Corowa’s very own AFL/VFL legend and current Sydney Swans coach has been named in the Greatest New South Wales team of all time.
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Longmire began his playing career at the Corowa-Rutherglen club in New South Wales in the late 10980s, where he won the Ovens & Murray Football League’s leading goalkicker title as a young 17-year-old . His ability and size quickly attracted the interest of the North Melbourne VFL club’s talent scouts.
From 1988 through to 1999 Longmire amassed 511 goals over a 200 game career for North Melbourne and finished as a premiership player in 1999 for the Kangaroos.
He won the Coleman Medal and North’s Syd Barker Medal in 1990 and was the team’s leading goal kicker from1990–1994.
Since 2011 Longmire has been the Sydney Swans’ senior coach and in 2012 lead them to a premiership.
The Greatest New South Wales team was put together by a group of highly respected football identities, including Mike Sheahan and Gerard Healy.
Fellow North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey was named captain of the side at centre half forward, while Longmire and North Albury great Ross Henshaw and fellow Kangaroo were named in the forward and back pockets, respectively.
The Greatest New South Wales Team
B: Chris Lethbridge (Sydney YMCA/Fitzroy), Leo Barry (Deniliquin/Sydney), Ross Henshaw (North Albury/North Melbourne)
HB: Jarryd McVeigh (Pennant Hills/Sydney), Gordon Strang (East Albury/Richmond), Dennis Carroll (Albury Tigers/Sydney)
C: Shane Crawford (Finley/Hawthorn), Lenny Hayes (Pennant Hills/St Kilda), Neil Davies (Central Broken Hill/Glenelg)
HF: Terry Daniher (Ungarie/Essendon), Wayne Carey (North Wagga/North Melbourne), Luke Breust (Temora/Hawthorn)
F: Paul Kelly (Wagga Tigers/Sydney), Bill Mohr (Wagga Tigers/St Kilda), John Longmire (Corowa-Rutherglen/North Melbourne)
R: Bruce McGregor (West Broken Hill/West Adelaide), Brett Kirk (North Albury/Sydney), Haydn Bunton (West Albury/Fitzroy)
I/C: Mark Maclure (East Sydney/Carlton), Isaac Smith (Wagga Tigers/Hawthorn), Kieren Jack (Pennant Hills/Sydney), Tom Hawkins (Finley/Geelong)
Selection criteria
- The rules governing selection for NSW in State of Origin apply.
- If a player went to school interstate but their parents remained in NSW, they remain eligible (e.g. Shane Crawford and Neale Daniher).
- A player had to have played a minimum of 100 games in a senior league (VFL/AFL, SANFL,WAFL).
- Selection is based on quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
- Players must be placed in positions where they predominantly played throughout their careers.