MIDFIELDER Ollie Wines says Port Adelaide is a ‘resilient team’ that trusts its processes, but understands some tweaks may need to be made.
Despite Thursday night’s loss, Wines and the playing group are heading into Round 9 in a positive headspace, with the belief required to take on a strong Geelong outfit.
Wines spoke to the Adelaide media to review the Showdown, discuss the side’s growth areas, and to look ahead to a Friday night blockbuster at The Cattery.
Wines on the team review of the Showdown
“Certainly momentum swings throughout the game that we didn’t handle very well and that was sort of the basis of our review yesterday. When we’re up and about playing good footy, we love confrontation and coming at the opposition whereas on the weekend, for whatever reason, we went into our shells when we were really challenged. We understand that the Crows on the weekend were a really efficient side and they were going to score at times but we just didn’t handle that very well and weren’t able to go back against them and sort of fight fire with fire.
“It's not like it’s an unmotivating game – it’s a Showdown and they’re big games in this state and they mean a lot to us. We haven’t been able to put a finger on anything specifically in terms of (Showdowns) but technically, in terms of our game plan we’ve been able to make some tweaks to fire us up a bit.”
Wines on recent Showdown history
“We’re not hiding from the fact that we’ve lost the last three. Certainly it does sting and the only opportunity you’ve got is the next Showdown to make amends so we’ll keep that in the back of our minds come our home Showdown towards the end of the year. We’ve got to learn from what went wrong and what we were unable to execute and move on to next week.”
Wines on score conversion
“It’s on all three lines. Offence is not just a forward thing, obviously it’s a midfield and a defender thing. (The ball) generally moves the whole length of the ground to get that shot. It has been a focus the last couple of weeks not having as long shots and from wider angles but trying to get the ball to a high probability position to score. We’ve been having a lot of long shots and really backing our process but we prefer to back our process from a more appropriate angle and position on the ground. That’s something we’ll continue to evolve.
“We’ve got a lot of trust in our goal kicking process and put an enormous amount of work in over the off-season. We’ve got a real structure about how we do things, how we practice things, so certainly the process and the results we’ve got from training and putting in the work is there but it’s obviously not coming through on the scoreboard at the moment. I think we’re a pretty resilient team and understand that if we’ve got a good process, which we do, then we’re going to stick to it and results will eventually turn.”
Wines on taking on Geelong
“We’ve got full belief in what we’re able to do. You’ve got to play a really good four-quarter game of footy particularly down at Geelong and particularly with the form the team there is in at the moment. Our belief in what we’re capable of and us as individuals will never waver. Obviously there are going to be ups and downs and wins and losses but certainly we’ve got the belief to turn up and beat anyone.”
Wines on Jordon Sweet stepping up in Ivan Soldo’s absence
“I think everyone brings their different strength and weaknesses and certainly Sweety (Jordon Sweet) and (Ivan) Soldo are a little bit different in the way they go about things and I think you certainly can’t fault the way Sweety’s gone about it. He went head-to-head with a ruckman on the weekend that’s given us a lot of problems in the past and broke even with him so I think we’re getting a lot from Sweety at the moment.”
Wines on learning from Geelong’s first loss on the weekend
“We’ve only really moved on from the Crows today from reviewing it and having our line meetings. We’ll go through those findings from the weekend, I know the coaches watched (the Geelong Melbourne game) very closely and reviewed it closely, obviously it’s their first loss of the year and it’s really made them a little bit vulnerable so we will take learnings from (that game).”
Wines on his own form
“My role is becoming clearer and clearer each week. I just want to create a contest in there, I want to hunt the opposition and get as much pressure on as I can and almost take that physical brunt for the other boys to be able to bring their weapons out. So it’s certainly clear for me, it’s only early in the year but hopefully I can continue doing that and keep building.
Wines on Connor Rozee’s injury
“I think it’s been a good learning from Ken and Connor, listening to their comments. Obviously I can’t comment on how a certain player feels but Connor (said) he felt really good last week going into the game and that decision was made and ultimately in hindsight, it wasn’t the right decision but I think at the time, they felt pretty comfortable with it. I had a hamstring a couple of weeks ago and I was very close to saying yeah I’ll play and I didn’t in the end but I guess it all comes down to the severity of it and what you can do during the week. Connor was able to train during the week so obviously hindsight is a powerful thing and we look back on it and he wouldn’t have played but at the time he felt really good.
“He's had a lot of support around him and we’ve got full faith in Connor and him as captain leading us. We understand that every decision he makes is for the betterment of the team. He’s our ultimate leader so we’ll move on from it. He’s our captain and we want him out there every opportunity we get and if he thinks he’s right he’ll go out and play (next week).”
Wines on the challenges of playing at GMHBA Stadium
“Certainly it’s a unique shaped ground, it’s a lot more narrow than any other ground we play on so in a way it’s probably closest to Adelaide Oval so you would think it would give us a little bit of an advantage but I think just being so removed from anywhere else (makes it a tough place to play at). It’s probably the only ground where 95 per cent of the crowd is supporting the home team and it’s a little bit of a difficult place to get to from Tullamarine Airport. So probably a combination of factors and they’ve built a bit of a reputation having a really good home stance there. In saying that, we’ve got full faith we can go there and win and that was our mantra a couple of years ago during COVID where we were flying everywhere, flying the day of a game to play, we’d just turn up and play and give our best so that will be the same this week.
“(Being a narrow ground) it just compresses the field and doesn’t allow you to pull out the opposition as much. It’s just harder to get through, you think on a wider ground there’s a lot more space to cover for the defenders and when it’s narrower it’s a little bit harder to get through so there’s probably a bit less scoring down there and the ball doesn’t move quite as quickly as some of the bigger grounds like the MCG.”
Wines on training under lights on Tuesday night
“I really enjoy it, it’s probably the biggest difference you find starting pre-season games. The whole pre-season you’re training in the morning and then all of a sudden you don’t really play before one o’clock in the afternoon so certainly there is an acclimation to the time of the day you’re playing and individually that’s something like. It’s not for everyone but I guess we’re catering for a big group so hopefully the majority of the guys enjoy it.”
Wines on Tom Hawkins
“He's been an incredible servant for their footy club. He’s got a little bit of an aura about him and from my perspective is similar to what Charlie Dixon gives for us. That real presence and that leader in the forward line that you really walk behind and walk a little bit taller around. He’s given us a lot of problems in the past and hopefully we can, unfortunately for him in his milestone game, do a really good job on him. He’s just got such an aura and presence in that forward line and you see some of the games he’s had and some of the things he’s done for them he's outstanding.”
