The Sydney Swans have locked their eyes on Hawthorn’s star-studded midfield ahead of a clash at the SCG on Saturday night.
A top-four berth will be on the line as the fifth-placed Swans and fourth-placed Hawks butt heads in the last round of the regular season.
The Swans are set to meet a midfield unit headlined by Brownlow Medal fancy Tom Mitchell, the competition’s front-runner in average disposals and clearances per game.
Sydney ruckman Callum Sinclair will look to feed his followers as much of the football as possible in the highly anticipated midfield battle.
The Victorian says Hawthorn’s midfield boasts strike on the inside and outside of the contest.
“Their real strength is their ball movement but in saying that they’re an extremely good contested-ball and pressure side,” Sinclair said.
“So we’ve got to match them in that area and we like to think that’s a strength of ours as well. Not only is their ball movement very, very good – we’ve also got to match them in the other side of the game, which they’ve proved over a long period of time they’re very consistent at.
“We’re going to have to be on our A game to get it done.”
The Swans showed promising signs at the contest as they overcame the Giants to clinch a third win in a row last Saturday.
Sydney topped contested possession, clearances, stoppages, inside 50s and disposals en route to a 20-point win at Spotless Stadium.
Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker and Isaac Heeney have led the way among Sydney’s midfield contingent this season, while Kieren Jack, Harry Cunningham, Oliver Florent and a number of other Swans have chimed in with important contributions.
Swans tagger George Hewett kept star Giant Stephen Coniglio to just four second-half possessions on the weekend.
The South Australian has this season played crucial run-with roles on reigning Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin, Fremantle gun Nat Fyfe and a host of other dominant ball-winners.
Hewett kept Mitchell to 20 touches in Round 8 and could again be sent to the prolific Hawk.
Sinclair is well aware of the threat Mitchell presents.
“I think Tom’s biggest strength is his work rate,” Sinclair said.
“He’s got a massive ability to run around the ground and accumulate a lot of ball.
“He’s done that at the SCG a few times, so he knows this ground pretty well.
“That’s just another battle in the pool of many for Saturday night and we’ll wait and see what the coaches are thinking with that one.
“Tom’s expected a fair bit of attention over his whole footy career, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go.”
