John Longmire hits back at Collingwood coach Craig McRae over contentious Swans swipe

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire has hit out at Craig McRae’s "home ground" dig following the Swans' three-point win over Collingwood on Friday night. The Pies coach made the eye-opening claim that his side would have been awarded a late 50m penalty if it was at the MCG, but because it was in Sydney the call went against them.

With less than a minute left on the clock and the Swans up by three, Dan McStay took a mark 65 metres out from goal. McCartin wasn't in the marking contest but went over the mark which could have constituted a 50m penalty. McStay's shot to win the game if awarded would have been relatively easy but the whistle wasn't blown.

Many were of the belief the Pies were dudded, and Collingwood coach McRae went a step further to suggest it would have been paid “if it was at the MCG”. McRae was also given an official warning from the AFL after labelling two contentious deliberate out-of-bounds decisions that went against the Magpies in the final minutes of the clash a “circus”.

“There’s definitely an advantage for the home ground,” McRae said after the three-point loss. “I thought it was a 50m penalty, to the letter of the law. There was a lot of deliberate tonight too. That was a bit of a circus, so I’m sure they’ll (the AFL) come out and justify that too.”

On Monday, Longmire called out McRae’s hypocrisy, labelling the remarks an “extraordinary admission” from a coach whose team plays 17 games in Melbourne. “It was an extraordinary admission from a coach of a team that has the biggest home-ground advantage in the AFL,” Longmire said.

“This year they play 14 games at the MCG, they play three at Marvel, that’s 17 games essentially in front of their home crowd and they play finals and obviously the grand final on their home deck. I wonder what Chris Fagan (Brisbane coach) thought of those comments... It’s a pretty extraordinary admission from the club that has the most and the biggest home-ground advantage in the competition."

The Swans coach also pointed out Collingwood have long been on the end of favourable umpire decisions and used an example from an earlier game this season to back his claim up. “I was at a North Melbourne and Collingwood game earlier this year when a couple of Collingwood boys went over the mark and it could have been a 50 and it wasn’t paid,” he said.

“I just think, from the coach of the team with the biggest home-ground advantage, including finals at the MCG, geez. You don’t often hear it from the team with the biggest home-ground advantage. I can’t say whether I agree with it or not because I am going to stay out of it.”

Craig McRae accepts Collingwood's AFL finals truth

Collingwood are 11th on the ladder and highly unlikely to make the top eight - just one year after winning the flag. The reigning premiers must beat Brisbane and Melbourne in their final two matches to have any chance of playing finals footy but even if they manage it other results will still need to go their way.

"I'm sure our fans at home are hurting and we're no different. We're human," McRae said after the loss to the Swans. "We have emotions to attach to this. It means a lot to a lot of people. It doesn't feel comfortable right now sitting in this chair because there's a lot at stake in these games."

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McRae said he was "wrestling" with blame after the defeat. "We've openly talked about what winning looks like and behaviours like that and then losing behaviours," he said.

"I think blame is a real losing behaviour so I'm wrestling with that at the moment. Wrestling with trying to blame others or blame umpires or blame whatever, because that's really difficult when you lose. Maybe there are consequences at the end that may cost us. Time will tell on that. For most part of the night, we did a lot right and maybe that's what's hurting us the most."

with agencies