Port Adelaide fails to stand by its convictions and bows to the backlash with captaincy backflip
Less than a year after appointing co-captains for the first time in its history, Port Adelaide has bowed to supporter backlash and reneged on its bold move. In doing so it failed to stand by its convictions, writes Reece Homfray.
Reece Homfray
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Ten months after making one of the biggest and boldest calls in its history, Port Adelaide no longer has the conviction to stand by it.
Only it will argue it now has the conviction to admit it got it wrong, it misread the room and the member is always right.
The Power knew the move to anoint co-captains last season would be unpopular, but pressed ahead regardless because it was what’s best for the team.
And on Friday nothing but everything had changed at the same time.
Ollie Wines was demoted to vice-captain and Tom Jonas will captain the club on his own.
‘Tradition’ has been restored and Port Adelaide will once again have a solo skipper wearing the No. 1 guernsey in its 150th anniversary year in 2020.
People power has won.
It would be a different story if the club came out and said “the model didn’t work, turns out it’s not what the team needs or wants after all”, or if Wines decided to step away to focus on his own game.
But they haven’t.
Back in February coach Ken Hinkley described the call to go to two captains as “brave”.
“And I am asking our fans and members to be equally as brave and support these boys,” Hinkley said at the time.
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But they didn’t and now they’ve got their way.
The members who are the lifeblood of any football club are now also telling the club how to run the team.
The revolt started even before the co-captaincy decision was made, continued mercilessly on social media and membership surveys and when the noise begins to impact the bottom line via bums on seats and merchandise (limited edition 150th year merchandise no less), it becomes deafening.
“We’ve heard loud and clear,” chairman David Koch said on Friday.
The fans knew exactly what they would get when they vented their disapproval.
Jonas, 28, and highly respected as a leader was never going to lose the job and nor should he. As Wines said yesterday “we’d all follow him to the edge of the Earth”.
But Wines, 25, and who played just 12 games because of a dislocated shoulder over summer, then a broken leg and thumb - which it should be noted he played through both to finish both games - was in the gun.
Having been told ‘thanks but no thanks’, to his credit Wines fronted the media on Friday and said everything you would expect from a leader at a football club regardless of title.
Wines has been dubbed a captain in waiting from the moment he walked in the door as a first-round draft pick and plays the type of get-your-hands-and-knees-dirty footy that Port Adelaide people love.
But when tradition - a name on a locker and a number on a jumper - becomes more important than what the team supposedly needs or what the individual deserves, then that’s that.
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And Koch admitted it was as much a marketing or romantic decision to return to one captain after just one season when he said “frankly the model doesn’t change” in terms of how the club’s leadership will operate internally.
Port Adelaide didn’t rush into how best to replace Travis Boak who stepped down after six years in December 2018.
They took three months and canvassed the entire club from the players and coaches and football department to the staff and the board and settled on Wines and Jonas to do the job together so they could share the load and reach the entire and diverse playing group.
They wanted Jonas because he’s an experienced, elite defender who knows what it’s like to fight for his spot after rising from the rookie list, has a no BS policy and isn’t afraid to tell teammates how it is.
And they wanted Wines because he plays in the midfield, had just pledged his long-term future to the club in a show of loyalty and at 25 could connect with the 18-year-olds who had just walked in the door.
With more kids arriving this off-season and a chunk of experience on the way out, Port’s demographic has shifted even further in the direction of youth, but perhaps not enough.
The Power finished 10th with an 11-11 record this season while blooding a heap of kids and dealing with a constant string of injuries that often robbed it of top-end talent.
Short of expectations but hardly a disaster, and you can’t help but feel Wines deserved better or at least more time.
But could it also be a blessing in disguise?
Could handing back the captain’s badge be a weight off his shoulders or even light a fire inside of him?
The final question of Friday’s press conference was to Wines, asking whether he was still committed to the club long term, given he’s contracted to 2022 but his manager and the club were forced to deny reports he had sought a trade in October.
“Yeah 100 per cent,” he said.
“It’s a positive day for the club going forward, I’m standing next to Tom, an incredible leader for the club going forward and am all-in.”
Spoken like a captain with the ‘c’ next to his name, or not.