3 minute read
John Longmire hasn't changed as a person since his teenage days on the family farm, but his AFL coaching evolution at Sydney has been profound and effective.
John Longmire pulled over, having spotted Richard Colless' number pop up on his phone.
Longmire was navigating his first AFL season as head coach of Sydney, having been shown the ropes by mate and mentor Paul Roos as part of a succession plan that remains the fascination of sporting and corporate worlds.
Colless and Longmire exchange thumbs-up emojis after games these days … but at the time, the Swans' longest-serving chairman felt the need to make contact after a couple of morale-sapping losses.
"I rang him just to say, 'shit happens'. Everything isn't going to go swimmingly all the time," Colless recalls.
"He later told me he'd stopped the car and thought, 'Jeez, I'm going to get a bollocking here'.
"It just established the fact that this wasn't a decision we'd made on the run. He was the person we wanted. It was a long-term commitment."
Fast forward 13 years and here we are again. The 2012 premiership coach has returned the perennial finalists to the fifth grand final of his tenure.
"A lot of media are saying he needs a win for his legacy. I reckon that's absolute garbage," former Swans star Dan Hannebery argues.
"The legacy is plain and clear for everyone to see. He's a big reason why this club has been so successful, on and off the field."
Longmire's longevity in a pressure-laden industry renowned for poor job security is more remarkable than the Swans' recent finals record.
Horse's booming voice has rung out around the SCG since his appointment as Rodney Eade's assistant in late 2001, when Errol Gulden wasn't even born.
What is the secret? And what is he really like?
Chat to anybody who knows Longmire well and the same attributes come up: empathetic, competitive, passionate, intense, indefatigable, selfless and adaptive.
Tom Papley likens his coach to a "second father". Chad Warner and Nick Blakey also heap love on Longmire's caring streak, as do 2012 premiership winners Hannebery and Ted Richards.
Richards recalls the conviction with which Longmire backed him to play that 2012 grand final despite an ankle injury, converting nerves into confidence.
Hannebery remembers the support offered by Longmire from the moment he started his AFL career, still in Year 12, and the "aura" which commanded respect before a word was spoken.
Colless regards Longmire as "one of the most honourable people" he knows, likening his humility to that of Roos and the late Ron Barassi.
Current Swans chairman Andrew Pridham is in awe of Longmire's capacity to manage, motivate, educate, advocate and evolve over such a long period.
"So much goes on at a football club. It's like a family," Pridham says.
"He just genuinely cares, he bleeds for the players."
Beau Longmire, who watched his older brother leave their Riverina home at age 16 to join North Melbourne and what was then the VFL, knows the 53-year-old as well as anybody.
The brothers' paths don't cross as regularly as either would like, with Beau running the Balldale grain farm that has been the Longmire family's focus for over 100 years.
But they speak regularly, confiding in each other about various challenges associated with all-consuming vocations. Beau steers the chat towards footy, John drags it back to farming.
"We both question our own career choices at times when we're in stressful periods," Beau quipped.
"Those conversations are almost a circuit-breaker for each of our lives.
"He's a tremendously empathetic person and that comes from a really pure place. I consider myself bloody fortunate having John as a brother."
John Longmire chooses his words wisely in public but lobbies passionately behind the scenes, for his club, the coaching fraternity and the sport's development in NSW.
The AFL agreeing to include club psychologist payments outside the soft cap is among his biggest off-field wins.
"He's been strident in his view that the soft cap should be higher, which I agree with," Pridham said.
Beau Longmire never thought John would become a senior coach. Denis Pagan, John's long-term coach during his playing career at North Melbourne, held the same view.
"He would have been successful in anything he did if he applied the same level of effort, energy and diligence," Beau said, also singling out the support of John's family and his AFL club.
"He just works really hard. Gets up early, goes to bed late, puts in an incredible number of hours.
"And he has that unique humbleness. He's pretty unaffected by it all despite being someone that's been in the limelight for a long period.
"To a certain degree, I think that's why Sydney has suited him. It's a little bit off-Broadway for an AFL coach.
"Anyone you talk to locally will say that he's very, very similar to what he was like at age 16."
Longmire has not changed as a person. But the 2012 premiership coach has clearly tweaked his methods, adjusting with experience and the times.
Longmire boils it down like this: footy is about people and your ability to connect. As the age gap between draftees and their coach has grown, so has the effort required to bridge that divide.
Longmire was an old-school operator. Caps backward? No. High fives? No. Long sleeves? No. Social media? No. Earrings!? Report to Mr Longmire's office!
The Covid-marred 2020 season, which remains the second in which Sydney has finished outside the top eight during Longmire's reign, was particularly formative for club and coach.
Longmire, having briefly contemplated his future then decided he was ready to ignite the Swans' youth-fuelled regeneration and a rapid rebuild, was suddenly living in a biosecurity bubble alongside youngsters.
Video games? Sure, why not.
What he saw, heard and learned shaped the Swans' plans for their redeveloped HQ in Moore Park, their 2024 grand-final side and Longmire's approach to his profession.
"From what I hear it's been a fantastic thing for the playing group. In a similar way to what we've seen Sam Mitchell doing at Hawthorn," Richards observed.
The sprays can still be withering. But, as was the case with the Swans' older generation, they come from a place of love and the platform of a rock-solid relationship that makes it work.
"He's hard when you need to be," Papley said.
Longmire isn't afraid to go left-field too. Prior to last week's preliminary final, he showed players a video of a mechanic shining a light under a car (as is the case with an AFL side, every part needed to play its role).
Roos is immensely proud of his former right-hand man's achievements and evolution.
"I can't speak highly enough about the job he's done. Where does he sit in the Sydney Swans' history? He's got to be right up in the top echelon. There's no question," Roos told AAP.
"The whole AFL system is set up for parity, so you can't do what the Swans have done.
"He still drives standards but he can sort of step back now and become the foreman … make sure everything's running smoothly. What he's done really well is empower others, that gives you the best chance to stay in the league for a long period and be really successful."
Pridham believes it is Longmire's evolution that underlines his greatness.
"I think that's the reason a lot of coaches come to a use-by date. Because even if they're a very good coach, they're not able to adapt. That's what makes a great coach," he said, having previously said the gig is Longmire's for as long as he wants it.
"Whenever it might be that John ends his coaching career, when you look up the definition of the word 'coach' in the dictionary, you will find a photo of him."