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Round 18 – Sydney v St Kilda: Sinclair’s Moment

 

Sinclair’s Moment

 

Sydney v St Kilda

 

7:25pm, Saturday 22 July

SCG, Sydney

 

Daniel Saunders (age 15)

 

What a comeback it has been for the Swans. It is the biggest story of the year. Every sports journalist who reverts to talk about the Swans in season 2017 cannot go without mentioning them being 0-6 to kick start the year. Even I cannot stop mentioning what a turnaround it has been for the Swans.

 

At 0-6, I really doubted our ability to even get as far as finals. Our forward line was questioned, as well as whether we relied too much on Buddy. Our midfield was out of sorts, and were not hitting the scoreboard. And don’t even get me started on our defence, which was supposedly the best in the business last year.

 

All of a sudden, a few more wins, and we are thinking top four. Or maybe, even bigger. We boast the best defence and midfield in the comp, and after Saturday night, maybe the best forward line as well.

 

My friend Brendan and I decided we should go to the game against the Saints. As Sydney is the form team in the comp, we expected nothing less than a win. St Kilda were a bit out of sorts in their loss to Essendon.

 

It felt like a predictable game. We thought the Saints would be competitive, but would be unable to counter our forwards. And that is exactly what happened. On the whole, they would be bitterly disappointed with their display. They may have been playing the form team, but that loss all but rules them out of finals calculations. If not, they will be out of it soon.

 

This game was special for a different reason. It wasn’t really the fact that we won. It was that it reaped the rewards of a trade 2 years ago. A straight swap with West Coast for Lewis Jetta, our leading goalkicker in the premiership year. We received the forgotten Callum Sinclair from the Eagles, who was a fringe player, but we were in need of a new ruckman, with the retirement of Mike Pyke.

 

Some thought we had been ripped off. But Sinclair is one of many underrated Swans players. He played the game of his life on Saturday, kicking 5.3, ripping in 8 contested marks, and racking up 19 touches. The Swans have made it a habit of making stars out of forgotten players from other clubs.

 

He came into the team after the Swans decided to stick with one ruckman. But Callum Sinclair rewarded the selector’s faith, and did what everyone hopes their key forwards will do; taking a few marks, making a contest around the ground and kicking goals. It is what the Swans have wanted Kurt Tippett to do for so long, but the axe fell to him after he failed to do so regularly.

 

From our opening goal, we were never really challenged by St Kilda. Brendan and I thoroughly enjoyed every mark, every tackle, every contested mark from Sinclair, and that massive leap from Towers going back with the flight. He is starting to cement his spot in our team, and now looks a player.

 

Ever since our gutsy come-from-behind victory against the Tigers, and that miraculous after-the-siren victory against Essendon, no team has really challenged us. We should definitely make the eight from here, and anything less than that is a failure. To think that we are in premiership calculations after going winless in the opening six rounds is absurd.

 

This win was fairly straightforward. It may not be a season-defining victory by any means, but it is a victory and that is all that matters. Brendan and I could not be happier after what we saw today. Bring on the Hawks next week, and bring on September!

 

Sydney            3.5    7.8    11.14   14.17 (101)
St Kilda           1.2    3.2    5.4        9.5 (59)

 

GOALS
Sydney: Sinclair 5, Franklin 3, Towers, Kennedy, Hewett, Heeney, Rohan, McVeigh
St Kilda: Bruce 3, Stevens, Savage, Riewoldt, Billings, Newnes, Dunstan

 

BEST
Sydney: Sinclair, Kennedy, Hannebery, Heeney, Franklin, Parker
St Kilda: Ross, Dunstan, Montagna, Bruce, Savage, Roberton

 

UMPIRES: Stephens, Findlay, McInerney                                                                 CROWD: 35, 773

 

OUR VOTES: Sinclair (Syd) 3, Ross (StK) 2, Parker (Syd) 1

 

About Daniel Saunders

Yes, that's my Swans hoodie. Yes, those are swans in London. If you're reading this, I hope you enjoyed the ramble.

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