A PRAGMATIC John Longmire is up for the challenge of dragging his Sydney Swans side out of its winless start to the season following Saturday night's upset loss to Collingwood at ANZ Stadium.
With two weeks to stew on their shock loss to Greater Western Sydney in round one, most expected the Swans to hit back hard against a Collingwood outfit also reeling from a round one hammering against Fremantle.
The script started as expected, with the Swans building a 23-point lead early in the second term, but the Pies responded by kicking 11 goals to five the rest of the way for a 12.17 (89) to 10.9 (69) victory.
Tipped to be among the premiership favourites this year, the Swans now find themselves in a 0-2 hole and facing a trip to Adelaide and a date with the Crows next week.
But rather than lamenting his predicament, Longmire is up for the fight.
"We've got to make sure we play the footy we want to play," he said.
"We clearly haven't got off to the start we wanted.
"There were some things we did better tonight than we did last week, but still some polish issues we need to get better at.
"There was some better contested ball work, but we're disappointed with the last 10 or 15 minutes and could've done some better work there.
"It's something we know as a team we can keep working towards.
"We don't just go 'oh well, we're zero-and-two'.
"We roll the sleeves up and go to work and keep persisting and that's what we intend to do."
For the second consecutive game, the Swans fell away badly in the final term, something Longmire said needed to be urgently addressed.
Gary Rohan also took a knock to the leg he broke in 2012 and had to be substituted, dealing with some nerve issues that Longmire said are not uncommon following the type of break the speedy youngster suffered.
The Swans coach could at least take some pleasure in the performance of midfielder Dan Hannebery, who has been under the spotlight following his quiet game against GWS and accident while driving Lance Franklin's car.
Hannebery finished with 29 touches and a team-lifting goal in the second term as the All Australian bounced straight back to form.
"'Hanners' had a pretty reasonable game," Longmire said.
"He ran hard and got back to the sort of footy we know he can play.
"It's been a few weeks since he's got back into form and he got a bit of the ball anyway."
Longmire was also encouraged by the effort of Franklin, who remains a work in progress.
As well as kicking two goals, Franklin also showed some good chase and pressure skills, including managing to maintain possession in a battle on the ground with two Collingwood defenders.
"Yeah it was (an improvement)," Longmire said.
"It was pretty tough for him at times with the service in the second half, but there were a number of times when he was outnumbered and helped keep the ball there.
"He'll get better."
