Sinclair, Towers soar for Sydney
CALLUM Sinclair and Dean Towers are the “other guys” in the Swans line- up and in an incredibly tight year could be the difference between winning the premiership and not.
Both are AFL journeymen but on Saturday looked like established stars and have given John Longmire enormous heart heading into Friday night’s semi- final against Geelong at the MCG.
Under the circumstances of a cut- throat final, Sinclair and Towers’ performances were arguably career best. Sinclair’s was dominant in the air, taking nine marks, including four contested inside 50, he kicked three goals and gave one away.
“He provided a target in the front half and competed well in the air,” Longmire said. “He did it really well and exactly how we wanted him to. His game was really solid.”
Sinclair’s selection ahead of Kurt Tippett surprised many but was proved to be the right one and has the former Eagle in the box seat for the remainder of the finals.
Towers’ three goals were all from the top shelf and showed enormous composure.
The first two came from tight angles close to the boundary and the third from a clever dribbler 30m out.
Both players are 27 and have been far from automatic selections for almost their entire careers. Sinclair only brought up his 50th game this year and Towers is yet to reach the mark with 48 to his name so far. Many of their teammates went past the half century before their 21st birthdays.
But it takes all sorts to build a premiership team and it’s often the efforts of the last six picked for grand finals that decide their outcome.