PORT ADELAIDE Next Generation Academy member Lachie Jones says it would complete a childhood dream to be selected by the club he grew up supporting at next month’s national draft.
Jones admits there may be some mixed emotions at home if the Power do call his name though. The 18-year-old grew up in a family full of Crows and Bombers supporters, but saw the light early on and has been a proud Port Adelaide man as long as he can remember.
“Mum’s actually an Essendon supporter, but the rest of the family, including Dad’s side of the family are all Crows,” Jones said on Adelaide radio this morning.
“It’s a majority Crows family. I’m not too sure how I started barracking for Port, but since day one I have been and I’m not looking to change.
“I’ve always been the odd one out I guess. There’s photos of me and my two siblings at the Showdowns in the late 2000s. I’m in the middle and we’ve obviously won and I’ve got a big smile on my face and my two siblings are looking a little dark.”
Fortunately, the burly rebounding defender grew up on a farm in Bute, about 30kms inland from Wallaroo, which saw him zoned to Woodville-West Torrens and connected to Port Adelaide’s Next Generation Academy through his Indigenous heritage on his father’s side.
Through the Academy system, Jones has spent time over the last three years at Alberton being exposed to AFL training and recovery standards and mixing it with Port Adelaide’s playing group on the training track.
“The Yorke Peninsula in under the Eagles zone and Eagles fall under one of the four clubs aligned to Port (Adelaide's NGA),” Jones explained.
“I started in the Yorke Peninsula Academy with seven other blokes training once a week down at Maitland then I made the transition to the academy in Adelaide where I started to go into the club a little more and do some weights, some recovery and a bit of training here and there.”
Jones' NGA ties mean Geoff Parker and Port Adelaide’s recruiting staff will have first rights to match any bids on the long-kicking Eagle at the draft and make his boyhood dream of calling Alberton home a reality.
“Playing for Port’s always been a childhood dream and one that could potentially come true – something that most kids don’t have the opportunity to have, not especially in the first year of an AFL career,” Jones said.
“It’s definitely a big difference that Port have got first dibs and it’s a higher chance than going anywhere else. It means a lot.”
While his path to Port Adelaide is clearer than other draft hopefuls, nothing is guaranteed until the picks fall where they may and Jones admits he’s received interest from at least 12 AFL clubs so far.
It is unsurprising given the year he has had. Overcoming the impact of COVID-19 on football at all levels during 2020, Jones heads to the draft with a SANFL premiership medallion around his neck having played every game of the Eagles successful campaign.
A self-described “stocky” junior, Jones enjoyed a growth spurt several years ago and has filled out into a strongly built halfback flanker that many experts have described as AFL ready and a future midfielder.
