SYDNEY coach John Longmire says he will handle each individual case on its merits, should one of his players or staff wish to return to Sydney to be reunited with family members and loved ones.
Sydney remains in lockdown due to the COVID outbreak sweeping through the harbour city and Longmire knows next week's derby against the Giants will be held outside NSW, and that it's unlikely his team will be returning home soon.
While Longmire remains hopeful that his players will be reunited with family members in Melbourne as soon as this week, he is making plans should that outcome be unachievable.
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"Not yet, but that's not to say it's not going to change," Longmire said when asked if any of his players had reached out about returning to Sydney.
"But we can't jump at shadows either.
"We will take it day by day and we will do what we can, as every story is different.
"We will support everyone how we need to as everyone has different challenges and it is staff as well.
"Players and staff will be supported as much as they can be, every example we need to work through we will work through and everything on an individual basis."
The ongoing COVID drama in Sydney dampened the elation in the Swans' change rooms after their impressive 19-point triumph over the Bulldogs on Sunday, with Longmire's side moving within one win of the top four.
Longmire revealed he had a trio of former club champions speak with his players prior to the Dogs clash and that worked wonders as the Swans won for the 10th time this campaign.
"We had Bobby Skilton, Peter Bedford and Leo Barry in yesterday... we recognise our South Melbourne heritage so from that aspect it was a real good performance," Longmire said.
"It was fantastic. You've got to be right on your game to beat the Doggies and (injured forward Aaron) Naughton is a good player, but you still have to play well against them.
"It was a real well-balanced game, good game of footy, good contest, a combination of smart and hard and we had an even contribution, so it was a terrific win."
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge rued his side's efforts in front of the ball as the premiership fancies were unable to make the most of their 46-26 dominance in the clearances.
"We won centre bounce first half today, but we were dysfunctional in front of the ball," he said.
"We have had a lot of personnel change (in the forward line) since the first half of year and the chemistry is not there.
"Today they dominated in their back end, they kept their shape pretty well, moved it similar to us, played a similar brand to us, but did it better than us.
"We probably did well in the end to keep them to that score."
Beveridge is confident he will regain star forward Naughton from concussion for next week's clash against the Suns, but stopped short from guaranteeing No.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan a second showing following an inconspicuous debut against the Swans.
Ugle-Hagan failed to hit the scoreboard and was held to just seven disposals, and Beveridge was unsure whether the performance warranted a second consecutive appearance.
"Johnny Northey, one of my great mentors and old coaches who coached me at Melbourne, had a philosophy to make sure debutants play that second week and I definitely didn't deserve my second week and he gave it to me,” Beveridge recalled.
"But I don't really mirror that philosophy that 'Swooper' (Northey) had.
"We need to make sure we field a team that we think is going to win the game and has got enough experience in it as well.
"We will probably get 'Naughts' back next week and that will influence how many talls we will play."
