TOM JONAS has described as “an absolute privilege” leading Port Adelaide out as captain with the number one on his back for the first time in a premiership game.
Jonas took on the traditional number one guernsey in the off-season after being named the club’s captain – having been co-captain with Ollie Wines in 2019.
His first game at the helm was the Round 1 victory over the Suns on the Gold Coast.
“It was an absolute privilege,” Jonas told portadelaidefc.com.au of leading the side out.
“I’ve been waiting a fair while to do this, you know we had five months of training and we weren’t sure it was going to go ahead so it was awesome to be able to run out tonight and put in a really strong performance for everyone watching at home.”
The Power conceded the first goal of the game before responding with the next five on the way to a 40-point half time lead.
From there both sides could only manage a single goal each as the game became a scrappy affair, ending with Port 47-points in front.
“I think we started to play the conditions well,” Jonas said of the early response.
“We took some territory and we won the contest. It comes down to contested ball on nights like tonight when it’s slippery.
“We weren’t great going inside 50 as the game progressed and that’s some room for improvement for us but overall, we stuck the task and we played tough footy for four quarters.”
Jonas was particularly happy with the side’s attitude given the absence of a crowd because of the restrictions imposed due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
And the skipper saved special praise for debutant Mitch Georgiades, who finished his first game with eleven disposals, three marks, two tackles and two goals.
“He’s been showing it all pre-season,” Jonas said.
“He’s a really resilient kid just to get to this point. He’s had a tough road but he’s come in and had great humility as well.
“I was really excited to see him out there. He’d fly, he jumps high, takes big marks, crashes packs and he kicked a couple of goals just to finish it off so I thought he was great.”
