Sydney coach John Longmire had no problem with his Brisbane counterpart Justin Leppitsch querying the Swans’ contentious use of the stretcher in the final minutes of Sunday’s AFL thriller.
Leppitsch was furious following the Lions’ three-point loss, suggesting the Swans may have intentionally called for the stretcher to treat forward Callum Sinclair so the umpires would halt play at a crucial point in the match.
The ball was in dispute and deep in the Lions’ forward line when Sinclair dropped to the ground down the other end of the field with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
The league admitted on Monday that the umpires had made an incorrect call.
Longmire said he took no offence to Leppitsch’s reaction.
“It’s really difficult after a game to know exactly what happened,” Longmire said on Tuesday.
“Callum did hyperextend his left knee and had a scan yesterday, so you don’t know that at the time and it’s very difficult to get everything right immediately after the game.
“We move on from that pretty quickly.”
Longmire confirmed Sinclair had not sustained any ligament damage, suffering only bone bruising and was in contention to play Essendon at the SCG on Saturday.
“We’ll see how he goes on Thursday, if he’s able to get through training on Thursday he’ll be selected obviously,” he said.
The makeshift Bombers have just one win from six matches and have lost seven of their past eight against the Swans, however Longmire still wasn’t expecting a walk in the park.
“If you look at their names on the board they’ve got quite a bit of experience smattered through their team,” he said.
“There’s probably five players that played on the weekend that have played in grand finals, and some exciting young players.
“They’ve actually had the third-highest disposals in the competition this year, so they’re getting plenty of the footy.”
In a boost to the Swans, defender Nick Smith could bounce back from a sore knee while speedster Gary Rohan (hamstring) got through his first match this year in the NEAFL on Sunday, having come off the long-term injury list last week.
Longmire hinted Rohan was a chance of returning to the senior squad, while Sam Reid (hamstring) could get back on the park in some capacity as soon as next weekend.