Port Adelaide’s Hamish Hartlett has finally found his place in the AFL at Alberton

HAMISH Hartlett is coming of age. After 153 matches and in his 10th year in the AFL system Port Adelaide is finally cashing in on their number four pick from the 2008 national draft.

Hamish Hartlett being attended to after cutting his head in a clash with Dangerfield.

HAMISH Hartlett is coming of age.

After 153 matches and 10 years in the AFL system, Port Adelaide is finally cashing in on its number four pick from the 2008 national draft.

At 27 years of age it’s been a slow burn for Port’s highest-ever draft pick.

After playing 11 games in his debut season, it hasn’t always come easily for Hartlett with just four matches in 2010 when repeated soft tissue injuries and shoulder complaints set in.

Early on there were times when I thought we may never see the best of him in a Power guernsey, such was his inability to consistently stay on the park and perform at a consistently high level.

In his defence, it could also be that we expected too much from the youngster when Port was crying out for an on-field saviour when the club was struggling both on and off the field.

Hartlett has always been a professional.

Hamish Hartlett in action during the Round 5 match between the Port and Geelong

From day one he’d always prepare like a veteran on his last legs, diligently completing his rehab and recovery and never taking short cuts.

After averaging 22 disposals a match and playing every game in 2015, North Melbourne came calling for Ken Hinkley’s “Mr Fix It”.

The Kangaroos threw the kitchen sink at him offering a reported six-year $4.5million deal and Port two first round draft picks in exchange for Hartlett.

With 12 months still remaining on his contract at Alberton, Port countered with a five-year extension worth around $3million - Hartlett accepted, turning down North - singing on until 2021.

It didn’t end there, fast forward 12 months and after a disappointing 2016 season he once again found himself in the shop window. This time Essendon was keen, offering Port Adelaide a future first round pick in exchange for its vice-captain.

And, after Hartlett had toured Tullamarine, the deal was set to go ahead only for Port coach Ken Hinkley to have a change of heart during a golf game with Hartlett and skipper Travis Boak –-leaving him a to fulfil his five-year deal.

Hamish Hartlett being attended to after cutting his head in a clash with Dangerfield.

Fast forward to 2018 and Hartlett is in the best form of his 153-game career.

There was never a knock on his footballing pedigree, rather questions on his ability to put together a sustained season of top form.

In 2018 we’re seeing it now.

In five matches so far, Hartlett has been phenomenal, averaging 19.6 disposals per game and eight marks.

And, while his statistics are slightly below his previous season best, they don’t tell the whole story.

As opposed to other years he now plays as a genuine half back flanker – not as part-time Mr Fix It.

Once a weakness in Hartlett’s game, his one-on-one defending is now a highlight, and his reading of the play has gone to a new level.

He looks like a player who has spent the past two pre-seasons training and preparing as a defender – one who must beat his man first then created play not the other way around.

Complementing this is he looks as healthy as ever and is in great physical shape.

Hartlett is tough, he never gives an inch, there was no better example than when he dropped off his opponent in last week’s game with Geelong to air assist only to clash heads with Brownlow Medalist Patrick Dangerfield.

It resulted with Hartlett being be stretchered from the ground only to return to the field after having 10 stitches sewn into his forehead.

Power assistant coach and one of the toughest footballers of his generation, Michael Voss, said Hartlett makes others walk taller around him.

No longer is he Hinkley’s line up Band-Aid, right now he’s Port’s most reliable half back flanker.