SYDNEY coach John Longmire has implored the AFL to provide clarity around changes to the Telstra AFL Draft for father-son and Academy picks, saying clubs are being kept "in the dark".
Longmire's Swans are in the enviable position of being three games clear at the top of the ladder ahead of a mammoth Sydney derby against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.
Draft changes could be on the cards this season and Longmire urged the League to reveal their plans to clubs as soon as possible.
The Swans' Academy is a huge part of their club fabric with stars Errol Gulden, Callum Mills, Isaac Heeney and Nick Blakey all coming through their development ranks along with current regulars Braeden Campbell and Sam Wicks.
It's expected there will be a rise in the cost clubs will have to pay in order to secure high end Academy or father-son prospects.
"We're aware of those discussions going on but to be honest we're in the dark. All clubs are in the dark as far as what the plans are for this year," Longmire said.
"Hopefully it happens pretty quickly and we're waiting to hear from the AFL what the plans are in a number of areas.
"The season's getting on and the planning for the end of the season is important, so it'd be nice to know sooner rather than later.
"The clubs would like to have a runway into any changes. A bit like the change to the interpretation of holding the ball, you'd like a runway in rather than just nice and quick."
The Swans extended their winning streak to nine games by beating Adelaide on Saturday night, hauling in a decent first-quarter deficit for the third time in four outings.
Sydney kicked 11 of the last 12 goals of the game against the Crows to win by 42 points, following a similar pattern in recent victories against Carlton and Geelong.
"It's good to be able to do that if you need to, you want to make sure that you don't want to rely upon it all the time but it's good to have the belief that you can do that if you need to," Longmire said.
"But we want to make sure that you're a bit more consistent over the four quarters. In certain areas at certain times, we're still confident we can keep improving and that's what we'll try and do."
A remarkable nine-goal haul from Joel Amartey that only started at the seven-minute mark of the second quarter inspired the Swans' blitz on the weekend, with Longmire hailing his pre-season work as the catalyst for the 24-year old's breakout campaign.
"He's had a number of injuries over the journey and that took the development area out of him. This year was probably his best pre-season and most often good performances come off the back of consistency over the pre-season," Longmire said.
The Swans coach also reaffirmed his rationale for taking Amartey off the field late rather than affording him the chance to kick a 10th goal.
"He was a little bit tight in the last couple of minutes, we saw him get up from a couple of contests and with his injury history, I'm sure everyone appreciates we want him playing this week. My experience over the years is sometimes things can happen in the last couple of minutes," Longmire said.
Amartey will face a much tougher test this week if Giants star Sam Taylor is tasked with manning him up, but Longmire was coy on whether his own lockdown man in James Jordon will once again go to Lachie Whitfield after he quelled his influence in the round eight encounter.
"They've got lots of damaging players, it'll be interesting whether (Lachie) Ash comes back in. They're a highly talented team so you could make a case for a number of players (to be tagged). It'll be a tough one," he said.
While there's no rush considering the Swans' midfield depth and ladder position, the captain in Mills is edging closer to a return, most likely in the VFL, but Longmire conceded that was still at least two weeks away.
"He's been training now for a few weeks, tackling, running around but he needs a couple weeks of solid training and we'll see how he goes," he said.
"He's been pulling up really well but we need to give him a good block of training."
