OLLIE Wines has one burning dream - and the motivation to add an AFL premiership medal is fuelled by the need to honour the Port Adelaide team-mates who have inspired the Brownlow Medallist across the past decade and 199 games.
"I want to win a premiership - and my goal in the past couple of years has been (to win that flag) not for myself," said Wines in the build-up to his 200-game AFL milestone this weekend in the away clash with Collingwood at the MCG.
"It is for Robbie Gray, Tom Jonas, Travis Boak ... the guys who have been at this club for so many years and have stuck by Port Adelaide and stuck true. I want to get one for them. I want to see those guys be able to stand up to receive a premiership medal.
"They have set the standard. They have got this club going in the right direction. That is what they deserve."
The wait has been long - the longest in the club's history - with no premiership celebration at Alberton since the breakthrough AFL flag of 2004.
"We are as hungry (for success) as ever," Wines said. "We will keep putting ourselves in the position where we are around the mark. This year, we have fallen short. We have not met our expectation for this season, even if we are mathematically still a chance for finals - and it is tough from here.
"But it is never going to deter us from turning up to chase that flag. Year after year we will come back to work to go after it again.
"Going 0-5 at the start of the season made it hard to make up ground. We have to prepare ourselves better to start the season well.
"We have full confidence in our team, in our list - not much has changed (in the profile) of the list of the past couple of years. We need to get back to what makes us the best football club we can be. We need to focus on that throughout the pre-season.
"We have a really good list; a good, young and developing list with a lot of growth left. We have some older guys who are still in really good form. Our upside will be from the young guys coming through and getting to play in different positions, learning how to go about it differently and how to be AFL footballers. The growth we have to come is in those guys."
Wines, 27, today is the image of Port Adelaide. A decade ago, the Victorian first-round draftee had no intention - nor desire - to be at Alberton for longer than the mandated two-year commitment demanded of first-up draftees.
"It is pretty well documented that when I was drafted - with the position the club was in - in all honesty, I was probably looking at getting out of the club as soon as I could; doing my two years and moving on," Wines said. "But this club and this family is something that is so special to me. I am proud to be able to put my mark on the Port Adelaide Football Club and one day - when I am old and well past playing footy - say I have contributed and been a part of this club.
"It is the most special part of my life, apart from my own family. It is something I always savour."
Wines enters his 200th game knowing he can afford a quick look at the journey that still has much more to offer in AFL football.
"It is a moment in my career when I can pause, look back - and, in hindsight, it has been quick - nine years and time flies," Wines said. "It is the moment when I can stop, look back and savour what has happened. And it has exceeded all my expectations.
The story is ...
Wines was recruited at No.7 in the 2012 AFL national draft when he would have hoped to follow family lines to Carlton. His great uncle Clinton Wines played 39 VFL games for the Melbourne-based club.
Wines made his AFL debut at his first possible moment, the season-opening clash against Melbourne at the MCG on March 31, 2013 that marked the new era at Port Adelaide. He started with 24 disposals. It also was senior coach Ken Hinkley's first match with Port Adelaide.
The partnership has delivered a 116-83 win-loss record.
"It has been really special," Wines says of his relationship with Hinkley, as coach and beyond football. "There are only a few of us left (from the 2013 squad) - Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Tom Clurey and Tom Jonas ... We have formed a really good bond by being able to understand each other, not just on the football level but on a personal level that has been beneficial in developing trust in those relationships.
"I was given the opportunity to play from Day One because of the position the club was in - and my draft position. I was always given that opportunity by Ken and the coaches. I have had to make the most of that by learning from midfielders around me, in particular Travis Boak who has been a really good leader and example for me - and not just football wise. Travis does an enormous amount of work off the field. So, to learn to be a good footballer and good person off the field has been my biggest natural development."
Wines' other milestone matches are:
50: v Fremantle in the season-opening clash of 2015. He had 27 disposals in the seven-point loss at Subiaco Oval in Perth to the eventual minor premier.
100: v North Melbourne in round 17, 2017 at Adelaide Oval. He had 31 disposals in the 70-point win.
150: v Richmond in round 11, 2020 at Adelaide Oval with a significantly reduced capacity due to Covid arrangements. He had 28 disposals in the 21-point win against the eventual AFL premier.
The 200th - as was the 150th milestone - will be shared with defender Tom Jonas, with whom Wines shared the captaincy for one season in 2019 before Port Adelaide re-instated the one-captain tradition.
"Tom has become one of my best mates," Wines said. "We played our 150 together and turns out we will play the 200th together. To stand next to Tom and support him as captain - and see the leader he has become - is something I am incredibly proud of.
"To see Tom's development as a leader ... he used to be the real tough one, Tommy. He did not show a lot of empathy. He did not have that softer side. To see him grow in that area, to be able to really care for his team-mates. We know how hard and tough he is during games, but off the field Tom will throw the arm around someone and really care and listen is a growth he is proud of. I look at him as a leader - and there are not many areas where he has a deficiency these days."
Port Adelaide's 11th ranking and 8-10 win-loss record will bring much need to review why expectation was not met at Alberton this season. Wines insists a calm approach to finding the reasons for the frustrating results would reveal not much is broken in the Port Adelaide football department.
"I am really happy with our football program," Wines said. "From 2013, with a lot of heavy lifting by Ken Hinkley, (president) David Koch, (former chief executive) Keith Thomas and Travis Boak, the culture that has been created at this club is ... I am obviously biased ... there is no better AFL club around the league. And in saying that we know we have not won a premiership. We have been close a couple of times. But there are other KPIs you can measure that culture - and we would be ranked as high as we can be.
"We turn up to work each day wanting to improve, wanting to get better. That is huge here.
"We have had games with quarters - like on Saturday in the third against Geelong - when we can put seven or eight goals on those good teams becomes frustrating because it has not been as consistent as in the previous couple of years. In those games where we play top-four sides we are only getting beaten by two or three goals but it is not close enough ... and that has been the most frustrating thing: Being in those games but not winning. That shows we are just a little bit off at the moment.
"It becomes frustrating to put those (high-scoring) quarters together - kicking eight goals on the No. 1 team in the league - but we can't just finish the game off."
The test of Port Adelaide's football program is, as Wines notes, "the players' belief has never faltered throughout the year despite that 0-5 start".
"We always had full belief in what we were doing - and what we could do," Wines said. "At this stage it has not panned out fully to what we expected. But our belief in Ken and everyone at the club is still there.
"I understand supporters are emotional. I know they want the best for their team. They always will have their opinion. We love that. We love the passion our supporters have. And we will keep working to make this football club better."
