Despite being set to play his 100th Peter Jackson VFL game this weekend, Port Melbourne’s Luke Tynan might only just be coming into his own as a footballer.
After missing out on being drafted from the Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup then playing 48 games with the Casey Scorpions from 2010-13, the 24-year-old has become one of the Borough’s ultimate team men in his third year at the club.
And that suits the rugged, competitive 183cm defender perfectly.
Tynan takes pride in being one of the standard-setters at North Port Oval. He said the values by which he lives his life have translated into the football arena and allowed him to reach his milestone, which will be brought up when Port Melbourne meets Sandringham at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Sunday.
“The environment of a footy club develops you as a person,” Tynan said. “You go from looking up to the more senior blokes and treating them as your role models to a couple of years later being the one to set the standard and drag people along with you.
“I think the values I live by kind of puts me in that category – doing things not because you have to, but because they’re the right things to do.
“I’m probably not your real flashy type of player. Under-age footy at Gippsland probably didn’t suit me well, because it’s a fair bit about the individual rather than doing the little things for the team, and I think that’s what I base my footy on.”
Tynan was recently named at half back in the Casey Scorpions Team of the Decade (2006-15) and nominated his break-out 2012 season – in which he was named in the VFL Team of the Year – as one of his finest.
He said the professionalism of the football program at Casey as well as gaining access to some of the game’s brightest minds through the club’s alignment with Melbourne were highlights of his time there.
But when he decided to cross to the Borough for the 2014 season, Tynan had team success on his mind.
“It was probably just the idea of playing at a standalone club every week and having more of a say on how the team goes from week to week as well as year to year,” Tynan said.
“I like the idea of constantly building something and having a say in how the club works. At Casey, a lot of things were kind of out of our hands (because of the alignment), especially in terms of team success.
“At Port, everything’s about trying to play finals and win big games.”
Tynan’s record in finals is something he’s hoping to address in 2016, having played in five losing finals with the Scorpions and two more in 2014 at Port Melbourne. His only big-game success was a semi-final victory over Sandringham two years ago, a season in which he earned his second Team of the Year guernsey.
With the fifth-placed Borough currently making a run towards the top four, Tynan might even share in some team success with younger brother Josh, who arrived at North Port Oval over the off-season after two years at Frankston.
The two previously played together at Casey while Josh was on Melbourne’s list in 2012-13, but are now also living and working together.
“He’s probably sick of me by now,” Luke laughs. “I’m probably his biggest critic, always kind of directing him and telling him what to do.”
Tynan has clearly recognised another chance to set the standard for a teammate.
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Last Modified on 14/07/2016 18:21
