John Longmire has opened up on the behind the scenes moments of Lance Franklin’s 1,000th goal that sparked wild celebrations around the SCG.
Franklin reached the milestone in the dying minutes of the final term of Sydney’s win over Geelong, with a large majority of the 36,578 fans at the ground streaming onto the ground.
The scenes were incredible and elicited jealousy across the nation from those who weren’t there, however it was also a serious battle for those that were.
Franklin couldn’t get off the ground for about 10 minutes as he was mobbed by fans after he kicked his fourth goal of the game, with play restarting more than 30 later after patrons enjoyed their time on the turf.
Swans coach Longmire said his players had been briefed on what would happen when Franklin reached goal 1,000, however the best-laid plans went out the window when fans beat security to Franklin.
“We did talk a bit about the logistics of it if happened, I’m not sure if that worked out perfectly last night, things went a bit pear-shaped there for a while, there were people everywhere,” Longmire told SEN's Crunch Time.
“But what do you do, it’s just one of the moments that you can plan as much as you like but in the end, it was just incredible, a bit of football history.”
Sydney young guns Ollie Florent and Chad Warner were photographed walking around the SCG to get back to the changerooms after being stranded on the wrong side of the ground, while a number of other Swans were blocked by the mob.
Longmire admitted he feared he’d struggle to field a team for the final five minutes and 55 seconds as the crazy scenes failed to subside.
How Chad Warner made it back to the rooms after kicking the ball to Buddy #AFLSwansCats pic.twitter.com/VtB25wdEKF
— Michael Weeding (@michaelweeding) March 25, 2022
“I got someone to do a headcount in the rooms and realised we were about five short and I felt a bit like kindergarden teacher trying to look around where all the kids were,” he continued.
“And then I found out there were two walking down Driver Avenue (outside the ground), I thought we might actually struggle to get a team organised for the last five and a half minutes.
“I might have to go and see Scotty (Chris Scott) and see if we can call it off.”
“It was a bit like that, there were players everywhere and you just had to go with it.
“We didn’t know how long they’d be on the ground, we didn’t think they’d be on that long, then we had to do a warmup and we obviously had to find our players, they were in all parts of the ground.”
Alastair Clarkson was pictured on the broadcast in a Swans scarf as he travelled to Sydney to be a part of his former forward’s moment.
The Swans couldn’t treat the win as any old one after the dramatic scenes, with all players revelling in the moments in a change from Sydney’s post-game protocols.
“We just took them into the change rooms and it wasn’t business as usual as such, you can’t pretend that it wasn’t a big event, it was,” Longmire added.
“You have to savour those moments… with our players and our staff and Lance’s family, we got them all in and we had a chat and spent some time together and the boys weren’t in too much of a hurry to have a shower, we sat around and enjoyed each other’s company and had a talk about it.
“It was fantastic to be able to do that.
“Alastair Clarkson came down with his wife Karen, that was important too because we have to acknowledge that he’s obviously played a significant part in Hawthorn’s history and a lot of those goals were kicked at Hawthorn, so it’s really important to have Alastair there as well.”
Sydney now has just a six-day break before facing the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in Round 3, Longmire confirming the club was yet to have conversations over whether Franklin would be rested.