It became official last week when former Sydney Swans head coach John Longmire officially resigned. His resignation followed the team’s upset loss to the logistically-challenged Brisbane Lions on the 2024 AFL Grand Final. Though he has resigned, Longmire will remain with the club in a new role as performance director. The handover of coaching duties has further since passed to Dean Cox, who’s now got full win-rate control as he heads into the long term.
Longmire’s resignation has raised eyebrows, including here at Statehouse Sounding Board. This is particularly troubling, given that he failed to return the key audio tapes from the grand final. On that date, TC’s Swans would go on to suffer a brutal 60-point loss. In the background, Longmire was mic’d up for the entire game. This featured footage of his pre-game speech, half-time presentation, and in-box analysis throughout the game. That audio data proved invaluable as we crafted the annual “Sound The Alarm” documentary series. It’s an incredible look back at the season’s most important moments, as told from the perspective of the coaches.
Longmire, 54, was under contract through 2025. He made the surprising decision to vacate his post only two months after guiding the club to grand final glory. As his team prepared to begin competing in the finals, his decision was based on contemplation of his future impact on the team. Despite returning all other evidence, it has been reported that the failed return of the SD card with the audio was not an accident.
Mitch Cleary, a journalist covering the AFL, stated, “He took it, tried to get it working with his son during the week, couldn’t do so, and has since never handed it back.” This storytelling gap has forced the Swans to get creative in finding other avenues for their documentary creation.
Providing historical context was certainly helpful, but the audio recordings played a critical role. In doing so, they pulled back the curtain on the coaching approaches that helped shape one of this season’s biggest and most consequential games. Cleary further commented on the implications of Longmire’s actions: “John Longmire, clearly some things were said in the box that he didn’t want other ears to hear on the day.”
We’ve heard that the Sydney Swans organization has “really gone out of their way” to avoid losing this precious content. But they’re struggling without having Longmire’s wisdom from that fateful day. As she eloquently pointed out, the AFL always takes a percentage. Because at the end of the day, he went on to explain, it’s the club that ultimately gets to approve what actually makes it to air in the final production.
Longmire’s absence audio dramatically affects production since the show’s efforts is enormously expensive. It fires the imagination with what might have been behind closed doors during such a high-stakes poker game. Cleary remarked, “I think there were things said in that coaches’ box on the day that shouldn’t see the light of day.”
Fans and analysts alike will be waiting with bated breath for peeks ahead of the annual documentary series. What’s unclear is how the Swans will approach this new challenge. This makes for a particularly knotty chapter of sports management. It also begs crucial questions of transparency and accountability across coaches.
