Sydney coach John Longmire has offered a staunch defence of his AFL side, dismissing Leigh Matthews' suggestion they play dreary footy.
Matthews, one of the most respected voices in the sport and arguably the greatest player in VFL/AFL history, was critical of the Swans' approach earlier this week during a critique of modern football.
The four-time premiership coach lamented that "congestion around the footy" meant AFL was starting to resemble rugby league.
"They might be the form team of the competition, the Swans, but they do play a 'smother you' brand of footy," Matthews said on FiveAA radio.
"If it wasn't for (Lance) Franklin giving you a few highlights up their forward end, I'm not sure whether I'm keen on it, watching the Swans play."
Longmire, speaking after the Swans smashed Gold Coast by 67 points to make it eight wins from their past nine matches, disagreed.
"AFL footy i
s pretty hard. He might have forgotten about how hard it is," Longmire said.
"There's no question all teams put enormous pressure on around the ball ... but we've had 30 shots at goal I think for the last three weeks in a row.
"That's a really difficult thing to do, as Leigh knows.
"And as he preaches quite often, if you get your conversion right, chances are you play a really good, attractive brand of footy."
It isn't the first time the Swans' methods have been branded ugly by a senior figure in the sport.
Former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou criticised the side's style under Paul Roos during the 2005 season.
The Swans went on snap a 72-year premiership drought that year.
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