John Longmire

John Longmire
Personal information
Full name John Longmire
Nickname(s) Horse
Date of birth (1970-12-31) 31 December 1970
Original team(s) Corowa Rutherglen (OMFL)
Height / weight 194cm / 102kg
Position(s) Full-forward, Full-back, Ruckman
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1988–1999 North Melbourne 200 (511)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
2011– Sydney 149 (102–45–2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1999.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2016.
Career highlights

John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1999.[1]

Early years

Longmire began his playing career at the Corowa-Rutherglen club in New South Wales, where he won the Ovens & Murray Football League’s leading goalkicker title. His ability and size quickly attracted the interest of the North Melbourne VFL club's talent scouts.

AFL career

Longmire’s physique and size earned him the nickname Horse. He began for North Melbourne in 1988 against Footscray with a four-goal performance from full-forward, but struggled after that and near the end of the season coach John Kennedy Sr. moved him to full-back. He did well in that role during 1989 – holding Tony Lockett to five kicks in Round 14 – but North’s lack of key position players in attack saw him moved back to the forward line in August.

1990 saw Longmire jump to the top of the tree: at only nineteen years of age he kicked 98 goals and won the Coleman Medal as the league’s leading goal kicker.[1] In Round 2 of that year he kicked a North Melbourne record of twelve goals against Richmond, which he broke twelve weeks later when he kicked fourteen goals in round 14 against Melbourne. Going into the final round Longmire looked certain to reach the 100-goal milestone for the season, however terribly inaccurate kicking against a hard Collingwood defence resulted in a tally of two goals and eight behinds, leaving him just two goals short. Longmire went on the win North Melbourne’s best and fairest that year and led the club’s goal kicking list each season from 1990 to 1994.

At North Melbourne, he formed a powerful goalkicking partnership with centre half forward Wayne Carey. In six seasons between 1990 and 1995 Carey and Longmire collectively kicked 768 goals (of which Longmire contributed 464) and thirteen times they combined for ten goals or more in a game. Individually, Longmire kicked 5-plus goals in a game 36 times, 7-plus goals 18 times and 10-plus twice, before a serious knee injury forced Longmire out of the game for the 1996 season.[1] When he returned the following year, he played out the remainder of his career in defence and in the ruck.

Longmire’s last career game was the 1999 Grand Final, in which the Kangaroos defeated Carlton.[1]

Coaching career

Sydney Swans

Longmire returned to New South Wales to take up an assistant coaching position with the Sydney Swans.[1] In 2006, he was considered to be a front-runner for the St Kilda Football Club coaching role, which was made vacant by the sacking of Grant Thomas, however, the role later went to then-fellow Swans assistant coach Ross Lyon.[2] In 2008 the coach, Paul Roos, appointed Longmire the Swans' "coaching co-ordinator". Longmire replaced Roos following his retirement at the end of the 2010 season.

Longmire's first game as the Sydney Swans coach ended in a draw against Melbourne, with both teams scoring 11.18 (84).[3] His first win as coach came the next week, against Essendon in Round 2.[4] Longmire had a relatively good start to his coaching career, with only five losses in the first fourteen rounds of the season (albeit against top-four opposition in Geelong, Carlton (twice), Hawthorn and Collingwood).

One of his best coaching achievements was engineering Sydney's upset 13-point victory over Geelong at Skilled Stadium in the penultimate round of the 2011 season. The Swans had not won there in more than 12 years and the home team had not lost at the ground in exactly four years and one day. Also, the Swans were the only team to beat top-four side West Coast at Patersons Stadium during the season. Those two sides won the rest of their home matches during the regular season.

Longmire took Sydney to the finals in 2011, his first year as senior coach in what was the club's 13th finals appearance in 16 seasons. After beating St Kilda in the elimination finals at Etihad Stadium, the Swans were defeated by Hawthorn in the semi-finals ending what was otherwise a promising first season for Longmire in the top job.

