CAPTAIN Tom Jonas has high hopes as he prepares to lead Port Adelaide into another season of AFL football.
With an internal trial match this Friday and two trial games in Perth later this month, the group is keen to put its tough pre-season into practice.
Fresh from being appointed captain for a fifth year, Jonas spoke with the Adelaide media on the privilege of captaincy, the club’s emerging leaders and his thoughts on the season ahead.
Jonas on captaincy
“It's just a privilege more than anything to be shown that support by the club, Kenny (Hinkley), Chris Davies and the playing group. I'm just honoured to lead the boys again with Darcy (Byrne-Jones) and Ollie (Wines) and a couple of the emerging leaders that are probably going to carry a bit more of the responsibility as well. We are really excited about bouncing back from 2022.
“We’ve been really open with (captaincy) conversations in the last six months since the season ended. I just wanted to do what's right for the club whether it was me this year or another face. I think we've built a footy department and playing group that's got a lot of strong leadership. Ultimately to be given this opportunity to lead the club, you'd never say no to that. It’s an absolute privilege.”
Jonas on Friday’s internal trial
“I’d say if I had to sum up (how we feel about it) in one word it would be excited. You play and train and run around in the heat for three or four months so to get an opportunity to play four quarters of footy, albeit against ourselves, but we'll have the rest of the Maggies boys out here and hopefully a big crowd, it's just exciting.
“We're a pretty competitive bunch. I'm not sure what they'll do with the teams, they might mix them up a little bit, but everyone will be wanting to put their best foot forward. There will be a couple of blokes that might be managed a bit but essentially when you're out there you're going to be all guns blazing.”
Jonas on Hinkley saying it’s the ‘strongest list he’s had’
“It shouldn’t (put extra pressure on us). If anything, it should just give us more confidence about what we've got. You’ve still got to do the hard work and you’ve got to have the hunger out there on game day. We got caught short a couple of times last year thinking it might just happen. Talent is one thing but putting it to work is another thing. It’s just great to know that the club’s in such a strong position moving forward for when (senior players retire) there's so much beneath us ready to take this club into the next phase.”
Jonas on the club’s emerging leaders
“I think you’ll see those guys step up without being given an official title. You're already seeing the way that Connor (Rozee) and Zak (Butters) drive standards out on the track – Dan Houston's another one. We'll continue to expose those guys to a little bit more responsibility and leadership. They're really keen to step up a little bit. Their footy is at a place now where it pretty well takes care of itself so they can start to focus on the people around them as well.”
Jonas on Orazio Fantasia
“As far as I'm concerned, Raz is good to go. (I don’t know) whether he’ll play the whole four quarters (this Friday) – they may get him on and off a little bit to ensure that he's fresh and fit. I don’t want to put any pressure on Raz but he's a class act and if we could have him out there for a dozen games this year, he’s worth a goal or two a game to us. If you look at the games we lost last year, there were a lot that were by a small margin, so he'd certainly be a welcome return.”
Jonas on his expectations for the year
“I think it's about lifting our own game and potentially we got what we deserved last year. We didn’t play good enough footy for long enough, so this year it's about being better for longer. Our expectations every year are to give ourselves the best opportunity to play finals and go deep in finals. We've put a great body of work in and now we're looking forward to actually testing ourselves against some opponents in a couple of weeks.”
Jonas on Travis Boak training with the forward group
“You bring a (Jason) Horne-Francis in who you want to expose to midfield time…there's going to be someone that falls out. We want to make sure that those people who spend a bit more time at half forward or deep forward know the role inside-out. I think Travis is always willing to do what the team needs and he’s shown that throughout his whole career. Just because he’s spending some time forward, it's not to say he's going to be playing purely forward. It's about having that skill set and those options so that we can chop and change.”
