Jess Sinclair (born 26 August 1978) is an
Australian rules footballer who formerly played in the
Australian Football League, Sinclair was a dashing
half back flanker who had played for first the
Fremantle Dockers
The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of ...
, and later the
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
.
Fremantle career
Jess represented
Eastern Ranges
The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition.
The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Le ...
for the
TAC Cup
The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vic ...
before being drafted to Fremantle in the
1996 AFL Draft with selection 31. He was seen as a development player and had a breakout year in 1998, playing in 20 of the 22 games, winning an
AFL Rising Star
The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan ...
nomination and finishing 10th in the club
best and fairest
In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
award. However he did not continue to develop in the coming years and after playing only 21 more games for a total of 50 at Fremantle, he was traded to the Kangaroos at the end of the 2000 season as part of the
Peter Bell trade.
North Melbourne career
Sinclair transformed from a wingman to become a rebounding defender in 2002. In 2003 he had an above average year before ending badly in Round 20 by earning a five match suspension that delayed his start to 2004. His form decreased in 2004, playing only 17 games for 245 possessions. Since 2005 Sinclair has become more consistent, playing over 20 games each season, including every game in 2007 and finishing in the top 10 in the
Syd Barker Medal
The Syd Barker Medal is awarded to the North Melbourne Football Club player who has been judged the best and fairest of the footy season. The award has been given out continuously since 1937. Before then it was known as the Syd Barker Memorial Tr ...
in 2006. He announced his retirement from
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
football on 10 September 2008, at the age of 30.
After retiring from the AFL, Sinclair played for the
Heidelberg Football Club
Heidelberg Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Heidelberg, Victoria, currently competing in the Northern Football League.
History
Established in 1876, Heidelberg Football Club is one of the oldest Australian rules football cl ...
in the
Northern Football League
The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League.
It contains two divisions; Division ...
from 2009 until 2013, and played in the club's 2009 premiership team. He retired from playing at the end of 2013, and will coach St Mary's/Salesian in the
Victorian Amateur Football Association
The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4.
In addition the ...
from 2014.
References
External links
*
1978 births
Living people
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
Fremantle Football Club players
North Melbourne Football Club players
South Fremantle Football Club players
Eastern Ranges players
Heidelberg Football Club players
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