DESPITE a 31-point win over St Kilda at Coffs Harbour on Saturday night, Sydney Swans coach John Longmire is adamant his team can improve before the season proper.
A stand-out performance from skipper Adam Goodes was the highlight of the Swans' performance and emerging midfielder Lewis Jetta also impressed.
The Swans - who played 23 players compared to St Kilda’s 25 - were never headed in the contest, winning 12.12.(84) to 8.5.(53) in front of a crowd of 4827 at BCU International Stadium.
While coach John Longmire was impressed with his team's performance, he was also measured.
"We went in with a couple less players than the opposition deliberately to try and make sure we got some game time and closely replicate what it’s going to be like in round one with the three and one interchange," Longmire said.
"[But] we’ve got a long way to go. There’s everything to keep working on and we know we’ve got to get a lot better to continually beat the best.
"St Kilda and Collingwood, we were fortunate to play them over the pre-season and we know we’ve got to get better in everything and be consistently trying to knock off the other teams in opposition."
Goodes, a typically slow starter to the home and away season, finished the game with four goals and the sight of him up and about early is pleasing Longmire.
"Adam , from the moment he started back after his break - after he’d been to Ireland and captained the Australian team - he was probably in the best physical condition I’ve seen at that time of year," Longmire said.
"We want all of our players to improve and we talk about our young players getting better, but there is no better statement than when a 31-year old dual Brownlow medallist turns up in great physical condition for the start of the season."
Young pre-season burners Gary Rohan and Byron Sumner again showed class and, despite an extensive injury list, Longmire hopes he may have a pleasing selection headache prior to round one.
"Whether they all get games in round one, I’m not sure but we’ve been able to play younger players and increase the depth of our team that can play in the starting line-up, so from that point of view it [the pre-season] has been a worthwhile exercise.
"It is an important two weeks for us now, we have to make sure we sharpen up and get ready for round one against Melbourne."
St Kilda was missing Justin Koschitzke, Zac Dawson, Adam Schneider and Michael Gardiner from last year's grand final side.
Stephen Milne was the only mulitple goalkicker with two, while Riewoldt, McQualter, Cripps, Goddard, Montagna and Smith each kicked one goals each.
The only sour note of the night for the Swans was an ankle injury to forward Jarred Moore, who was assisted from the ground in the final term after a strong performance.
SYDNEY SWANS 3.4 7.6 10.9 12.12 (84)
ST KILDA 2.3 5.4 6.4 8.5 (53)
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
