SYDNEY SWANS coach John Longmire will keep opposing coaches on their toes by rotating his four power forwards and trying to emulate the versatility of reigning premier Hawthorn.
The high-priced quartet of Lance Franklin, Kurt Tippett, Adam Goodes and Sam Reid played together for the first time in last Friday's win over Hawthorn.
Tippett started as the deepest forward, with Franklin and Reid around the 50m line and Goodes on the bench.
Longmire mixed things up during the game, resting them all on the bench at some stage, substituting Goodes in the third quarter and using Reid and Tippet to help out Tom Derickx in the ruck.
With Mike Pyke to miss a second game with a hamstring strain, Reid and Tippett can expect more time in the ruck for Friday's clash with Essendon at Etihad Stadium.
After the Hawthorn game, Longmire said the rotation was due to the varying levels of march fitness of the four, with Tippett and Goodes in particular having played little football this year.
On Monday Longmire revealed he was set to persevere with the strategy for the rest of the season, rather than field them in set positions when they are all match-fit.
"We'll continue to rotate them whether it's through the bench or through different positions on the ground," Longmire said.
"It won't only be the players on our forward line, it will be players all over the ground.
"We've seen Hawthorn really show us the template as far as being flexible and versatile and that's what we need to get to."
Longmire stressed it was the return of the Swans' renowned pressure game and more input from his midfield group that had sparked the current four-match winning streak.
"Probably up until that point, there was one or two each week that was playing well, but not consistently over the entire group," Longmire said.
"Over the last few weeks, we've had the weight of numbers in there, as far as seven or eight players going through that midfield rotation that have been able to play at a reasonably consistent level, so that makes a big difference."
Longmire said it was a case of looking after Goodes as the veteran continued his comeback from a long term knee problem and he would play more game time over the coming weeks.
He wasn't overly concerned with Franklin kicking 2.7 against Hawthorn, saying his inaccuracy could have been down to lack of training time he had in the lead-up to the game due to a knee issue.
