AFL 2024: John Longmire defends concussed Sydney player Harry Cunningham

Sydney coach John Longmire has hit out at “unfair” criticism of concussed Swan Harry Cunningham and says the defender has recovered well from a brutal collision with Peter Wright.

Longmire said he found it “a little bit interesting” that Cunningham had received blame from some quarters for the collision, which left him unconscious on the turf and without memory of the incident or the rest of Saturday night’s game against Essendon.

The coach said Cunningham was feeling “fantastic” on Wednesday as Collingwood recruit Taylor Adams also stepped up his training in pursuit of a Swans debut.

“All we can do as coaches is to move with the times and move with the legislation and move with the rules of the game at the time. We’ve been trying to do that, and when these incidents happen, then it’s just a matter of caring as much as we can for the player,” Longmire said when asked about Cunningham.

“From our perspective, the only thing I found a little bit interesting was when some of the blame got directed at Harry.

“Now, I think that was maybe a little bit unfair, but the main thing is, as I said, from my perspective, that he’s feeling really good, and his health and wellbeing is always at the forefront for us.”

Longmire said the tribunal verdict on the collision, for which Wright was handed a four-week suspension, showed the industry was “moving along” in learning how to protect its players from head trauma.

“What I’m confident is, though, as we’re moving along as an industry, that we’re moving as quickly as we can to try and keep adjusting to what we’re learning about in our game,” he said.

“And we’ll try and keep coaching that as we move. But I’m pretty confident that with the care that we’ve got among our playing groups all over the AFL, that will remain at the forefront.

“From our perspective Harry has pulled up really well, and so yesterday he was in great spirits, feeling good about himself, today he’s fantastic … So that’s our main concern. My first point of call is always with Harry and our players, so that’s the main thing from my perspective, to make sure he’s feeling good – which he is.”

Adams, who was listed as a “test” by the Swans on Tuesday, remains at least another week away from playing according to Longmire.

“(Adams) is going well. He’s going to do some training this week and see how he pulls up – he hasn’t done a lot of training,” the coach said.

“He’s done a little bit of running last week, which he was able to do in straight lines. He’ll do some more change of direction running and a bit more training this week.

‘We’ll see how he pulls up. We’re mindful that he wasn’t able to do a lot until this week.”