AFL trade news: How deals for unsigned Port Adelaide players are tracking
An injury-prone Port Adelaide star is at risk of being cut if he can’t get on the park, while a talented forward remains in the reserves. Find out who is set to get a new deal.
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Injury-prone small forward Orazio Fantasia needs to string games together to earn a new contract at Port Adelaide.
Fantasia’s deal expires at the end of the season and his Power tenure is at risk unless he can get on the field regularly.
The 27-year-old has played 19 of a possible 51 games since Port traded its second and third-round selections to secure him from Essendon, along with pick 73, at the end of 2020.
After knee and quad issues restricted him to just one match last year as an unused substitute, Fantasia is again sidelined with the latter injury.
He jogged on the sidelines at training on Thursday but was listed as being three weeks away from playing.
The Norwood product booted 28.23 from 15 games in 2021, including four goals in the Power’s qualifying final triumph over Geelong.
This season, he has kicked 2.5 from three AFL matches.
He was subbed off in the season-opening win over Brisbane and started as the 23rd man in the Showdown.
Power coach Ken Hinkley said he was confident Fantasia could play regularly this season.
“We’ve got a great medical team so I’ve got no reason not to be,” Hinkley said.
“He’s had this poor run for a long period of time so he needs to believe ... and we’re doing as much as we possibly can to give him every chance.
“He’s got to control and we’ve got to control what we can control, and that’s the immediate time.
“Right now, we’ve just got to get him back firing because we know fit, firing and playing well, I think there’s not a person in the room who would doubt his talent.
“He’s got a body of work this pre-season that he hasn’t had in the last 12 months so that gives us greater confidence that he’ll be able to get through this year.”
Fantasia is among a swag of high-profile Power players without deals for next year.
The Power is keen to re-sign forward Mitch Georgiades but a decision on his future is expected to come down to whether he is playing in the AFL side.
Georgiades was overlooked at selection again on Thursday night, when Port Adelaide promoted debutant Ollie Lord to replace the injured Charlie Dixon.
Port knows rival interest in the 21-year-old West Australian will grow if he keeps playing in the SANFL.
Last week Power football boss Chris Davies said Georgiades was largely out of the side due to a lack of confidence.
“The club still has a lot of faith in him as a person and his football ability,” Davies told AFL.com.au.
Port also hopes to lock in a new deal for wingman Miles Bergman, though is yet to ramp up negotiations.
Coming off a 10-game season at AFL level, Bergman has played every game in 2023 and is impressing.
“Both of those guys (Georgiades and Bergman) aren’t from South Australia so you do worry that little bit, there is that potential for them to want to go home,” Davies said.
“That is something we have to deal with but historically we haven’t lost too many guys that we want keep.”
As for other Power players coming out of contract at season’s end:
■ Port Adelaide will give plenty of weight to the intangibles Tom Jonas brings, not just how he is performing, when it discusses a potential new contract for the Power captain later in the season. The 32-year-old, who has been battling knee soreness and has struggled for form, is understood to be keen to play on.
■ Spearhead Charlie Dixon is on track to re-sign, possibly during the middle of the season, with the length of the deal – one or two years – expected to be a key part of negotiations. Dixon turns 33 in September.
■ The club will look to try to re-sign debutant Ollie Lord in coming months, viewing him as a potential long-term replacement for Dixon.
■ Port Adelaide is also keen to ink a new deal for long-kicking half-back Kane Farrell.
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