Sydney are confident that gun on-ballers Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker can go blow for blow with 'Dangerwood' in Friday's AFL semi-final.
While admitting that Geelong champions Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood are capable of creating all manner of headaches in the knock-out MCG clash, Swans coach John Longmire is contemplating fighting fire with fire.
That means instead of deploying George Hewett as a tagger on Dangerfield or Selwood, Longmire may look for his big-bodied midfielders Kennedy and Parker to beat them at their own game.
The pair have been at the forefront of the Swans' turnaround from 0-6 battlers to premiership contenders, priding themselves on winning contested footy, much like reigning Brownlow medallist Dangerfield and Selwood.
"He (Dangerfield) is a massive competitor and when you get him and Selwood together, two huge competitors with talent, it's a pretty lethal combination," Longmire told reporters on Tuesday.
"We talk about it, we have some ideas. It doesn't necessarily mean they'll be implemented, or they'll necessarily work.
"But we've got a few blokes who are OK in the contest and go OK in the 50-50 stuff.
"It's about making sure all of our midfield group play really strongly against their midfield group, that's where a lot of games are decided."
Longmire was full of praise for Dangerfield, calling him all but untaggable.
"He's that sort of player. You can have one on him or two on him at different times and he's still capable of winning the 50-50 ball," he said.
"I was reading today he has the record amount of contested possessions (in a regular season), over and above Josh Kennedy's record.
"Those blokes, as we know with Josh, are really hard to quell."
Dangerfield and Kennedy were both absent from the most recent meeting between the sides, which came in round 20 when Selwood suffered the ankle injury that ruined his lead-up to finals.
The Cats were beaten 165-146 in contested possessions during their qualifying-final loss to Richmond but Longmire expected a much-improved showing this week.
"Their contested-ball differential, their tackle numbers - all things that stand up in finals - are really strong," he said.
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