JACK Sinclair has done nothing but impress people since he arrived at the Saints in early December.

An efficient and well balanced midfielder who can also push forward, the 20-year-old has enjoyed a near flawless pre-season and was rewarded with two NAB Challenge games, the second against reigning premier Hawthorn.

Now pushing for a rookie elevation ahead of round one, Sinclair can’t quite believe what has happened since he was cut from the Oakleigh Chargers squad as a 17-year-old.

“As a bottom age under-18 player it didn’t look like it was going to happen so I got cut from Oakleigh’s squad,” Sinclair recalled.

“Then the following year I decided not to do the pre-season as an 18-year-old and focus on school footy and cricket instead. A few weeks into the season they asked me back so I went back and played a few games. I played well enough for them to ask me back as a 19-year-old.”

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And the rest, as they say, is history. After a year in which he played three solid matches for Port Melbourne in the VFL and averaged 21 disposals per outing in the TAC Cup, St Kilda selected Sinclair with the first pick in December’s rookie draft.

The change in lifestyle has forced him to watch what he eats a bit more - although he has always been meticulous with his preparation - and significantly scale down his studies at Monash University, where he is one year into a business degree.

“I’ve had to cut University back a bit this semester,” he said.

“I am doing just one subject a semester, where as I did eight subjects last year.”

VIDEO: Sinclair interview post-Hawthorn game

Jack Sinclair was one of St Kilda's best against Hawthorn last Thursday.

Not that he would have it any other way.

Being a self-confessed lover of sport, it was always Sinclair’s dream to perform at the highest level. At one point he thought cricket was the likely avenue, but as many young multi-talented sportsmen have discovered, the pathway to an AFL career is far more clear-cut than the road to a Baggygreen.

As it turned out, getting dropped from the Oakleigh Chargers squad may have been blessing in disguise. While his good friend Jack Billings was training like a professional athlete for nine months of the year, Sinclair was afforded the opportunity to go back and enjoy his footy and cricket without the added pressure of trying to impress recruiters.

“At the time I probably thought cricket was more the go for me and I could take that further,” he conceded.

“But just chilling out a bit and focusing on enjoying my footy is why I played so well that year.”

When Sinclair was drafted, alongside Brenton Payne, Ahmed Saad and Adam Schneider, the playing list was in New Zealand on a pre-season training camp. Having closely followed Jack Billings’ debut season in 2014 from the stands, Sinclair greeted his mate at the club’s Queenstown training base and immediately his understandable anxiety was eased. 

“A couple of years ago at Oakleigh I thought we were done playing together. A year later we could be stepping out onto the field together,” he said.

"It’s a dream come true really. It’s pretty special."