Bone’s beef: Why Ollie Wines injury should never have happened and may hurt his Port Adelaide captaincy hopes

Ollie Wines is not the first AFL player to make an error in judgment off the field, and he won’t be the last, but his water-skiing injury could be a very costly one for the captaincy candidate, writes Chris McDermott

• Port rocked by Wines skiing accident
• Fasolo breaks arm in Saturday night mishap

It doesn’t matter how much you pay them or how often you tell them to be careful, AFL footballers are risk takers.

But not every risk has a reward. Just ask Ollie Wines today.

The 24-year-old is a candidate for the Power captaincy this season has just made a rookie mistake that could have serious consequences not just on his leadership aspirations but also on his team’s premiership chances.

Wines is not the first to make an error in judgment and he won’t be the last but it could be a very costly one.

On the same weekend new Carlton recruit Alex Fasolo fractured his wrist during a friendly wrestle with a friend, ruling him out of the early rounds of the season in his first year at Princes Park, Wines injured his shoulder water skiing on the Murray River that could have a similar impact on his season.

Why shouldn’t he ski? When he’s paid in excess of $500,000 a year by his employer.

It’s that simple.

With the benefits of being a professional athlete in the modern era comes the sacrifices and respecting your body and reducing the risks you take for the 10-15 years of your career is the most important.

Ollie has broken the golden rule: To save his risk taking for the football field, because every and any weakness to your body affects the way you play.

Captains of a football club have even greater responsibility to lead by example and set a standard for others to follow.

Time will tell how much this one hurts him and the PAFC.

I have enormous respect and admiration for Wines.

Ollie Wines grapples with Paddy Ryder during Port Adelaide’s pre-season camp at Noosa in December. Picture: Sarah Reed

He plays the game the way you want young men to play it. Hard but fair. But he has made a very poor decision that he and a captain of the Port Adelaide Football Club cannot afford to make.

It would have still been a bad decision had he made it in November but to make it in late January, just a few weeks out from trial matches and just eight weeks from the start of a season, is unforgivable.

Nigel Smart’s blistered feet from his firewalking in the Crows early years always comes to mind when players do risky things.

Nigel’s adventure was endorsed by the AFC so he is blameless, but 28 years later mistakes are still being made.

Nigel Smart walks over hot coals during motivational exercise that went wrong at an Adelaide Crows pre-season camp in 1992.

And Smart shows the not-so-smart aftermath.

Geelong’s triple premiership ruckman Brad Ottens also fell foul to a water skiing accident needing stitches to his arm and leg after losing a fight with a boat propeller.

Former Hawthorn bigman Brent Renouf came off second best after falling into a bonfire suffering burns to his back, arms and legs while Geelong midfielder David Spriggs brought his career to a premature end after jumping from a ledge at a pub injuring his knee.

Spriggs would limp through just 21 more games before retiring at an early age.

There are more.

To play the game at the highest level a player needs a sense of fearlessness and bravery.

Conquering those fears and making them work for you is a weapon every player needs.

But in the off season a player must resist the temptation to take unnecessary risks. He must forgo some of the great joys of life for the benefit of his career.

That’s just the way it is.

The game demands it. There will be no success without sacrifice.

As Kenny Rogers sings, “There’ll be time enough for counting, when the dealing’s done!”