Sydney coach John Longmire again called for the AFL to return “sanity” to the competition by bringing back runners, after the Swans were overrun by Fremantle in the dying stages of Saturday night’s thriller at Optus Stadium.

The Swans led by a point with less than two minutes remaining, before behinds to Andrew Brayshaw and Ed Langdon got the Dockers over the line.

Sydney failed to score from two stoppages deep in attack in the final minute and Longmire said the ban on runners heavily disadvantaged young teams.

The Swans fielded six players with less than 20 games of experience and half their side had not reached 50 games.

“We had the youngest team for the round this weekend, so we’re younger than Gold Coast,” Longmire said.

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“It’s been an issue for us this year. We don’t have a runner and we’d like to be able to help our players. It’s not necessarily about ruining the game.

Camera Icon Nick Blakey looks dejected after Sydney’s narrow loss. Credit: AAPIMAGE

“Coaches are there sometimes to help your players and we’d like to be able to do that.”

Runners are only allowed on the field after goals this season, so neither team could run messages to their players after the six-minute mark of the final term when Sydney’s Nick Blakey kicked what proved the final goal of the match.

The league has indicated they may ease runner restrictions next season and Longmire wants a return to unlimited use.

“I’d love it to be what it was. But I’m not sure they will say they were wrong,” he said.

“I just hope there’s some sanity that prevails.”

Brayshaw said a fan helped the Dockers with some information at the final ball-up.

“Someone in the crowd yelled out 10 seconds. Whoever you are, thank you very much,” he told the club website. “We already knew that there wasn’t much more than a minute.”