PORT ADELAIDE defender Hamish Hartlett has opened up about the “mental anguish” he has caused himself as he tries to regain his best form.
Hartlett won’t feature against Fremantle on Sunday, having been omitted from Port Adelaide’s line-up.
The 30-year-old member of Port Adelaide’s leadership group will instead play in the SANFL with the Magpies on Saturday.
During an interview with Adelaide radio station FIVEaa, Hartlett said he was excited about playing in the prison bar guernsey at Alberton.
“It’s more of a circuit breaker more than anything,” he explained. “Obviously, my form has been inconsistent, not great, not as good as I would have liked from a personal perspective.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve been heaping this pressure on myself to play better and better and when I haven’t that’s caused some more mental anguish for me.
“We feel like that is a good opportunity for me to go back and play with the Magpies… to relieve some mental pressure from myself.”
Hartlett has been averaging 15.4 disposals, slightly down on his career average 19 per game, and his omission has shocked some given he has been far from the worst performer in recent weeks.
The experienced backman revealed he is no longer on social media and has started being more selective with the opinions he takes on board.
“The only people’s opinions I care about are my teammates’ and my coaches’, plus I always listen to Mum and Dad because that’s important,” he said.
“It’s more so the internal pressures I pile on myself. I’ve found recently I’ve fallen into this negative self-talk cycle of focussing on the things I’m not doing really well instead of the few things I am doing well.
“That’s compounding the issue as well so there’s a few things I need to put in place to get back on track from a mental point of view and hopefully playing tomorrow with a bunch of guys I’ve pretty much never played footy with before in a different environment will certainly freshen me up a bit.”
Saturday’s SANFL clash is shaping to be a big one for the long-kicking right footer.
He will be coming up against his junior club, West Adelaide, where he played Under 17 and Under 19 football before making his league debut in 2007.
As well, his brother Adam is an assistant coach of the Bloods, and Hartlett said it wouldn’t surprise him if there were some words exchanged between the pair at half time.
More than anything, Hartlett said, he was looking forward to freeing his mind and helping guide a young SANFL group.
“I am super excited to just get out and play footy, get back to loving the game,” he said.
“Matty Lokan has already asked what position I want to play so having that freedom is going to be really important in terms of finding some more consistent form and see how things go from there.
“But I can’t wait to play tomorrow.”
Port Adelaide will take on West Adelaide at Alberton Oval from 2:35pm. Gates open at 1:05pm.
