SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire says he would struggle to select a player who had decided to switch clubs and is "uncomfortable" with players indicating their intent to join Greater Western Sydney during the season.
Following the revelation that Adelaide defender Phil Davis is likely to join Greater Western Sydney at the end of the year, Longmire told a packed press conference on Thursday: "I'd be uncomfortable with [a player declaring he was going to another club] and hope I'm not in that situation to be honest.
"I think in the end … the rules have been set up, every club has voted on the rules, but ultimately you want to keep the players you want to keep.
"Naturally as a coach and as a footy club that's what you want to do... I don't think it's going to be the face of football going forward.
"I just think there's a window in the competition at the moment where that's what's happening and hopefully it all settles down and we go back to the status quo."
The AFL has a very different protocol to the National Rugby League, with NRL players regularly announcing mid-season they will be joining other teams at year's end.
Longmire hopes the AFL never goes down a similar path.
"I hope not. I hope it doesn't get to that point," he said.
"It's just a unique window of football at the moment where two new clubs with generous concessions have got the ability to be able to look at it.
"But that's also with the assumption that he (Davis) has actually signed.
"As I understand it there's been an AFL investigation and there's no signing done, so we can't assume he's signed."
Longmire isn't aware of any of his players or their managers who have had discussions with GWS about a switch next season.
The Swans have a solid reputation for offering players from other clubs lifelines and believe they are building a young list that could soon be competing for a flag.
It was suggested to Longmire that nabbing a Swan could be a significant scalp for GWS, but he is confident of retaining the players they want to keep.
"We understand what the competition is at the moment, but we're very confident that we've got the set-up at the footy club and people involved to keep the people that we want to keep," he said.
"That's what we'll be trying to do."
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL
