John Longmire

John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the former senior coach of the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2011 to 2024. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1999.

Early years Longmire was born in Corowa, New South Wales. He took up Australian rules as a child and first came into notice when he won the 1984 Thirds goal kicking award in the Coreen & District Football League with Rutherglen. He later moved to the Corowa-Rutherglen club, and in his first season of senior football career in New South Wales, he nearly won the Ovens & Murray Football League's leading goalkicker title in 1987 as a 16-year-old, kicking 82 goals. His ability and size quickly attracted the interest of the North Melbourne VFL club's talent scouts.

Longmire's grandfather is former Fitzroy Football Club player Keith Williams. His uncle, Robert Longmire, is a former Collingwood Football Club player. Walter Longmire (John Longmire's great grandfather) represented New South Wales v South Australia at the MCG in 1927.

Playing career North Melbourne Longmire's physique and size earned him the nickname "Horse". His first match for North Melbourne was in the infamous exhibition match between North Melbourne and Carlton at The Oval in London in 1987. His first regular season match for North Melbourne was in the 1988 season against Footscray with a four-goal performance, but he 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 the 1989 season, 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. In 2006, he was considered to be a front-runner for the St Kilda Football Club senior 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. In 2008, senior coach Paul Roos, appointed Longmire the Swans' "coaching co-ordinator". In a succession plan, Longmire replaced Roos as senior coach of the Sydney Swans following Roos' retirement at the end of the 2010 season.

Longmire's first game as the Sydney Swans senior coach in the 2011 season ended in a draw against , with both teams scoring 11.18 (84). His first win as senior coach came the next week, against in Round 2, 2011. 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 , (twice), and ).

One of his best coaching achievements was engineering Sydney's upset 13-point victory over 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 at Patersons Stadium during the season. Those two sides won the rest of their home matches during the regular season.

In March 2014, Longmire signed a two-year contract extension which took his tenure to the end of the 2017 AFL season.

In the 2014 season, Longmire coached the Sydney Swans to the 2014 AFL Grand Final, but they lost to Hawthorn by a margin of 63 points with the final score being Sydney Swans 11.8 (74) to Hawthorn 21.11 (137).

In the 2016 season, Longmire coached the Sydney Swans to the 2016 AFL Grand Final, but they lost to the Western Bulldogs by a margin of 22 points with the final score being Western Bulldogs 13.11 (89) to Sydney Swans 10.7 (67).

In round 4 of the 2019 AFL season, Longmire coached his 200th game, a career milestone. Three rounds later, he overtook Paul Roos as the longest serving coach of the club.

On 12 July 2019, Longmire extended his contract for a further three years, to remain the Sydney Swans' senior coach until at least the end of 2023.

In 2020, Longmire coached the All-Stars team in a one-off 2020 State of Origin match which was played on 28 February 2020 at Docklands Stadium.

In the 2022 season, Longmire coached the Sydney Swans to the 2022 AFL Grand Final when they lost to Geelong by a margin of 81 points with Geelong scoring 20.13 (133) to the Sydney Swans 8.4 (52).

On 2 March 2023, it was announced that Longmire had signed a two-year extension contract to remain the Sydney Swans senior coach until at least the end of 2025.

John Longmire was described as a "shattered man" after the grand final. Pundits noted his dejected state, calling him a "broken man." Longmire was visibly emotional, with tears welling in his eyes, even as other team members were discussing game strategy.

The defeat marked the fourth successive grand final loss for Longmire. This was then compounded by having to conduct his post-match press conference while the victorious Brisbane Lions were celebrating. Amidst uproarious revelry, Longmire struggled to hear the questions posed by journalists. His own remarks were crowded out by joyous singing and the popping of champagne corks. Such a thin wall separating the teams did little to ease Longmire's pain, and drew strong criticism from media. These factors, alongside a falling out with captain Luke Parker, and the rise of lead assistant Dean Cox, led Longmire to make the decision to move on from the club in late 2024, stating he needed to "to step back from coaching to rest, reflect and regenerate".

Longmire's official resignation as Sydney Swans senior coach was lodged on 26 November 2024, with assistant coach Dean Cox taking over.

Allegations of missing recordings Allegations that Longmire sought to destroy or bury grand final recordings from the Sydney coaches box, have continued to dog him after exiting Sydney.

It emerged in June 2025 that an audio recording device from a microphone Longmire wore that day, was not returned to AFL officials as stipulated. Longmire is reported to have removed an SD card from the recording device. The microphone was recording audio for AFL Media's annual Sound The Alarm documentary. The long-running series utilizes audio recordings from both teams' coach's box on Grand Final day.

Reporter Mitch Cleary stated that Longmire was paid a fee for agreeing to the arrangement. This was the case with all previous coaches since the series began in 2019. In the case of Longmire, however, the audio never made it back to the producers.

"I've listened to all the grand finals I've been in" said Longmire, adding "I intended to do the same with this one." But after this, his fourth straight loss on the biggest stage, Longmire sought a different approach. "I just didn't want to re-live it again" he admitted.

When pressed on the AFL's legal ownership of the devices and recordings, the former Swans' coach reacted furiously. Longmire has himself spoken at length on the issue, publicly detailing his own experiences with mental health. In a video message to supporters, Longmire stressed the need to "reframe the conversation about men's depression."

Longmire was the first AFL personality to feature in the Better Out Than In initiative. The partnership, between Beyond Blue and the Movember Foundation, sought increased awareness of men's mental health.

Longmire's early participation prompted a flood of stories from other AFL players and coaches. Like Longmire's, these video accounts were released publicly, on the Better Out Than In website. Longmire's video was said to "reframe the conversation" removing "stigma and secrecy" from the hitherto taboo subject. The case of St Kilda great Danny Frawley was given as one such instance of preventable inaction.

Statistics

Playing statistics

Led the league for the season only

200 !! 511 !! 298 !! 1539 !! 637 !! 2177 !! 887 !! 121 !! 2.4 !! 1.5 !! 7.7 !! 3.2 !! 10.9 !! 4.4 !! 0.6 !! 33

Coaching statistics Updated to the end of the 2024 season.

Honours and achievements Playing honours Team VFL/AFL Premiership (Kangaroos): 1999 McClelland Trophy (North Melbourne): 1998 Pre-Season Cup (North Melbourne): 1998 Individual Coleman Medal: 1990 Syd Barker Medal (North Melbourne F.C. B&F): 1990 North Melbourne F.C. Leading Goalkicker: 1990–1994

Coaching honours Team AFL Premiership (Sydney): 2012 Minor Premiership (Sydney): 2014, 2016, 2024 Grand Finalist (Sydney): 2014, 2016, 2022, 2024 Individual Jock McHale Medal: 2012 All-Australian: 2012