John Longmire Biography

Sydney chief Tom Harley throws his full support behind John Longmire as the Swans coach enters the final year of his contract fresh off a fourth Grand Final defeat.

"What I love about John is his commitment to the whole of club," Harley told Melbourne radio station SEN.

"We are unbelievably fortunate and unbelievably grateful to have someone like him at our helm.

"He will process (the Grand Final) and that will take time and we all just need to acknowledge and respect that."

Sydney's coach John Longmire has lambasted Craig McRae's comments about home-ground advantage, labelling them "an extraordinary admission" from the Collingwood coach.

The Swans resurrected their ailing form with a sensational five-goal surge in the final term to beat the Pies at the SCG, but Collingwood and Dan McStay had strong claims for a 50-metre penalty late in the game when Tom McCartin stepped over the mark, which would have likely handed them back the lead in the final minutes.

That prompted McRae to claim that a free kick 'would have been paid at the MCG'.

"I reckon if it was at the MCG, it would have been paid. There's definitely an advantage for the home ground," McRae said of the non-call against McCartin.

"There was a lot of deliberate (insufficient intent to keep the football in play) tonight too. That was a bit of a circus. So I'm sure they'll come out and justify that too. But the umpires don't always get it right."

Longmire, clearly taken aback, responded to McRae's with some bemusement.

"It was an extraordinary admission from a coach of a team that has the biggest home ground advantage in the AFL," Longmire said.

"This year they play 14 games at the MCG, they play three at Marvel (Stadium). That's 17 games essentially in front of their home crowd and they play finals and obviously the Grand Final on their home deck."

McRae conceded on later that his comments about the umpiring had gone too far.

"I was frustrated after the game and you say things," McRae said on SEN radio.

"I have been a real obvious advocate for umpires and how difficult their job is. But there are times when you get into a game, there's so much on the line and you just get frustrated. I did and I stepped over the mark, I know that.

"I stepped over the mark and I have to take accountability for that."

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says he has apologised to Sydney coach John Longmire for his post-match comments that suggested his Swans counterpart was being overly defensive by stacking "75,000 people" in its backline against the Tigers in a dour affair at the Gabba.

Longmire refuted those comments, saying his Hardwick's claims were "completely unnecessary and unwarranted" before branding them as "just not correct".

"I was probably frustrated and let the situation get the better of me," Hardwick explained.

"I called up 'Horse' and apologised. It was out of line on my behalf, so we had a good conversation and we moved on pretty quickly. I'll just worry about what I can control and continue to do that."

John Longmire signs a three-year contract extension with Sydney to remain head coach of the club until the end of 2023.

"I've been through this process before, and this one was a bit more public because there were other coaching jobs around, but I understand the industry," Longmire said in reference to media reports he was considering the head coaching position at North Melbourne.

"That doesn't impact and shouldn't impact the process I had to go through. I had to make sure that I had the energy and commitment levels to keep improving as a coach and take this new generation going forward.

"Coaching is a 365-day-a-year job with no holidays, and even when you're on holidays, you're really not, and your family is a big part of that. That was the most important thing from my perspective.

"I spoke with the club and we were both really clear with what our direction looks like."

Sydney coach John Longmire drops a possible Freudian slip suggesting he is considering taking on the vacant North Melbourne job.

Asked where he would be next year, Longmire answered cryptically.

"Well, we'll have to wait and see … I'm absolutely contracted to the North, to the Sydney Swans Football Club," Longmire stumbled.

"I have been there for 18 years. My commitment to this football club is very strong and I am absolutely doing the best job of my ability. That's all I've got to say on it."

John Longmire is contracted as head coach of the Swans until the end of the 2020 season, but since North Melbourne parted ways with Brad Scott last month, his name has been heavily linked with the vacant job at his former club.

"It would be difficult seeing him leave because he's been the head coach for the whole time I've been here," young Swan Isaac Heeney said about the conjecture.

"But whatever is best for him (is the most important thing) I guess."

John Longmire, Gavin Wanganeen, Wayne Carey and The West Australian journalist Bridget Lacey will make up the four judges who will decide the winner of the 2018 Grand Final Norm Smith medalist.

Sydney coach John Longmire has taken issue with a meeting between his Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson and AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

Clarkson said after Hawthorn's loss to Sydney that the Swans defenders were 'very sophisticated with the way that they defend, but at different stages they’re getting away with blue murder too'.

Longmire later learnt of Clarkson meeting with McLachlan to allegedly "go through some vision" of the game.

"It's unusual and unnecessary I would suggest," Longmire said of the meeting.

"I had a look on the AFL website today and there's plenty of examples of Hawthorn players doing exactly the same thing, so let's not kid ourselves.

"It's a bit on unusual that he can make comments about other teams and what they do, then think to yourself that your team does everything right."

Cats coach Chris Scott throws his support behind Swans counterpart John Longmire in being critical of Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson meeting with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan to discuss aspects of the game following Hawthorn's loss to Sydney.

"There's a number of people you would speak to before you spoke to Gill about specific issues in a game," Scott said.

"To do it in a public place, I'd probably support 'Horse' (Longmire) on this one, I'm not sure it was an appropriate look."

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick is crowned the AFL Coaches' Association coach of the year for 2017 after leading Richmond's remarkable revival into a Grand Final.

