THERE is an element of synchronicity in the fact that Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines will play their respective 150th AFL games together in their club’s 150th anniversary year.
Jonas, Port Adelaide’s club captain, and Wines, one of his vice captains, will reach the milestone on Saturday against reigning premier Richmond.
The fact they share the occasion with the club they have so passionately represented is not lost on Jonas.
“It’s an honour to play 150 games for Port Adelaide,” the skipper said at a press conference on Thursday.
“It’s a great opportunity to reflect on how you got here and what you want to achieve by the end of our career.
“It’s been a bumpy road and we probably haven’t got to where we’d like to as a team but to play the 150th game in Port’s 150th year, in what is shaping to be an exciting season for us is an absolute honour and to do it alongside one of your great mates and a leader of the club is even better.”
While Jonas took the hard road to 150 from the rookie list and Wines was a first-round draftee, it was a similar message from the vice-captain.
Wines said he was honoured to reach the milestone with Jonas, who he said he looked up to for the way he prepares and plays footy and the way he is preparing himself for life away from the game.
“It’s something I’ll hold really high and I’m excited to do it next to the skipper and a bit of a role model for me,” he said.
“Tommy’s been an enormous role model for me, not just as a footballer but as a man off the field so to do it next to him and him as captain and me as one of the vice captains makes it even more special.
“I guess it’s just a number at the end of the day but you’ve got to take a look back on your career at some points and these are probably the points you look back and see what’s happened and prepare yourself for the future.
“It is just a number but it marks something special that you’ve been able to do with your career.”
The pair will forever be linked after being co-captains in 2019, and despite the club returning to a sole skipper this season with Jonas at the helm, he said it was business as usual.
“Nothing really changed between us,” Jonas said.
“We went with a decision that was made for what’s best for the footy club and our goals haven’t changed – we’re still aligned with wanting to win a premiership and play in a premiership, whether you’re the last bloke in the squad or the captain of the team or vice-captain.
“We’re more about team success than individual accolades so it hasn’t changed much, it’s still the three of us, Hamish included, who lead the club.
“That’s a testament to Ollie and the way he approaches everything in life. He’s a professional and just a quality person.
“Since the day he came to the club as an 18 year-old he’s had a huge impact around here and to watch him grow as a role model and leader has been great, and it’s a testament to the way he goes about his footy and everything he does off field as well.”
Wines has been part of a Port Adelaide midfield unit that has been challenged at times this season.
He admits his own form has been “up and down a little bit”.
“But we don’t really have to stand out too much as individuals, we try to carry the weight across the whole 22 and I think we’ve been able to do that at this stage,” he explained.
“Obviously Boaky (Travis Boak) is having an outstanding year and Zak Butters, but apart from that we want to play our role and do our thing for the team, and we think if we can get enough guys doing that enough, we’ll get enough wins.”
After ten games, Port Adelaide has registered eight wins.
It has the most miserly defence, conceding an average of 48.5 points per game, beating out Collingwood, which has conceded 52.2 points per game on average, and much of that has been down to the form and leadership of Jonas, who is wearing the club’s iconic captain’s number 1 on his back for the first time.
“I’ve been really lucky this year,” Jonas said modestly.
“I’m surrounded by six defenders and the ones that come and go that are all really confident in their game and good level AFL players and they make my life a lot easier.
“I’ve been solid playing my role and that’s all I expect of myself and that frees me up to try and lead the other aspect of the game.
“The other thing that’s been great this year is the pressure coming out of the midfield and often it goes the other way. But if it does come our way it’s often pressured ball which makes defending a whole lot easier.”
