LONGMIRE OPEN TO PADDY PICK- UP
SYDNEY Swans coach John Longmire says “all options are open” on recruiting former No. 1 draft pick Paddy McCartin in next month’s draft.
McCartin would need to receive AFL medical clearance to return to football after a series of concussions that he admits turned his life upside down.
He has been training all season and is in career- best shape.
Clubs can add players like McCartin in the next delisted free agent window, as a rookie in December or even if he trained with them as a supplemental selection from January onwards.
Longmire said on Monday his club remained interested in bringing the former Saint to the harbour city to join his brother Tom at the Swans.
“We’ve looked at him,” he told SEN. “Going into the draft and the rookie draft in the next couple of weeks, we’ve certainly got all options open.
“There’s been no guarantees made. We just need to make sure we keep everything open for us and that’s what we’re doing.
“Obviously we love what Tommy’s been able to do with us and the McCartin family are fantastic and we’ll see what happens on draft night. We have to make sure we keep all our options open and we’ll see what happens.”
While McCartin showed glimpses of the brilliant junior form that saw him taken at pick one by St Kilda, those concussions saw him leave the Saints in late 2019 to concentrate on his recovery.
Former AFL researcher Alan Pearce recently told the Herald Sun clubs would have
to consider their duty of care to McCartin if they were to recruit him.
“Players like Shaun Smith have already told him he shouldn’t do it. I am sure John Barnes would be the same. Barnesy has only just turned 50 and he has said his quality of life isn’t great,” he said.
“That could be 25 years away for Paddy but it comes around quickly. There is the short- term pain in not playing but the long- term gain in your brain health.”
McCartin said in an emotional radio interview after he left St Kilda he was a “shell of the person” he had
once been.
But after a panel of concussion experts gave him permission to return to training in February he has ramped up that program.
He said recently he believed he could return to AFL football despite the concussion history.