Sydney AFL coach John Longmire believes Essendon’s Jobe Watson has taken his “red-hot form” to a new level since winning last year’s Brownlow medal.

Longmire ranks Watson as possibly the best player currently in the league and admits he poses a real danger to the Swans’ midfield group in Saturday’s clash at the SCG.

“This year, I think – if possible – he’s probably gone to another level,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“His performance on Saturday night was extraordinary. He played midfield, he played forward … he had a huge impact on the game. His leadership skills are incredible.

“He’s one of the better players, if not the best player, going around at the moment.”

While the premiership-winning mentor shied away from labelling him better than Gold Coast star Gary Ablett, he said he wasn’t far off.

“He’s up in the top echelon of midfielders.

“It’s hard to say who’s the best midfielder in the competition because they’re all so close and they’ve all got their own strengths that makes them so good.”

Longmire is yet to decide how he’ll keep Watson at bay this weekend, but flagged a possible match-up with the Swans’ own sizeable midfielder Josh Kennedy.

“Those discussions are happening at the moment. We haven’t come up with an absolute solution just yet and hopefully that happens in the next 24 hours,” he said of possible match-ups with Watson.

“He’s very hard to stop because he’s so big and strong.

“…Particularly when he’s going forward, he’s a beautiful kick and he actually hits the scoreboard when he’s playing as a forward.”

Regardless, Longmire says he’s looking forward to the battle in the middle between two sides with last-start wins.

“That midfield clash this week is going to be a pretty telling component to who wins or loses the game,” he said.