SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire says he wasn't offended by comments from Brisbane Lions counterpart Justin Leppitsch questioning the Swans’ use of the stretcher in their three-point win at the Gabba.
The controversy occurred when Swans forward Callum Sinclair went down clutching his knee close to his own goalsquare in the dying minutes of the match.
The Swans called for a stretcher with the ball in play inside the home side's forward 50, which is when the emergency umpire blew the whistle to halt play, an action since deemed to be a mistake by the AFL.
Leppitsch was fuming post-match and hinted that the Swans had deliberately called for the stretcher as a tactic to stop play, but Longmire said on Tuesday that his club was fine with the comments made and happy to move on from the incident.
"It's really difficult (for an opposition coach) after a game to know exactly what happened," Longmire said.
"It's pretty clear, Callum (Sinclair) went over and hyper-extended his knee and we thought he'd done a pretty serious knee injury.
"The stretcher was called and the umpire blew the whistle.
"Callum had a scan yesterday, but you don't know that at the time.
"It's very difficult to get everything right immediately after the game so we move on from that pretty quickly."
Longmire said Sinclair he escaped any structural damage to the knee but had suffered some bone bruising in the incident.
The ruckman will train on Thursday and remains a chance to face Essendon at the SCG on Saturday.
Defender Nick Smith missed the Lions clash after tweaking his knee at a light training run in Brisbane the day before the game, and Longmire said he too could be available to take on the Bombers.
In some encouraging injury news for the Swans, Sam Reid (hamstring) could be back on the field in the next fortnight after stepping up his training over the past three weeks, and Gary Rohan (hamstring) got through his first game of the year in the NEAFL last week after coming off the long-term injury list.
Essendon heads to Sydney for Saturday's twilight fixture having lost their last eight matches interstate, but Longmire said his side will pay the Bombers plenty of respect despite their poor record on the road and against the Swans.
The Swans have won seven of their last eight against Essendon, including the last five.
"If you look at the names on their board they've got quite a bit of experience," Longmire said.
"They've actually had the third highest disposals in the competition this year so they're getting plenty of the footy.
"(David) Zaharakis has had a terrific year, we know that Joe Daniher can really hit the scoreboard heavily, so we're preparing for their best as we always do.
"They had a real scrap with Carlton on the weekend and were in front at three-quarter time so they did a few things well."
