KEY defender Aliir Aliir is back at his best after experiencing an impacted 2022, limited by both injury and form.
Playing for a ninth win in a row this weekend, Port Adelaide is hopeful of securing what would be a club record since entering the AFL, when it takes on Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.
Visiting the Multicultural Power Cup at Karen Rolton Oval on Friday, Aliir spoke about the looming Hawks clash, the backline’s recent performances, and his take on leadership.
Aliir on the Multicultural Power Cup
“It's a great day, I think it's the first time we’ve had over 500 (students here). I think the good thing about it is they’ve been able to do their classes, and this is the reward where they get to come out and play. As you can see, it's so diverse and so many different cultures and communities. It's always good to be able to come out here and show my face and a have smile with the kids. They give me a little bit of attention but I’m no superstar here, I’m just an average footballer trying to get a kick, but if I can help inspire one kid, then hopefully they’re going to achieve something from having a conversation (with me, and) then I’m doing my job as a role model.”
Aliir on Hawthorn
“For us, we've been doing our process the past few weeks now, it's no different against Hawthorn. Every game we look to go out and win and we'll be doing the same thing. Not thinking too much about the record or whatever but if we can keep doing what we're doing I'm sure we'll be able to get the win.
“If we allow Hawthorn to play the way they want to play, they can probably steamroll us and get on top so we’ve been able to do our homework on them – they want to play fast all the time so if we can slow them down and play the way we want to play, I'm sure we can get the win.”
Aliir on the pressure to keep winning
“Not for us, that's probably outside noise. Internally we know what gets the job done for us and we've been able to do that and it's no different to this weekend. We've been able to do our homework on Hawthorn. They got us last year, so we'll be looking to come out and have a nice start and try and get that win but the pressure and the outside noise is always going to be there but we're trying to stick (to our processes).
Aliir on Port Adelaide’s key traits during the winning streak
“For us, it's our pressure. I think we're either number one or number two in pressure at the moment and that's not just one person doing it, it's the whole team buying in and if we can keep doing that then that opens the door for anything for us.”
Aliir on the back six
“It's been good, we've had a lot of the young boys in there. Dylan Williams, he’s been stringing (together) a few games, Miles Bergman comes down (back) and then onto the wing in a few games. The good thing for us, we know that anyone that comes in plays the role for us and we've been able to get a lot of young players playing a role for us.”
Aliir on Tom Jonas’s omission
“He’s missed a couple of games through suspension and injury and I think he knows himself, and he's a proud and great leader and he's always going to put the team first. He just knows he has to go out and perform well (in the SANFL) but I’m sure he'll come back. He is our captain, he is our leader, so he'll work on his form and come back.
“Everyone's been down on form (at some point in their career). Last year I had a shocking year but it's just finding momentum…he'll go out into the SANFL and do that and come back.”
Aliir on his own leadership
“I’m 28 now and with all these young guys coming in, it's (up to me) to try and stay calm and that's my messaging for them. You might not see me as a massive leader but on the field I try and be more vocal to the young guys and try and give them confidence to play their game because the more they bring their strengths the easier it is for all of us to play.”
“I don’t think I'm captain material type of person. I have my own way of leading I certainly lead by actions but I’m not the most vocal when it comes to bringing everyone in or meeting or trying to rev everyone up but if I see someone doing something they're not supposed to do I’ll obviously voice that. In saying that, we do have a great leadership group and young guys who are coming through really well. You've got Buttsy (Zak Butters) and (Connor) Rozee who are having a good year so I think they're the next crop to be able to move up into the leadership space.”
