IF SYDNEY progresses past Port Adelaide on Friday night, the focus will shift to Callum Mills' Grand Final availability. But for now, the attention is on who replaces the captain in the preliminary final.
Taylor Adams made a business decision to move to a third club last October after a season where his midfield minutes dried up ahead of a contract year. By then, the 2020 All-Australian had been forced to watch on as Collingwood won the premiership.
The 30-year-old strained his hamstring in match simulation during semi-final weekend and was ruled out of the Grand Final days out from the game against Brisbane, five years after playing in the heartbreaking loss to West Coast.
But with Tom Papley and Justin McInerney recovering from injuries in time for the qualifying final earlier this month – plus Isaac Heeney and Tom McCartin returning after being managed in round 24 – Adams was dropped against Greater Western Sydney.
Adams moved to Sydney on a three-year deal in search of more midfield opportunity after falling down the pecking order at the Magpies. Instead, he has played predominantly forward, with James Jordon exceeding expectations in his first season at the Swans and Luke Parker starring in attack late in the season.
Now the former Collingwood vice-captain is in line to return for his 20th appearance since moving to Sydney. Swans coach John Longmire is yet to declare his hand, but Adams has a proven track record in September – 36 disposals and two goal assists in the 2018 preliminary final, 31 disposals and nine clearances a week later – with 10 finals to his name.
"We're sitting down and working that out now," Longmire said on Monday. "Hopefully there's a couple of options there. Is it a like-for-like type? We know we can't replace his [Mills'] leadership ability – he's very good in that space but we've got some options there – nothing's locked in."
Robbie Fox is the other leading contender who the match committee will debate inside the club's state-of-the-art base next door to the SCG.
The 31-year-old has played 16 games in 2024, most recently as the sub in round 24, and is more of a like-for-like replacement for Mills, although he has been used in attack more this year.
Fox produced the best performance of his 103-game career in the 2022 Grand Final when he held Jeremy Cameron to two goals in the 81-point loss to Geelong while collecting 26 disposals to be arguably Sydney’s best player.
Swans Academy graduate Caiden Cleary played the final three games of the home and away season for a total of five in his debut season, after being selected at pick No.24 in last November's Telstra AFL Draft, showing he has a bright future in red and white.
Corey Warner is another option after playing six games in his third season in New South Wales, around a handful of strong performances in the VFL, including 27 touches and 10 clearances in his most recent game a month ago.
Mills will need every day between now and the Grand Final to recover if the Swans can beat Port Adelaide for the first time since 2016 and end a run of eight successive losses against Ken Hinkley's men.
Longmire has parked that lingering problem until he needs to deal with it. Sydney must win for a decision to be made. Until then, Mills is working with the high performance department to improve his chances of playing again in 2024.
"He hasn't been ruled out, but it hasn't been our focus just yet. It has been with the medical conditioning staff. They're doing all the work," Longmire said.
"It was disappointing. He's a very important player for us and he got back to some really good form. We'd obviously missed him for most of the season. We were able to cope with him for most of the season and that was important to be able to do that.
"It was a very light kick and, unfortunately, he hurt his hamstring. It's disappointing, these things happen, we've moved on from that and we've got to focus on this week."
