Hungry Bud can devour the Pies
SYDNEY coach John Longmire is backing superstar forward Lance Franklin to bounce back after copping criticism for his scoreless qualifying final against Melbourne.
Dual All-Australian defender Steven May gobbled up six intercept marks and 16 intercept possessions while keeping restricted free agent Franklin to seven disposals without even a behind.
The last time that happened was in a round 8 loss to the Demons last year, with Franklin set to be minded by in-form Collingwood backman Darcy Moore at the SCG on Saturday.
“That happens, even to the best, but it was a couple of weeks ago now and he has put it behind him,” Longmire said.
“He knows he will have a wonderful opponent again this week, so it doesn’t get any easier, but that’s what this time of year is about.
“You’re going to be playing against the best teams, the best players and he is a competitor and prepares himself very well, so he will do that again this week.”
The Magpies have played consecutive high-stakes finals, whereas the Swans have played once in the past three weekends, but Longmire said they had prepared as well as possible.
“We trained last week on Thursday and had a really good workout on Saturday – a tough session in pretty warm conditions – so that was good to be able to have that under our belt,” he said.
“It’s always a balancing act between making sure your players don’t get injured versus a really tough session, so we wanted to have a good session and that’s what we did on Saturday.
“The players had a really good blowout, pulled up well from it and that’s all you can do – prepare as best you can – and we felt the weekend session was an important one for us.”
Ollie Florent (foot) has resumed training and Longmire expected him to be “fine” but gave little away on his plans for quelling red-hot Collingwood midfielder Jordan De Goey.
“Clearly, he poses a threat. He’s a very good player in great form, so we look at that, but we also look at (Jack) Crisp, (Scott) Pendlebury, Josh Daicos, Nick Daicos and Steele Sidebottom,” he said.
“They have plenty of great players. It’s about the collective and understanding they have various strengths and we know what De Goey’s strengths are.”
Longmire also had some public advice for his swag of young guns.
“It’s really just concentrating on the play by play and looking at the things that work for us; putting your energy into our team play,” he said.