all the key indicators. Contested possession by 11, clearances by nine and tackled like a team possessed, taking out that category 77-51. Lance Franklin was a menace up forward with three goals but it was his defensive pressure that stood out most, with a career-high eight tackles.
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"I think that's always been underestimated with him," Longmire said.
"He's always been good both sides of the ball and he's always been able to apply enormous amounts of pressure."
The return of Jarrad McVeigh (26 possessions, one goal) was a major boost in a defence that stood up all night.
Josh Kennedy, Kieren Jack and Luke Parker were sensational in the midfield, all racking up 30-plus touches, and second-gamer Isaac Heeney (17 possessions) again showed glimpses of being a future star.
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"He's still got a lot to learn as a player and we've got to be conscious of that," Longmire said of Heeney.
"But you probably saw in the last 20 minutes he was still running hard and competing well and that's what he's good at."
At the other end of the spectrum, two-time Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes started as the sub. He only came on in the last quarter of his 353rd game, and Longmire said it came down to team balance.
"We just wanted to pick the best team tonight and we thought that was the best team," Longmire said.
Next week's Sydney derby looms as an exciting clash with both teams heading in undefeated. Despite looking unbeatable on Saturday night, Longmire knows they'll need to produce that effort again against a young and hungry Giants side.
"They've developed very quickly, they've got some super players, a list that's pretty talented, (that) works hard and is well coached." Longmire remarked.
