Sliding doors moment in Josh Sinn's career

'Dragons Tales' is a series of indepth feature stories on some of our top prospects in 2021, exploring their junior careers, their upbringing, the ups and downs of the dealing with COVID complications and more, written by Jonty Ralphsmith. This week we will be focusing on the dashing and versatile Josh Sinn.  

Josh Sinn’s life and footy career could have gone one of two ways in 2018.  

He could have continued down the murky route he was on, where his footballing career may have descended into a pipedream and his flimsy work ethic in other elements of life would hamper him from achieving much else.  

School was as much a burden to Sinn as he was to it. The continual phone calls home to parents proved that it was not clicking.  

“I was in a position where I was playing ‘B’ (grade) football for school, and that’s a long way from being drafted, so that was when I started to chuck in the towel and became a bit of a ratbag,” Sinn said.  

“I was distracting people in class, getting into fights - not big ‘punch-ons’ but trying to get physical with people for no real reason.  

“I just had an attitude where nothing else mattered to me except for football so I walked into class and would not really care at all, I’d sit at the back playing games.”  

Instead, he chose the route which transformed him into under 16s Vic Metro captain, Sandy 2021 co-skipper, better footballer, more balanced person and likely draftee. Training with Sandy from the 2019 preseason gave him perspective about becoming more productive towards his footy and schooling.  

“It was in about year ten that I realised there’s much more to life than just football so I had to make a big change in terms of how I approached my schooling and football which made me work a lot harder while I was playing football because I knew once I stopped playing or training it was time to switch back on and hit the books and I would just go to being me – not the footballer, me.

“I started focusing on myself as a whole, rather than me as a footy player.  

“Something that’s been huge for me has been trying to get the best out of myself in all facets of life, whether that be through academics; with Sandy it’s been really good because it keeps you really well structured and accountable which a lot of kids can find challenging once they head out of school.”

Something he did, as encouraged by Xavier, was socialising. Speaking with different people of all ages opened Sinn’s eyes and set the platform for his leadership honours.  

"I’ve been able to find little things that people I meet and I both enjoy and just crack a conversation from there. 

“I had conversations with kids three years older than me and it wouldn’t even feel awkward or weird at all, it’d just be good in life when meeting new people and not limiting myself to people my own age because I’ve got some really close friends who are two years older than me.”  

He still practices that now. His recent conversations with current AFL players, such as Xavier alumni, former Dragon and current Western Bulldogs star, Bailey Smith, shaping his work ethic and mentality.

“A little thing I’ve just been saying to myself is that I’ll just put myself in the best position possible so whatever club wants to take me, they think they know what they’re going to get, but I’m going to give them a lot more than what they think. 

"I’m putting in all the hard yards now so when I get to the club, I can just keep working my arse off…and I feel like I’m quite a smart kid so I’ll have input in meetings and ask questions." 

Asked where his footy would be if he continued down that murky route, he said: “I’d be on the [Sandringham] list, I wouldn’t be playing and most definitely I wouldn’t be co-captain so it’s something that has helped in my past three-four years and (will) help me for a long time to come.”  

To escape the headlines and worries of everyday life now, the present-day Sinn’s zenith of relaxation is at the beach. A Bayside resident with a house in Sorrento, mixed-in with occasional surfing trips up north, he hopes the sun and sand is nearby next year.  

Another outlet is his business-banking-finance degree. In his second year of study, he has an eye on working in the finance and property sector in the future.  

But he’s still a footy head that reads the paper everyday – just the sports section, he’s not ‘old enough’ for the front pages yet – but hates the saturation of draft coverage.  

A silver-lining of his hamstring injury this year was the reduced headlines he received.  

“Other kids have been playing and they get more attention and I’m completely fine with it, I like to fly under the radar.”  

“I had a really good conversation with my manager, Robbie [D’Orazio] (Connors Sports), about how there will be stuff written in the media, just numbskulls writing random crap that anyone can write, and it’s just about ignoring it but if you do come across it, then acknowledging it because that is what happens at AFL level, so you’ve got to get used to it.  

“I’ve had conversations with a lot of recruiters and what people write is completely different to what recruiters think, so for a kid to read into an article and think that’s where they sit in the draft order is setting them up for disappointment on draft night, or excitement."   

For Sinn, he’ll keep his head down, trust the recruiters, and wherever he ends up, he will know what catalysed it.   

“I actually enjoy being a bit more mature and I’m proud of myself for being able to make changes quite quickly."  

In the next edition of Dragons Tales, find out how Josh kept the squad engaged when football was taken away from them.