Sydney Swans coach John Longmire was delighted with the output from a number of his young players in the Swans' come from behind win over Geelong on Saturday.
The quartet of Will Hayward, Robbie Fox, Oliver Florent and Ben Ronke booted nine goals between them and made telling contributions in the final quarter as the visitors kicked five unanswered goals to run home 17-point winners.
“We used the ball better in the last quarter and some of our younger players really stood up,” Longmire told SEN’s Whateley.
“Robbie Fox kicked a couple of goals, Ben Ronke kicked a goal and Will Hayward played an important role as well.
“We have expectations on all of our players, including our younger ones.
”That’s why we picked them – to come in and play up to the standard. It was a really young forward line and to have a few of those kids be multiple goal kickers was really pleasing.”
Longmire also pinpointed the Swans ability to extract the ball from the stoppages, and his side’s unwavering self-belief as the key components to their stirring victory.
"It’s important to have that self-belief and to back yourself in," he said.
“Whether you’re a more experienced player that’s been in those situation’s a few times or you’re Ronke who played his first game, to have that experience is reinforcement about what you can do in certain situations.
“When needed, it’s something the players are reminded that they have that self-belief. The important thing is that it’s one thing talking about it, you have to go out and you have to go out and execute – that’s the hardest part.
“The biggest clear effort in the last quarter was our ability to get our hands on the footy first and foremost. When we were able to do that we were able to start driving the course of that last 30 minutes.”
Sydney will look to make back-to-back wins when they face North Melbourne at the SCG on Saturday night.
Listen to John Longmire’s chat with Gerard Whateley in the player below