See what Sydney coach John Longmire had to say following his side’s 36-point Semi-Final victory over Adelaide…
On the Swans’ ability to respond to last week’s Qualifying Final loss with a seven-goal opening term…
“We can’t afford to stray from the way we like to play. Five or six of the first seven goals in the first quarter were probably just from our efforts to turn the ball over and our fierce presence and pressure around the ball.
“There are no secrets to it, particularly the way we like to play and we brought enormous energy and intensity tonight.
“The boys are a pretty proud group and we were disappointed with how we played last week (against Greater Western Sydney) and we know we can play better than that.”
On the performance despite the absence of key players due to injury…
“It was a real credit to our players. To lose (Jarrad McVeigh and Gary Rohan) halfway through the second and finish off with a six-goal last quarter was a real credit to the mental strength of the players.
“Our leaders were terrific and really led from the front. Our younger blokes were fantastic as well. It was just a really brave performance.
“We played a really good brand of footy. We missed a couple of really good players before the game, we lost a couple halfway through the second and to our players credit, we kept going.”
On Sydney’s ability to contain Adelaide’s potent forward line…
“(Sydney’s defenders) played on some very good players. Those blokes in that forward line are as good as any going around.
“I thought (the defence) were helped enormously by the pressure up the ground, certainly a lot more pressure than what we applied last week up the ground, which helped our defenders but they still played well and had to win the one-on-ones.”
On moving on quickly ahead of next week’s clash with Geelong…
“It wasn’t about what we did last week, it was actually about what we did tonight and it will be about what we do next week.
“It will be fantastic to be able to know and get the result through that type of performance and know that feeling that we play that type of football and we need to do it again next week.
“We go against a team (Geelong) that I’m sure will be ready to go and might even have some players coming back but we look forward to that challenge too.”