In 2012, his second year as coach, Longmire led Sydney to third place on the AFL ladder, compiling an impressive 16–6 record over the home-and-away season. He later coached the team to a 14.7 (91) to 11.15 (81) victory over Hawthorn in the 2012 AFL Grand Final. Subsequently, his contract was extended until the end of the 2015 season.[5]

In March 2014, Longmire signed a two-year contract extension that takes his tenure to at least the end of the 2017 AFL season.[6]

Statistics

Playing statistics

[7]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Led the league for the season only
Led the league after season and finals
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
1988 North Melbourne 43 11 21 12 70 24 94 56 2 1.9 1.1 6.4 2.2 8.5 5.1 0.2
1989 North Melbourne 35 16 9 12 99 41 140 31 10 0.6 0.8 6.2 2.6 8.8 1.9 0.6
1990 North Melbourne 35 22 98 60 230 61 291 139 10 4.5 2.7 10.5 2.8 13.2 6.3 0.5
1991 North Melbourne 35 21 91 54 199 61 260 128 12 4.3 2.6 9.5 2.9 12.4 6.1 0.6
1992 North Melbourne 35 20 64 37 164 50 214 90 10 3.2 1.9 8.2 2.5 10.7 4.5 0.5
1993 North Melbourne 35 20 75 29 151 59 210 81 9 3.8 1.5 7.6 3.0 10.5 4.1 0.5
1994 North Melbourne 35 23 78 46 170 86 256 120 13 3.4 2.0 7.4 3.7 11.1 5.2 0.6
1995 North Melbourne 35 22 58 32 157 78 235 94 10 2.6 1.5 7.1 3.5 10.7 4.3 0.5
1996 North Melbourne 35 0 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
1997 North Melbourne 35 25 10 11 196 104 300 96 33 0.4 0.4 7.8 4.2 12.0 3.8 1.3
1998 North Melbourne 35 10 7 4 50 35 85 28 4 0.7 0.4 5.0 3.5 8.5 2.8 0.4
1999 Kangaroos 35 10 0 1 53 38 91 24 8 0.0 0.1 5.3 3.8 9.1 2.4 0.8
Career 200 511 298 1539 637 2176 887 121 2.6 1.5 7.7 3.2 10.9 4.4 0.6

Coaching statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season[8]
Legend
 W  Wins  L  Losses  D  Draws  W%  Winning percentage  LP  Ladder position  LT  League teams
Season Team Games W L D W % LP LT
2011 Sydney 24 13 10 1 56.3% 7 17
2012 Sydney 25 19 6 0 76.0% 3 18
2013 Sydney 25 16 8 1 66.0% 4 18
2014 Sydney 25 19 6 0 76.0% 1 18
2015 Sydney 24 16 8 0 66.7% 4 18
2016 Sydney 26 19 7 0 73.1% 1 18
Career totals 149 102 45 2 69.1%

Honours and achievements

Brownlow Medal votes
Season Votes
1988 —
1989 —
1990 9
1991 8
1992 —
1993 4
1994 8
1995 —
1996 —
1997 3
1998 1
1999 —
Total 33
Key:
Green / Bold = Won
* = joint winner
Red / Italics = Ineligible

Playing honours

Team

Individual

Coaching honours

Team

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Russell Holmesby; Jim Main (1 May 2009). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: Every AFL/VFL Player Since 1897. BAS Publishing Pty Limited. ISBN 978-1-921496-00-4. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Fight for Longmire, farewell to Lyon, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October 2006
  3. ↑ Stevens, Mark (27 March 2011). "Hairline decision for rookie coach John Longmire". Herald Sun. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Hassett, Sebastian (4 April 2011). "Goodes, Bolton to thank for breaking Longmire's duck". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Longmire's flag win bonus - AFL.com.au
  6. ↑ "Sydney Swans coach John Longmire re-signs with the club for another two years". Herald Sun. News Ltd. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  7. ↑ John Longmire's player profile at AFL Tables
  8. ↑ "John Longmire's coaching profile". AFL Tables.
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