Tippett’s a chance for recall

Big Swan officially retired, but ruck woes may force a rethink

SYDNEY has not ruled out a dramatic recall of retired big man Kurt Tippett as the Swans confront a ruck crisis.

The Swans’ ruck stocks were thrown into disarray on Wednesday when first-choice tall Sam Naismith suffered a season-ending ACL injury during match simulation.

With Tippett announcing his sudden retirement in January, Naismith was poised to pilot Sydney’s gun midfield.

Callum Sinclair will now be forced to shoulder a bigger than expected load, with Darcy Cameron potentially having to make his debut appearance sooner than expected as his deputy.

Coach John Longmire has also raised the prospect of defender Aliir Aliir being deployed as a mobile support ruckman. But the 202cm Tippett remains on the Swans’ playing list, given he quit in January after telling teammates he hadn’t been able to fully recover from post-season ankle surgery.

Swans football manager Tom Harley said, while highly unlikely, the door remained open for a “break glass in case of emergency” return.

“Technically Kurt could play, given he is still on the list. However, he did retire with one of the reasons being the lengthy recovery from an ankle reconstruction,” Harley said. “At this stage we’ll be looking to work with our squad and clearly this presents an opportunity for the likes of Callum Sinclair and Darcy Cameron.”

Tippett has remained in Sydney where he is completing a university course. He is also believed to be doing some offfield work for the Swans.

Sinclair, 28, has played 35 games for Sydney over the past two years and tallied 29 appearances for West Coast in the three previous seasons.

He has been used primarily as a back-up ruckman and tall forward.

West Australian Cameron was a third-round draft pick in 2016 and showed good signs in last year’s pre-season.

Finger and shoulder injuries stalled the 22-year-old’s progress and he didn’t play a senior game.

However, Sydney was sufficiently impressed by his potential to grant a contract extension until the end of the 2019 season.

Swans’ speedster Zak Jones will have his first hitout of the pre-season today after recovering from knee surgery.