FOR the third consecutive week, Port Adelaide is preparing to celebrate a milestone player, with defender Dan Houston reaching his 150th AFL game. 

Houston arrived at Alberton through the 2016 rookie draft and has rapidly risen through the ranks to become part of the club’s leadership group, as well as one of the most exciting backmen in the league.  

The 26-year-old All-Australian spoke to the Adelaide media on Tuesday about what game 150 means to him, how the side reviewed the loss to Melbourne, and the excitement surrounding Gather Round in SA this week. 

Houston on 150 games 
“Yeah, it means a fair bit. You know, it was a tough gig to play my first game. And ever since then, I've always wanted to play footy at this club and a lot of games and to get to 150 is a huge achievement for me. It's something I'm really proud of, and couldn't think of anything better than to walk off with a win on the weekend. 

Houston on his development from rookie to now 
“Honestly when I got drafted, the first thing was I just wanted to play one game. And then once I played one, you know and got a taste of it, I just wanted to keep playing and definitely wasn't in my goals or in my sight (to reach 150). But to get here is a huge achievement for me from where I've come from, and I'm really proud of it. 

“I guess for me going into leadership groups shows a lot of faith from the coaches and the players that they respect you as a person and look up to you and it's put a little bit of, you know, added responsibility on me to make sure that my training standards are really high and my performance is really high and I've loved that added pressure. And, you know, I'm looking forward to take the next step with this group and achieving something special.” 

Houston on his match-winning goal against Essendon last year 
“Yeah, I guess it's something that every kid dreams of. I like to think in my career that there's, you know, better moments with this team going forward and in the future, and I'm excited to be a part of that, hopefully, and (we’re) working towards that. And yeah, as I said, it's a childhood dream. And hopefully, I don't have to do it again this weekend.” 

Houston on the challenges from starting out as a rookie draftee 
“I guess it's hard, you’re always down the pecking order when you come in as a rookie-listed player, and I definitely deserved to be a rookie, I’m not going to shy away from that. I had a lot to work on. But I felt like that was really good to have that challenge and to not really think about playing, just to work my footy. And, you know, I felt like I've improved pretty rapidly in one year and then was able to play some footy. So I think it was a good challenge for me and then I’ve always tried to build each year.” 

Houston on his rapid rise as a player 
“Yeah, I think because positionally, I moved up the ground a little bit as a more of a higher halfback, which helped and Kenny and Nathan Bassett always pushed me to be that All-Australian type player and had that belief in me. And once I saw that I could string together some really high-quality games, I had that belief in myself that I could and last year just sort of kept building and it was a good year.” 

Houston on who has guided him with his football 
“We've always had some really good mentors. You know, wearing number five, Matty Broadbent mentored me as soon as I got to the club. And then you know, after that I had Hamish Hartlett and Tom Jonas, who are really key leaders in our backline group and Nathan Bassett coached me for pretty much my whole time down back. And he was huge and had lots of belief in me and Kenny's always backed me in and been really supportive. So I guess there's a range of people, I can’t really put my finger on one but they've all been really supportive of me."

Houston on reviewing the loss against Melbourne 
“I think we felt like we dominated in a lot of areas all bar getting the win. And we're in this area where we're trying to improve individually and as a team to get better and make sure we can win those games. And, you know, our focus this week has been on those little things and making sure we're getting better and improving. It is Round 3, but we've learned some very valuable lessons. 

“I think when you look at the game, we put ourselves in really good positions. And there were probably you know, a few goals or a few moments where we probably cost ourselves a little bit. And we look at the back of those moments and how we can improve them. And a lot of people put their hand up and said, you know, they can get better in a certain area to help the team. And that's what we looked.” 

Houston on Esava Ratugolea’s mark over the goal line 
“When we looked at it, we actually said he did really well to get back onto the goal line from where he came from, and then just didn't execute it. And we can live with that if he gets there, it's just an execution problem (on the day). So, you know, we'll get around him as we always do. And you know, I'm sure he wouldn't let it happen again.” 

Houston on Jason Horne-Francis’ hamstring  
“Yeah, he got through training, which is a huge tick, especially coming off a hamstring. And I think that was one (play) where he blitzed through the middle of it a little bit. So it looks like he's moving really well. He still needs to get through captain's run, but I assume he'd be a chance on Friday. 

“I thought he started really positively, put together a nice game against West Coast and he'd be a huge boost coming in on Friday night, as he always is, he can hit the scoreboard and provide you know, a little bit of physicality around the footy.” 

Houston on Mitch Georgiades 
“I think he's confident his own body, which is a huge tick coming back from an ACL and you see across the board, it's a long term thing, you don't want to rush them back from this sort of injury. So it's good that he's got the confidence and I'm sure they'll be careful putting him back because obviously, you know, there's a long term goal with Mitch. He’s still a young player, and he signed a new deal so I'm sure they want to see him playing some good footy soon and not rushing back too quickly.” 

Houston on Gather Round 
“I think it's a really good opportunity to play in front of, you know, some other fans, too, from across Australia. We're glad we’ve got a Friday night slot in Gather Round and it's really good for our state to be able to show, you know what Adelaide Oval’s made of, and the Port crowd too.”