Longmire warning over stubborn bench stance

SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire says fans will be robbed of seeing the best players play every game, due to the AFL’s refusal to increase the interchange.

Longmire admits coaches will have no choice but to introduce a cricket style “rotation policy” to AFL selection to cope with the move to a compressed schedule. The Swans have 10 senior players on their injury list, a number that would have ballooned out to 14 for this week under the proposed model of four or five day turnarounds between matches.

The Daily Telegraph reported last week that the AFL’s justification for rejecting a push to increase the number of bench players from four was because the game cannot afford it.

Longmire fears the best of the best package that AFL fans and broadcasters sign up for will be severely compromised.

“Yeah it does. We’d like, and clearly the fans would like, our best players playing every week. And we would like to come up with a mechanism that can do that,” he said.

“I think the logical way of doing it would be to have an extra couple of players on the bench.

“Otherwise it would have to be a rotation policy. There are tipping points. If you have 10-14 players on your injury list that are combination of seniors and reserves that’s OK, but once they become quality regular senior payers you have to be mindful that … everyone in the team, the club, the game, the supporters, all want to see the best players playing.”

Longmire said if the Swans were forced to move into a hub they would have to take an army of players with them.

He expects one experienced Swans star, Sam Reid, to return from injury to face Hawthorn on Saturday at the SCG.

“I was hoping the AFL would consider another couple on the interchange,” he said.