Swans coach John Longmire can sympathise with fans who have been having heart palpitations during the close finishes of the first three rounds.
The new Swans coach is not immune. “It has been a bit nerve wracking the last five or 10 minutes of the game, you don’t mind it when you win but it is a bit hard to bear,’’ Longmire said after completing the match review of the Swans 13-point win over West Coast.
The review found plenty of positives from the fighting victory at Perth’s Patersons Stadium.
Longmire was most impressed with the tackle pressure. “To lay 111 tackles as a team was fantastic, and especially pleasing on such a big ground,’’ he said.
He was also impressed with fine individual efforts in the last term from a number of players including lion-hearted defender Marty Mattner, and Shane Mumford, who rucked without a break for 15 minutes against the combined might of Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.
But there is still room for improvement ahead of the big match against Geelong at the SCG this Saturday night, and the coach wants all Swans fans there to help lift his side.
“We still haven’t quite got on top of our contested ball and some of our ball use can get better as well,’’ he said.
“The first few weeks have been really tight and I’m sure it will be really tight again this week. We need to go another level this week and we are really excited to be back at the SCG.’’