LAST season saw Port Adelaide's Chad Wingard become club champion and an All Australian, but he doesn't regard himself as an elite player.

In just his second year of AFL football Wingard regularly thrilled crowds with his courage and poise under pressure, as the competition's best players do.

But therein lies Wingard's issue with the term 'elite' – he's only been at the top for a year.

He said the League's true champions were players who had proven their status beyond doubt.

With just 43 games under his belt, 20-year-old Wingard said he had a lot of work to do before he should be considered one of the AFL's very best.

"Eliteness comes with consistency; one season doesn't make you an elite player," Wingard said.

"I think the elite players are the Selwoods … Travis Boaks – just had season after season where they've been key players for their team.

"I'm nowhere near that standard yet.

"I'm just going to try and keep improving game to game and try and be that player."

Regardless of how he perceives himself, there's little doubt Wingard is fast closing in on star status according to those on the outside.

He will play each week as the club's reigning John Cahill medallist, the youngest man to do so since Port's AFL inception in 1997.

But the ice-cool Wingard said he was only focused on football's ultimate prize.

Individual titles would count for little were he part of a Port Adelaide premiership side.

"I don't feel the pressure; I don't feel that title because in the end we're playing as a team and it doesn't matter who gets those individual accolades, it's all about trying to get that team success and that medal around our necks," he said.

"Once we all get that I think we'll all be happy and it doesn't matter who wins the best and fairest or who gets All Australian."

Wingard spoke at the launch for the 2014 Aboriginal Power Cup, an initiative by Port's community arm Power Community Ltd.
 
Although culminating with a grand final before the round 10 clash between Port Adelaide and Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval, the Cup aims to further education in indigenous communities.
 
Only students who complete classwork are eligible to play and the nine-a-side football carnival at Alberton Oval will also include a career and lifestyle expo.
 
This year's event will focus on leadership and reconciliation and Wingard said it was an honour to play for a club that embraced such ideas.
 
"I'm in my home town, my home land in Kaurna and to have this opportunity to try and spread the word and help fellow indigenous students … to actually give them the pathways that I had [is great]," he said.
 
"It's a huge honour and a huge privilege – I'm just so happy to be at this club.
 
"It's a great opportunity and we can't thank the club enough."