Sydney coach John Longmire has labelled Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly the most potent weapon in the Magpies’ star-studded AFL midfield.

Longmire says Jolly, a Swans 2005 premiership player who also helped Collingwood to the 2010 flag, will have to be nullified if Sydney are to break an 11-match losing streak against the Magpies in Friday night’s preliminary final at ANZ Stadium.

Collingwood’s use of part-time ruckmen to support Jolly has been viewed as a potential weakness, while the Swans boast two specialists in Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke.

But Longmire was at pains to point out that he viewed that aspect of the game more as a threat than an area to exploit.

Asked to nominate the Magpies’ biggest midfield danger man, he picked out the ruckmen.

“It starts with Jolly. If you’re talking about a potent weapon, he’s an important player to their set-up,” Longmire told reporters on Thursday.

He said Jolly was a major factor in Collingwood’s round 20 win over the Swans at ANZ Stadium.

“He was outstanding and he’s in career-best form,” Longmire said.

“He’s one of the premier big men in the competition and has been for almost a decade now.

“I think that’s a real challenge for our big blokes is to match it with Darren Jolly.”

Longmire said the Swans planned to make only one change from the side that beat Adelaide in a qualifying final almost a fortnight ago.

Small forward Ben McGlynn has been forced out by a hamstring injury, with key defender Heath Grundy back from suspension.

The Swans coach said the club had not made a big deal of their long losing streak against the Magpies.

Nor were they anticipating an advantage from Collingwood having a much shorter break between games and having to deal with the emotions of Thursday’s funeral for former Magpie John McCarthy.

Longmire said the Swans’ only focus was to play hard, contested footy for the full game, noting the Swans midfielders let their Collingwood opponents run too freely in the most recent meeting.

“It’s just about hard work. Sometimes you go looking for different things and you try to do different things that may or may not work,” Longmire said of finding a way to beat the Magpies.

“I know what does work and that’s working hard for four quarters.”