Take, for instance, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire, who didn’t appear overjoyed by his team’s victory when he spoke after Sunday’s hard-fought win against West Coast.

 

Early in his press conference conference, he was asked to reflect on the epic match-up between star recruit Lance Franklin and West Coast defender Eric Mackenzie.

 

Mackenzie kept Franklin to just one goal in a contest that often looked more like Greco-Roman wrestling than football.

Rather than criticise the umpires and risk a hefty fine, Longmire played a straight bat.

 

But his demeanour hinted he was far from happy.

 

“Well, I have to go back and have a look at the free kicks, either way. I have to go back and put some time into that and have a real close look at it and see which way it should have gone,” he said.

 

When asked whether that meant Franklin should have received more free kicks, he simply replied: “I don’t know”.

 

A few minutes later, he was again asked to reflect on the Franklin-Mackenzie battle. He thought about it for a few seconds and then decided not to offer an answer.

 

But he was more than happy to talk about how his team, which returned to the top of the table after its 28-point victory, had ground out its 11th consecutive win.

 

“It was a solid game,” he said.

 

“In those (wet) conditions, you expect that and the contested possessions and the tackles were right up there for both teams.

 

“I thought our intensity over the four quarters was pretty good. We missed a few shots in the second quarter that would have put us a bit further ahead, but they challenged us in the third quarter but we withstood that and then went on again in the last.”

 

Longmire said 19-year-old Zak Jones, who was subbed out of the game in the first quarter after being cleaned up by Josh Kennedy, had suffered from blurred vision.

 

He said Jones had been fine at first, but his vision deteriorated. He had recovered by the end of the game and would fly home with the rest of the squad.

 

Kennedy is likely to face scrutiny from the Match Review Panel after choosing to bump Jones.

Longmire said it had been difficult to cope with the early loss of Jones but his players were flexible.

 

“We’ve still got (Rhyce) Shaw and (Dan) Hannebery out of the team and to come over here - and Jonesy went out early and that could have upset our balance a bit - but we’ve got some players there with McVeigh coming in and a few others that are pretty flexible and went back,” he said.

 

“It’s really good to come to a place like here in Perth and play a good team that’s got some really good players in it and still have seven players (with) 40 games or less experience that.”

 

Longmire said Kurt Tippett (knee) had been expected to play but pulled up sore after training in Perth and was withdrawn before the game.