Port Adelaide defender Kane Farrell has secured the next five years of his footballing future, signing an extension with the club. 

An important cog in the Power’s backline, the 26-year-old is working on his leadership, and believes his best football is yet to come. 

Fresh from inking the new deal, Farrell spoke with the Adelaide media about the contract, how he sees his role evolving, and how the group reviewed Thursday’s game. 

Farrell on his five-year extension 
“Definitely pleased to get that done, especially early in the season. So for that now to be fully done and just get out and play footy, not worry about the outside stuff now, so it's nice to just get all that out of the way, really, and just focus on the main goal ahead now. 

“We were just kind of looking for a bit of security as well. We love it here, me and my partner, we love it here. So there wasn't too much of a point about why drag it out when we're happy where we are. So we got to where we wanted to, and that's why we're here now.” 

Farrell on deciding to stay at Port Adelaide 
“Once the club kind of came to us with an offer I was fairly happy with…once it was there, we spoke about it for maybe two or three days, and it was pretty well settled by then, because we don't really want to change things up with how they're going at the moment. So we're pretty happy here. 

“We've got great mates outside of footy here now, (and I’m) pretty well settled with the football side of things, and then also life outside of football. We've both got great relationships with people outside of the club, so we didn't want to change that up and go away from what we love at the moment.” 

Farrell on his role 
“Yeah, I try to (see myself as an important part of the backline). Obviously, we’ve got two or three other boys, and they're quite good at using the footy as well, with Burto (Ryan Burton), Logan Evans, Josh Sinn as well, so we can all run the ball and carry and kick well. So it's just for me to step up in my role with my leadership and be demanding with my voice and more that sort of side of it, and then just let my football kind of take care of itself at the moment and just really drag along the other boys in my leadership.” 

Farrell on the future coaching structure 
“Yeah, it obviously helped knowing who the coach is going to be. And me and Josh (Carr) have got a great relationship. We speak pretty often. I often go and sit in his office and not even talk footy. So it's always good to have that kind of relationship with your coach as well. So that definitely made it an easy decision.” 

Farrell on the developing backline 
“Yeah, obviously there are things we need to work on and fix, and then to have those (young) guys come in, they've stepped up quite well. I feel like in the short time they’ve been at the football club, and you can just see when they play well, what they can actually bring to this football club. So for them to just bring out more consistency, which I feel like I can help them with my leadership, so it's just making them feel more comfortable out there more regularly.” 

Farrell on Jase Burgoyne’s role 
“Look, that's kind of up to the coaching staff (whether he plays back or on the wing), but we love him down there. We just know what he's going to provide. He's going to provide a lot of effort. I don't think he actually came off on the weekend at all. So you just know he's just going to always be out there and just try his hardest. So we'll have him if they don't want him up in the midfield.”  

Farrell on the Essendon game 
“Yeah, we just had a review then. It was more just about our work rate and that in the last quarter, we just got outworked and outnumbered around the footy. So for, that's what we want to focus on now and just to play a full four quarters of footy, because when we do play our brand of footy for that four quarters, we tend to be a very damaging side. I think what we work on usually (following a loss), we always tend to reply the next week. So that’s definitely a focal point for us. 

“(The review) wasn't doom and gloom. It was just more, like precise feedback, like what you need to work on. It's not so much the sprays these days now, it's more just like ‘that kind of wasn't good enough, but this is how you do it really well’ and this is how you can do it better, and how we can support that as a playing group and coaching group.” 

Farrell on the season so far 
“We see when we do it well, how well it works. So it's just for us now, through (finding) more consistency, and when we do it well, we tend to be in games for longer and even win games. So it's just bringing that out more consistently for us.” 

Farrell on getting crunched in a tackle on Thursday  
“I’m alright now. The first couple of days were a bit rough, but starting to move around a bit more now, which is good. It’s more just like you just you don't want to cool down, so you kind of want to keep running around so your body doesn't get too sore. But that’s part of footy, you get hit pretty hard sometimes and you’ve just got to keep going. So I’m feeling alright now.” 

Farrell on the long break between games 
“Yeah, it's obviously kind of come at a good time for us. We can reflect on the game a bit more. We can prepare for the game more, train a bit more. So for us, it's going out and applying what we want to do game day, throughout the week at training now and then going out there on the weekend and showing that to everyone else.” 

Farrell on improving the team’s work-rate  
“I don't know you could put it really down to, it's up to the individual really. But I think it's just like working more as a team instead of individually, like others can help others out in the field, so you’re not just going into your own shell. (We need to) get out of our shell a bit more.” 

Farrell on working as a team 
“Yeah, we've even seen that with the Richmond game, it was more of a team effort. It's not so reliant on just one or two blokes out there. Once we all work together and want to support each other a bit more, it tends to really roll on and really build that energy for us out there, which tends to make us play better. So it's just getting that more consistently throughout the year.” 

Farrell on Zak Butters’ injury 
“He wants to just get out there and play. I think he's a test, or he's got to tick off a few boxes this week, but that's kind of up to the physios of where he's at, because we're not into rushing anything this time of year. If he's ready to go, he's ready to go, but if he's not well, it might have to be another one or two weeks.” 

Farrell on supporting Jason Horne-Francis  
“He's just one of those players when he can kind of get into his own head a little bit. So when we get around him and we support him it really brings out that best footy for him, so for us as a group to put our arms around him and bring him forward with us, not just relying on him, we're all in it together with him.” 

Farrell on St Kilda this weekend 
“The game of footy these days changes week to week. So we throw (the pre-season game) out probably, and build on just what they what they looked like last week. They’ve shown what they can do in the last few games. They look pretty solid. So what we need to work on, we'll see that the next few days.”