Sydney coach John Longmire says restricting the influence of Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands will be a key to the Swans’ AFL preliminary final hopes.
The Dockers giant and ruck partner Zac Clarke were extraordinarily dominant in their side’s qualifying final win over Geelong, more than tripling the Cats’ hit-out count.
But Sydney ruck pair Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke should pose a much greater challenge to the Fremantle duo at Patersons Stadium on Saturday night.
“He’s the dominant ruckman in the competition,” Longmire said of Sandilands.
“Obviously with his size and athleticism he’s very hard to stop.
“He was on fire against Geelong a couple of weeks ago, he was hitting the ball everywhere at centre bounces, ball-ups, boundary throw-ins.
“We need to make sure we nullify that influence.”
Longmire also said countering the Dockers in the midfield was critical.
Led by Michael Barlow, Nathan Fyfe and David Mundy, Fremantle’s midfield has had a strong year and the Swans coach said his side needed to at least break even in that department.
“There’s no doubt that if you look at Fremantle’s midfield, that’s one of their real strengths,” he told the Swans’ web site.
“They’ve got some great players through that midfield area.
“We need to make sure we get our share of the ball in our forward half.”
Fremantle have regained key defender Michael Johnson from a calf injury.
The Swans have been hit by the loss of key forward Kurt Tippett (knee) and midfielder Tom Mitchell (ankle).
But they’ve added some pace, regaining Ben McGlynn from a calf injury and recalling Gary Rohan.
The Swans face a test of stamina, coming up against a side that had last weekend off while their own workload was increased after they lost Tippett and Mitchell early in their semi-final win over Carlton.
But Longmire said they were ready to repeat that sort of effort.
“We had a really light week on the training track this week,” he said.
“We’ve recovered well, the players feel really good in themselves and they’re looking forward to the game.”
