John Longmire ready for Gary Ablett threat

By Matt Rossleigh

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire is weary of the threat posed by Gold Coast SUNS captain Gary Ablett ahead of Saturday afternoon’s clash at the SCG.

Ablett was instrumental in the SUNS’ 13-point victory over St Kilda in round one and Longmire says the Swans will be in for a tough afternoon at the SCG if they don’t contain the former Geelong player.

“Many say he’s one of if not the best player to ever play the game and many who saw the game on the weekend against St Kilda would agree with that statement,” said Longmire.

“He’s a super player who’s in red hot form at the moment, we’ve had our challenges beating him in the past, he’s been able to play really well against us and I’m sure we’ll have a challenge this week to try and restrain his output on the game.

“As we know they have some really talented players and arguably the best player in the game with some really talented youngsters so they’re going to be a really tough challenge for us as GWS were last week.”

The Premiership coach says he hasn’t decided who will play on Ablett but most likely will go with Kieren Jack, Ben McGlynn or Jarrad McVeigh.

Saturday afternoon will be significant for players and fans of the Swans with the 2012 AFL Premiership flag to be unfurled before the first bounce.

“It’s a thank you to a lot of people, most importantly to our supporters and to be able to thank them for what they’ve been through for a long time.

“As soon as that’s finished we have to remember we’ve got the Gold Coast in about 20 minutes time and that’s where our focus is going to be.

“But we need to do that and it’s an important statement for the club to officially sign off on that and to thank everyone who was involved in that but also measuring up our responsibilities we’ve got of winning the game.”

The unfurling of the flag begins from 1pm on Saturday with the first bounce between the Swans and the SUNS at 1.45pm.