“Their first half was as an efficient performance as I’ve seen from any team this year,” he said.
“They were lethal with the ball and they used it so well. They went inside 50 a lot less than Geelong and they were able to have a good lead at different times of the game because their efficiency was so sleek.
“Their forward 50 efficiency in the first half was just off the scale.”
The former North premiership player said there’s a lot to like about his old club.
“They are a good team and they’ve got plenty of young players who are full of confidence and probably consider themselves a bit unlucky that they lost on the weekend.”
After what some would call a soft start to the year playing against GWS and Gold Coast, Longmire acknowledges things will go up a level against the Kangaroos in Hobart on Saturday at Blundstone Arena.
“Over the last couple of years (North Melbourne) have really added some speed to their team and have got some really quick players and they’ve got some big key power forwards in their forward line,” he said.
“They played finals last year and are a team that’s got some terrific young players and some key power forwards and a really solid defence, so they will be a real test for us.
“There’s obviously Daniel Wells, but there’s also (Jack) Ziebell, (Andrew) Swallow, (Ryan) Bastinac and a number of players who are capable of getting a lot of the ball, so we expect our midfield in particular to play well and to try and negate what they can do and try and give us some impact going forward.
“They’ve also got those tall forwards and also Lindsay Thomas who is kicking goals left, right and centre, so there are a few challenges all over the ground as there always is.”
And as for the Swans, Longmire believes they’re steadily improving.
“I thought the first quarter against the Giants and the last quarter on the weekend were as good footy as we’re played for a while,” he said.
“We improved in certainly how we finished the game and I was really pleased with the six-to-three goal last quarter and I thought our intensity up until the final siren was exactly what we wanted it to be.
“I thought that was a good improvement and we certainly ran the game out really strongly and that’s what we wanted to do.”
