John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the former senior coach of the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) from 2011 to 2024. As a player, he represented the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

in the

(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 The Coreen & District Football League was an Australian rules football competition in the Coreen, New South Wales, Coreen district of the Riverina in New South Wales, initially formed in 1909. The netball competition commenced in 1972 in line w ...

with

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

. He later moved to the Corowa-Rutherglen club, and in his first season of senior football career in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, he nearly won the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

'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 The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

player Keith Williams. His uncle, Robert Longmire, is a former

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

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 A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

"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 official match for

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

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 Anthony Howard Lockett (born 9 March 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "Plugger", he played as a full forward, full-forwar ...

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. The 1990 season saw Longmire jump to the top of the tree: at only nineteen years of age, he kicked 98 goals and won the

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

as the league's leading goal kicker (and the youngest player to have done so). In Round 2 of that year he kicked a North Melbourne record of twelve goals against

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, which he broke twelve weeks later when he kicked fourteen goals in round 14 against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Going into the final round Longmire looked likely to reach the 100-goal milestone for the season, however inaccurate kicking against a strong Collingwood defence resulted in two goals and eight behinds, leaving him two goals short. Longmire won North Melbourne's best and fairest award that year and led the club's goal kicking list every season from 1990 to

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. At North Melbourne, he formed a powerful goalkicking partnership with centre half-forward

Wayne Carey Wayne Francis Carey (born 27 May 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A dual-premiership captain at North Melbourne ...

. 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 him out of the game for the 1996 season. When he returned the following year, he played out the remainder of his career in defence and in the ruck. Longmire missed out on playing on the winning side of the 1996 premiership with a knee injury and just made it back from an elbow injury to make his last career game the 1999 Grand Final, in which the Kangaroos defeated Carlton. This was his only year to also not score a goal, managing only to kick 1 point in 10 games. Longmire played a total of 200 games and kicked a total of 511 goals for North Melbourne from 1988 to 1999, as well as being a member of the North Melbourne premiership side in 1999.

Coaching career

Sydney Swans

Longmire returned to

to take up an assistant coaching position with the

in 2002. In 2006, he was considered to be a front-runner for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

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. 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 in the elimination finals at Etihad Stadium, the Swans were defeated by in the semi-finals ending what was otherwise a promising first season for Longmire in the top job. In the 2012 season in his second year as senior coach, Longmire led Sydney to third place on the AFL ladder, compiling a 16–6 record in the home-and-away season. Longmire then coached the Sydney Swans to a premiership victory over in the

2012 AFL Grand Final The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 117th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Au ...

by a margin of 10 points with the final score being the Sydney Swans 14.7 (91) to Hawthorn 11.15 (81). Subsequently, his contract was extended until the end of the 2015 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 The 2014 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and the Hawthorn Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 27 September 2014. It was the 119th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Au ...

, 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 The 2016 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between and the at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2016. It was the 121st annual AFL Grand Final, Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the V ...

, but they lost to the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

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 A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

. 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 Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

. In the 2022 season, Longmire coached the Sydney Swans to the

2022 AFL Grand Final The 2022 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between Geelong Football Club, Geelong and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2022. It was the 127th AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Aust ...

when they lost to

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

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. In the 2024 season, Longmire coached the Sydney Swans to the

2024 AFL Grand Final The 2024 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match that was contested between the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, 28 September 2024. It was the 129th annual AFL Grand Final, grand fi ...

, when they lost to

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

by a margin of 60 points with Brisbane Lions scoring 18.12 (120) to the Sydney Swans 9.6 (60). Longmire resigned as Sydney coach on 26 November 2024, with assistant Dean Cox taking over.

Statistics

Playing statistics

: , - , 1988 , , , , 43 , 11 , , 21 , , 12 , , 70 , , 24 , , 94 , , 56 , , 2 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 6.4 , , 2.2 , , 8.5 , , 5.1 , , 0.2 , , 0 , - ,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, , , , 35 , 16 , , 9 , , 12 , , 99 , , 41 , , 140 , , 31 , , 10 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 6.2 , , 2.6 , , 8.8 , , 1.9 , , 0.6 , , 0 , - ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, , , , 35 , 22 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 98^† , , bgcolor="CFECEC", 60 , , 230 , , 61 , , 291 , , 139 , , 10 , , 4.5 , , 2.7 , , 10.5 , , 2.8 , , 13.2 , , 6.3 , , 0.5 , , 9 , - ,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, , , , 35 , 21 , , 91 , , 54 , , 199 , , 61 , , 260 , , 128 , , 12 , , 4.4 , , 2.6 , , 9.5 , , 2.9 , , 12.4 , , 6.1 , , 0.6 , , 8 , - ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, , , , 35 , 20 , , 64 , , 37 , , 164 , , 50 , , 214 , , 90 , , 10 , , 3.2 , , 1.9 , , 8.2 , , 2.5 , , 10.7 , , 4.5 , , 0.5 , , 0 , - ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, , , , 35 , 20 , , 75 , , 29 , , 151 , , 59 , , 210 , , 81 , , 9 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , 7.6 , , 3.0 , , 10.5 , , 4.1 , , 0.5 , , 4 , - ,

, , , , 35 , 23 , , 78 , , 46 , , 170 , , 86 , , 256 , , 120 , , 13 , , 3.4 , , 2.9 , , 7.4 , , 3.7 , , 11.1 , , 5.2 , , 0.6 , , 8 , - ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, , , , 35 , 22 , , 58 , , 32 , , 157 , , 78 , , 235 , , 94 , , 10 , , 2.6 , , 1.5 , , 7.1 , , 3.5 , , 10.7 , , 4.3 , , 0.5 , , 0 , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , , , 35 , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, , , , 35 , 25 , , 10 , , 11 , , 196 , , 104 , , 300 , , 96 , , 33 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 7.8 , , 4.2 , , 12.0 , , 3.8 , , 1.3 , , 3 , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, , , , 35 , 10 , , 7 , , 4 , , 50 , , 35 , , 85 , , 28 , , 4 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 5.0 , , 3.5 , , 8.5 , , 2.8 , , 0.4 , , 1 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

^# , , , , 35 , 10 , , 0 , , 1 , , 53 , , 38 , , 91 , , 24 , , 8 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 5.7 , , 3.8 , , 9.9 , , 2.4 , , 0.8 , , 0 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 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 Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

(

* Pre-Season Cup (

Individual *

: 1990 * Syd Barker Medal (North Melbourne F.C. B&F): 1990 * North Melbourne F.C. Leading Goalkicker: 1990–1994

Coaching honours

Team *

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1989, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

(

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Minor Premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

(

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

* Grand Finalist (

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual * Jock McHale Medal: 2012 *

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

References

External links

John Longmire's profile
at AustralianFootball.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longmire, John Australian rules footballers from New South Wales North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club premiership players Sydney Swans coaches Sydney Swans premiership coaches Syd Barker Medal winners Coleman Medal winners Victorian State of Origin players New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players Corowa-Rutherglen Football Club players All-Australian coaches 1970 births Living people VFL/AFL premiership players VFL/AFL premiership coaches