The stakes are high for some of the Sydney Swans reserves,with several players’ careers at the club on the line during this weekend’s AFLCanberra grand final, according to Kristin Thornton.
“A lot of us are playing for our careers at the club,” Thornton said during the week.
“A few guys are coming out of contract, or trying to get onto the senior list off the rookie list. We’re going about the match like a normal game.”
“We’re not trying to make selection [for next week], but westill want to be selected in the squad for next year, so we’re still goingabout our preparation the same way.”
As the season draws to a close, Thornton said overall he is happy with hisown performance during the season, despite the frustration of missing reservesgames when being named an emergency for the senior side
“When I was on thefield, I think I definitely made an impact with what I did. It was something I really wanted to do thisyear, take a step up from last year, and I think I’ve done that. I think a lot of other guys have done that aswell, which has helped us all”
When frustrated by continually being on the cusp of seniorselection, Thorntonthought about fellow reserves players in similar situations.
“I looked at other players who have been playing well, likeJarred Moore, Ryan Brabazon, Jonathan Simpkin, Luke Vogels and Heath Grundy.
“They’re in the same boat. They’re frustrated ‘cause they’re not quite there as well.
“It was frustrating, but I just had to look at it in apositive way and just say well, I’m almost there, but I’ve just got to keepworking so I can be there.
“Hopefully my time will come, but it hasn’t yet, so we’llsee what happens.”
Thorntonsaid the Swans Reserves have remained focused on the grand final, despite that the senior team is already finished for the season.
“Even though the seniors have finished training, everyone inthe reserves is still enjoying what we do and still staying upbeat about apossible premiership,” said the former Claremont youngster.
“It doesn’t matter which grade we play in, we just reallywant to come up with a win this weekend and show everyone that, even though wedon’t have all our players, we can still have a come up with a good win.”
Thorntonexpects a tough challenge when facing the physical Queanbeyan side.
“I think we played them two or three times this year. When we played them, they definitelychallenge us a lot. The scoreboardhasn’t shown that, but physically we walk off the ground absolutely spent everytime we play them.
“We don’t expect anything different this weekend againstthem. There’s something even bigger onthe line now: a grand final, so we know they’re going to come out hard. Hopefully we can match that, and give alittle bit more in return.”
Thorntonsaid he was still unsure of who would be offered the captaincy, but joked hehad attempted to sway the result in his favour.
“I gave Fruity [coach Brett Allison] $100 during the week,so hopefully that might work.”
“Nah, I’m not sure. Ithink it will be up to the coaches and who they see fit. I’m sure whoever get it will do a good job.”
