MIDFIELDER Ollie Wines says he wants to play out the rest of his career at Port Adelaide, with the 2021 Brownlow Medallist feeling truly valued by his coaches and teammates. 

Wines has been in top form throughout the first half of the season following an injury-hampered 2023, and is now feeling clearer than ever with his on-field role at the Power. 

The 29-year old spoke with the Adelaide media on Wednesday about his playing future, how he manages his heart condition and where the team is at following the bye. 

Wines on his future 
“Yeah, look, I haven't heard anything about it (being traded to North Melbourne). So it could be all (gossip) in the media, but I've got two years left at Port Adelaide. I'm a Port Adelaide person through and through and as far as I see it, I'm here for the rest of my career and that's that. So there's always rumours going around like that, but nothing comes from me. I love this club, and hopefully I'll retire here.” 

Wines on the increased clarity in his role  
“Yeah, at times probably last year (I wavered), but there were reasons for that. Look, my body wasn't up to it last year coming off the surgery I had after 2022. The thing that I love about this club is how transparent Ken is and his coaches and from the start last year, I knew that was the case. And I knew that once I got my body back to where it needed to be, my role was there. So that transparency is what we love about this club.  

Wines on feeling valued at Port Adelaide 
“Yeah, for sure, I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I was valued. I think our coaches do a really good job at highlighting guys’ different strengths and weaknesses and putting us in positions where we will do well and help the team. So you know, I've got full faith in the belief of the coaches in me, as well as my teammates.” 

Wines on his heart 
“Yeah, look, I'm 100 per cent fine. It's meant a lot, a lot of people asking me how I'm going and how I'm getting through it. But look, it's something that, fortunately, having spoken to a lot of experts and have a lot of appointments about it. And it is an isolated incident that does happen occasionally and obviously, the two times it has occurred has been in the middle of football games, where it's sort of a little bit hard to hide away from that. So fortunately, for me, it's not life threatening, it's just something that affects me playing at a 100 per cent (when it happens) which, obviously, it's going to affect me and my occupation at times. So we've got some contingency plans in place to get through to the end of the season, and there's some things we can do at the end of the season to fix it. So, the main thing is it’s not life threatening, it's something that will affect me when the stars align, and for whatever reason it happens, but it's something that I just don't want to happen to sort of let down the team in that moment and have to be subbed out.” 

“There's procedures that I can have (to rectify it). Respectfully, I'm not going to go into the details of it. But there are procedures that can fix it and there’s very short recovery, they don't involve too much. So that's something that, once the end of the season comes, we'll do that.” 

Wines on living with his heart condition over the past two years 
“To be honest, for two years now, I've understood what it's about. And obviously, it happens two years later and as you said, the concern of it, it's not a hamstring or a calf, it's a vital organ so there's an increased level of concern there. But it is pleasing knowing that it's more so a thing that will affect my performance as opposed to my overall health. So, you know, I've had really good support from people at the club and experts from the surrounds. So you know, I'm very clear it.” 

Wines on the bye  
“I got to get home, I hadn’t been home for a while, so it was nice to put the feet up and be back with mum and dad for a while. So it is a little bit of a different bye to normal. We've got a lot of days off. So we've gone from a Thursday night to a Sunday afternoon this week so it's a lot of days. And I think we've loved having that extra time and extra training. So obviously, we train today, and we'll have another hit out at the end of the week before Sunday. So we've had a little bit of a different approach to previous years, but I've really enjoyed it. So it gives us the ability to sort of review things a little bit deeper at the midway point of the season. And have a few hit outs on the on the track where we can address a few of those things straight up.” 

Wines on the midway point of the season 
“It's starting to get colder, obviously it’s getting into winter now. And this is when the top teams put their foot forward and really take a stranglehold on the ladder. So we see we're sitting at the moment in a strong spot. Obviously, we like to have a few less losses in the loss column and few more wins but we think we're in a position now to keep building and build momentum through these tougher months to put us in a good position and hopefully challenge into September.” 

Wines on seeking team success in the back half of the year 
“I think the list that we've put together over the last couple of years complements us in different aspects of the ground. Obviously we've addressed it over the last couple of years in certain areas, in the backline particularly and I think the ability and the weapons we’ve got throughout our team and you know at this point of the year, we're understanding them a little bit more. We’re getting the ball in people's hands who can do different things. I've got full faith in this group and the other thing is, we're healthy at this time of the year and that's really good. 

“You know, you finish top four you get two chances, you know outside that, you’ve got an elimination game straight up. But I think the good thing about our competition this year is how tight it is and you know, bar Sydney who are a couple of games clear, second down to 10th, 11th 12th is so tight. So it's an increasingly competitive environment. And you've got to focus on each win, obviously can't take your eye off the ball each week because anyone can win. And I think that's a really good spectacle for fans.” 

Wines on Ollie Lord 
“Yeah, for sure. Lordo was up and going when he when he injured that leg a while ago. So generally, a bigger guy takes a little bit longer to get back in rehab. But just seeing him out there, he's had a good couple of hit outs in in the SANFL so he'll be putting his hand up for selection and it's good to see him going.”  

Wines on his own form 
Yeah, certainly (my best half of the year since my Brownlow year) but in saying that I haven't done a lot since Brownlow year, oh, probably the year after I had a decent year. This year, I think my role is really clear for me, what I'm able to do and how I’m able to use my role to bring weapons around me into the game in that midfield. You know, we've got so many different guys in there that can do so many different things. And sometimes I see my role as just sort of trying to get them involved and trying to put them in a position where they can do their thing. They're pretty special and just to be amongst them in the midfield is something I sort of pinch myself each day about.”