John Longmire

North Melbourne premiership player. Sydney Swans premiership coach. From the bush to AFL's biggest stage, John Longmire’s career spans extraordinary success, crushing setbacks and the lessons in between.

With a foreword by Lance Franklin.

Highly respected AFL coach John Longmire spent 14 years leading the Sydney Swans, taking them to a triumphant premiership in 2012 before four agonising Grand Final defeats over the next decade. In this rare insight into what makes a modern-day coach tick, Longmire reflects on the soaring highs and deflating lows of his career and what he’s learnt about leadership, culture, team building, talent development and strategy.

Longmire was a teenage goalkicking sensation from the bush who was a vital part of North Melbourne’s powerhouse sides of the 1990s before two knee reconstructions blunted his effectiveness. One of those setbacks denied him a flag in 1996, but three years later he willed his failing body over the line in his 200th and final game to win a premiership medal.

After helping modernise the AFL Players’ Association for the professional era and becoming a player manager, Longmire joined the Sydney Swans as an assistant coach in 2002. As a key lieutenant to coach Paul Roos, he played a part in ending footy’s longest premiership drought in 2005. On succeeding Roos, Longmire led the team to 12 Finals Series, five Grand Finals and the 2012 Premiership.

Longmire reveals what he learnt from working with champions such as Adam Goodes, Lance Franklin and Isaac Heeney. His message is one of remaining open to possibility and making the most of the sliding-doors moments in life.

Above all, Longmire’s story epitomises the power of regeneration, of self and of team.

About the Author

John Longmire is a premiership-winning coach of the Sydney Swans and the club’s longest-serving coach. Born in Corowa, New South Wales, he took up Australian Rules as a child and, after playing in the local league, debuted at North Melbourne in the 1988 season. Two years later he became the youngest player to ever win the Coleman Medal, and kicked a total of 511 goals for the Kangaroos. He joined the Sydney Swans as an assistant coach in 2002. Under his leadership Sydney reached the AFL finals 12 times, played in five Grand Finals and won the 2012 AFL premiership.