The 45-year-old polled 294 votes to edge out Grand Final opponent Don Pyke (283), with Sydney coach John Longmire (72),

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire says he wasn't offended by comments from Brisbane Lions counterpart Justin Leppitsch questioning the Swans’ use of the stretcher in their three-point win at the Gabba.

The controversy occurred when Swans forward Callum Sinclair went down clutching his knee close to his own goalsquare in the dying minutes of the match.

The Swans called for a stretcher with the ball in play inside the home side's forward 50, which is when the emergency umpire blew the whistle to halt play, an action since deemed to be a mistake by the AFL.

Leppitsch was fuming post-match and hinted that the Swans had deliberately called for the stretcher as a tactic to stop play, but Longmire said that his club was fine with the comments made and happy to move on from the incident.

"It's really difficult (for an opposition coach) after a game to know exactly what happened," Longmire said.

"It's pretty clear, Callum (Sinclair) went over and hyper-extended his knee and we thought he'd done a pretty serious knee injury.

"The stretcher was called and the umpire blew the whistle.

"Callum had a scan yesterday, but you don't know that at the time.

"It's very difficult to get everything right immediately after the game so we move on from that pretty quickly."

Sydney Swans premiership coach John Longmire has been invited to an exclusive meeting of eight international coaches in the UK early next month.

The P8 Summit, which is not publicised and keeps its guest list tightly guarded, brings senior coaches and general managers together behind closed doors to share ideas.

Longmire is the second AFL coach to attend the summit, which is coordinated by the industry body Leaders and has included past guests such as prominent soccer managers Arsene Wenger, Steve McClaren and Gerard Houllier.

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire believes the AFL needs to look at providing coaches with security after matches after Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson's altercation with a fan.

"On match days when you're at the ground it's pretty good, there's terrific security provided by the AFL, but once the siren goes and you're walking with your family to your car, that needs to be looked at," he said.

"You need to aware of where you go and what you do, and these things make you reassess that, which is a little bit sad."

Swans coach John Longmire is named as the Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year, edging out Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson by one vote at the AFL Coaches Association awards.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire reveals that Swans coach John Longmire had passed on being an assistant coach of the Australian International Rules team because of McGuire's management role in the representative team.

McGuire has long been a critic of the Swans being allowed an increased salary via the Cost of Living Allowance and of the exclusive access the club gets to players in their academy structure.

"Clearly I've hit a sore spot and they (the Swans) are screaming and trying to protect something that is obviously super important to them and gives them a major advantage," McGuire told The Footy Show.

"I have heard indirectly that John has made that decision because of that, and that is disappointing. If he doesn't want to do it because of a petty club issue, then that's his call.

"When it comes to Australia, I put self-interest aside and in this Australian team you get the chance to refuse just once. I hope John reconsiders."

Jack Ziebell is handed a three-match suspension for a bump on Crow Jarryd Lyons leading Geelong and Sydney coaches Chris Scott and John Longmire to question the future of the bump.

"I haven't really wasted too much time thinking about it (the Ziebell ban), and I think that's the approach that most people should take to the match review panel," Scott said.

"If you try to work it out you'll just tear your hair out and end up very confused and frustrated. They are so inconsistent that any sort of predictions, when it comes to the Match Review Panel, are a waste of time."

"The hard thing from Jack's incident is it looked like he went in to smother. It's very difficult in that situation," Longmire said.

"But I think it's getting to the stage where the bump, obviously you do it at your own risk.

"You're not quite sure what the outcome will be, you're not quite sure what the other player will do, so you're better off maybe putting it in the kit bag and trying to tackle or put some pressure on."

Sydney rewards head coach John Longmire's 2012 premiership season with a contract extension until 2015.

"Our arrangement with John provided for an automatic trigger for a premiership that extended him until 2015," Sydney chief executive Andrew Ireland said.

"John has done a fantastic job with us, and when you are a successful coach like him, you get your just reward."

Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes says the transfer from Paul Roos to John Longmire wil ensure the Bloods' culture goes on.

"What we've started with Roosy six or seven years ago, we want to keep up at this footy club," Goodes said.

"This culture we've started, we don't want it to change and we want it to keep building on it.

"Having 'Horse' (Longmire) take over at the end of next season ensures that this culture, this brand of footy and what we started a long time ago will stay on and bypass a lot of us at this footy club."

Paul Roos will coach the Swans in 2010 before handing over to assistant John Longmire as part of the club's succession plan.

"John is an outstanding candidate for a senior coach and we've always talked about hopefully having some sort of succession plan and promoting from within," Roos said.

"We believe in our culture, we believe in our players and we believe in what they've done. We want to keep passing that down to the next senior coach."

Sydney Swans assistant coach John Longmire says he is concentrating on breaking the side's losing streak rather than the coaching vacancy at North Melbourne.

"At the moment, I'm just trying to make sure we win a game of footy and get back on to the winners' list," he said on Wednesday.

"That's my priority and all my energy and focus is on that at the moment."

The super Swan is finding greater numbers in '09 and doesn't have the in-team competition of other fancies.

Statistics show that Goodes has won more of the football in 2009 than in either of his medal-winning years. More importantly, he has made opposition teams pay when he has gained possession.

"I know that wasn't his Brownlow year, but the back end of 2007 was probably the best footy I've seen him play," Sydney assistant coach John Longmire said.

"While he's probably not at those heights, he's certainly been a really consistent performer for us."