JOSH Sinn calls it the best seat in the house.
"And it is nerve racking to sit there," adds the novice midfielder who on Saturday became the eighth Port Adelaide player in 12 weeks to take that seat at the back of the interchange dugout reserved for the AFL tactical substitute.
It also is the newest seat in Australian football, albeit reconditioning the place set aside on the bench from 2011 to 2015 for the "medical" substitute wearing the much-disliked green vest.
Sinn was Port Adelaide's 23rd man in the 55-point win against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon when the 20-year-old 2021 first-round draftee ended a long (and injury dictated) return to the AFL for his second game, 15 months after breaking into senior ranks - also against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.
"You have the best seat in the house, surrounded by the coaches and you are taking it all in. Even the things happening on the opposition bench while they try to manipulate a situation on us," Sinn said. "And you see how we are trying to manipulate a moment on them too.
"It is nerve racking because you are not too sure when you are going to come on. So, you always have to be ready should there be an injury or for when the coaches are going to make the tactical substitution.
"But it is the best seat in the house ... "
There are three key men at the centre of the use of Australian football's newest lever in the tactical battle to influence a game result - the tactical substitute, the senior coach and the line coach.
Sinn joins the short list of tactical substitutes at Alberton where the role of 23rd man has fallen to Geelong recruit Francis Evans and young midfielder Jackson Mead three times each, former captain Travis Boak once along with deputy vice-captain Darcy Byrne-Jones, specialist forward Orazio Fantasia and defenders Dylan Williams and Riley Bonner.
"It is huge for my development," says Sinn. "I learn a lot just sitting on the bench.
"And when I did come onto the field," adds Sinn who replaced lead ruckman Scott Lycett for much of the second half, "I already knew everything they (Hawthorn) were throwing at us and everything we were giving them."
The tactical substitute is a throwback to the game's 19th and 20th men - the reserves introduced in 1930 and 1946 respectively. They wait for an injury that floors a team-mate or for a coach to see need for change. But are they spectators in that "best seat in the house"?
"No; you definitely can contribute," Sinn says. "It is like what (senior coach) Ken (Hinkley) does on the bench. You can offer moral support. You help the boys, you pick them up when they are down or when they are up, making sure they are getting others up with them. You can use your voice. You can encourage. You have a part to play.
"And when you go on, it is exciting. You have fresh legs relative to the other boys. You are going to be there to the end of the game (knowing you will not be subbed out). When others are cramping, I am running around feeling fresh. And you want to make an impact straight away. You don't want to roll on and be just another player floating around. You need to put your mark on the game and give something to the team.
"And I waited 15 months to be back," added Sinn of his extra motivation. "I feel I am built for a stage like this."
The senior coach has to gamble - at selection, choosing the player who will best serve the team at the end; and during the game, deciding whether to make a tactical call rather than hold the substitute in reserve to cover an injury.
"Most of us would want the substitute to be still available after half-time with no injury to the other 22 players," Hinkley says. "That opens up the opportunity to make some tactical decisions based on what is required for the team ... or manage minutes (as was the case with Lycett on Saturday).
"Tactically, you can look at changing the structure of the team; you get a lot of options opening up during the second half. Very few teams would make that tactical decision during the first half."
When the bench had two reserves (1946-1977), two interchange players (1978-1993); three (1994-1997) and four (1998-2022), coaches would find choosing the last player on the team sheet always consuming the most time at selection meetings.
"And we debate the tactical substitute even more," says Hinkley. "It is about finding a much more practical player. You can inject him into the game as early as you like. You need to make sure you have a lot of bases covered ..."
The line coaches are called to - as Sinn puts it - manipulate the advantage of a fresh-legged reserve thrust into a pivotal role to change the game.
"It is more often than not a tactical call (rather than an insurance policy against injury)," says Port Adelaide midfield development coach Luke Kelly of the call to the substitute. "He will give you leg speed. A lot of the time you will choose a player who can play across all lines or a player who gives you the flexibility to put another player into a different role.
"There is quite a discussion around the tactical sub (at match committee)."
The return of the substitute - without the vest - this season has created the angst of players being defined as "dropped" when line-ups are declared on Thursday night when they are in reality being moved from the 22 to the 23rd man's seat.
"Going forward, we should be naming 23 players - and declaring the sub (from the five named as interchange players) just before the game," Kelly said. "They might carry the label of substitute but we are picking them to play a role on match day, just as we do with the other 22. It would save the player going through a 'faux omission' if we named 23 rather than 22 as the team on Thursday night."
In 12 games so far this season, Port Adelaide has used the tactical substitute more often for tactical purposes rather than to cover an injured player such as key forward Todd Marshall with his two concussions.
Sinn was activated during the 16th minute of the third term, replacing Lycett after Port Adelaide had a 10-2 command at stoppages for the third quarter. The ruckman's game was managed at 65 minutes with Port Adelaide mindful that it has a six-day break to Friday night's away clash with the Western Bulldogs at the Docklands in Melbourne - followed by another six-day break to the home clash with AFL premier Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, June 15.
Sinn finished with 43 minutes of game time in which he gathered four touches, all kicks with his disposals - and three marks - exclusively registered in the defensive half of the field.
ON REVIEW: A club that has played in four competitions - SANFL, the Patriotic League during World War I, the wartime series in partnership with West Torrens from 1942-1944 and the AFL - since being a foundation member of the South Australian Football Association in 1877 has a most-complicated record book.
Port Adelaide's half-time score of 16.9 (105) against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval will go into the record books as the club's biggest first-half score in AFL company since 1997.
But it will not replace the club's highest half-time score in all competitions since the Port Adelaide Football Club was formed in 1870. That record will remain with the record-breaking 1980 team that put up 21.10 at Football Park against Woodville in round three (April 19).
The quarter-by-quarter count was - 10.3 in the first with the noted wind that prevailed at West Lakes against John Cahill's men; 11.7 in the second; 7.4 in the third; and 10.7 in the last for a final score of 37.21 (243) for a 161-point win. It was at the time the second highest-score ever recorded in the SANFL (behind the 49 goals scored by Glenelg against Central District in 1975) and today is third on the all-time SANFL list after South Adelaide put up 39.16 against Woodville at Football Park in 1984.
For those needing a trip down memory lane, Milan Faletic topped the goalkicking rout with 8.5 followed by six straight from Stephen Clifford while the man who rewrote the SANFL goalkicking records in 1980, full forward Tim Evans, kicked 5.1 - falling behind Ross Agius with his 5.2. Even full back Trevor Sorrell made it on the goalscoring list with a major score during the last term.
Remarkably, Port Adelaide was considered in staid form on this record-breaking day. Lance Campbell noted in The Advertiser: "Port Adelaide had winners at stages throughout this dreadful day, but nevertheless did not play up to the standards I have seen it set when winning by two points."
The club's record books note the best half-time scores by Port Adelaide since 1870 are:
21.10 v Woodville at Football Park in 1980
20.6 v Woodville at Alberton Oval in 1981
18.7 v South Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in 1957
17.13 v North Adelaide at Alberton Oval in 1978
17.10 v South Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in 1974
17.9 v Woodville at Woodville Oval in 1973 and at Alberton Oval in 1982
17.9 v West Adelaide at Alberton Oval in 1903
17.7 v North Adelaide at Football Park in the 1990 SANFL preliminary final
16.9 v Woodville at Woodville Oval in 1970 and Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval in 2023
