Riley Bonner opens up on what it was like to be in trade discussions last year and his plans for 2023
Port Adelaide went after a big fish in the off-season and Riley Bonner found himself in the middle of the negotiations. He reveals exactly what played out.
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It was the biggest story of the trade period.
And Riley Bonner found himself involved in it, although he doesn’t really know how.
The Port Adelaide defender was enjoying his off-season and recovering from surgery to get his ankle cleaned out when it emerged that the No. 1 pick of the 2021 Draft Jason Horne-Francis wanted to leave North Melbourne after a year and return to Adelaide with the Power.
Given that Horne-Francis was still under contract at Arden St, the question quickly became how the Power could satisfy North Melbourne’s demands for the former number one pick.
Through no fault of his own Bonner was quickly spoken about as a way the Power could get a deal for Horne-Francis done.
His manager said that there had been no discussions with North Melbourne, and ultimately Bonner remained at the Power.
So how did the 25-year-old feel about his name getting thrown out as trade bait to lure a very big fish to Alberton?
“We know what footy is like these days, it’s a bit of a business,” he said.
“People are looking to move or come back home like the two boys we picked up.
“But my sole focus was to stay in Adelaide and play for Port Adelaide in 2023 so speculation, rumours, that’s all outside noise and my focus was to get my body right and come back and hit the ground running in pre-season.
“I guess seeing your name in the media it is either a good thing or a bad thing but I didn’t really take any notice of it.
“If it was to happen (a trade) it would have had to come through my manager and myself and I didn’t hear any noise or anything like that.”
Bonner wants to be wanted by Port Adelaide.
It’s why when he did suffer an ankle injury in Round 8 in 2022 and came back into the 22 at the first opportunity it was one of his favourite moments of the season.
“It is a good feeling, knowing that you are wanted and needed in the team I guess,” he said.
“Coming straight back into the team (in Round 11) was a really nice feeling.
“That was when I sort of knew that I had my spot here.”
This was on the back of a strong pre-season for Bonner, one of the better ones according to him.
But preceding this was Bonner’s standout performance for the Power in one of the darkest days in their recent history.
While there wasn’t much to smile about from a Power perspective after the crushing preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval to end their 2021 season – Bonner was a rare bright spark out of a night to forget in what was a breakout game for him.
He finished with 32 disposals, a goal and 10 marks.
The 10 marks were a Power high, while only Ollie Wines with 38 had more disposals.
“I had a good night individually but I would change that in a heartbeat to play in a grand final with the blokes I play with,” he said.
“In hindsight I would take it back in a heartbeat and play in a granny.”
Going into 2023, Bonner finds himself needing to re-establish his position in the team.
Against Gold Coast in round 15, Bonner suffered three fractures to his cheekbone and eye socket after clashing heads with Izak Rankine.
He returned to the Power side three games later but in three of his final four games of the season he was either an activated or inactive medical sub for Ken Hinkley’s side.
“Once I found my way out of the team again I found it hard to get back in because the boys were playing some good footy and we were still a chance to play finals,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to putting a complete year together in 2023, whether that is midfield, forward, back, I’m happy to play anywhere for the team.”
In Bonner’s halfback/wing position there are a lot of options for the Power.
On top of the established players, Jase Burgoyne showed plenty when he was given a chance at the end of the season, Xavier Duursma and Miles Bergman are expected to have better years after they were hit by injury and illness in 2022, Kane Farrell was deployed further back to end the season and the Power are excited about 2021 first round draftee Josh Sinn.
“It’s good to have healthy competition,” Bonner said.
“That is what any footy club wants and what we strive for.
“It makes you better and the guys around you better so I’m loving it at the moment. Competition for spots is hot, we have a fit list.
“We can’t really fault anyone’s intention at the moment.
“So whether it is on the wing or down back I’ll play anywhere for the team. I can play up the ground and I can play down back as well.”
Bonner has been standing out during pre-season for the Power.
Not just because he came back early in his quest for a big pre-season, but for his bleached blonde mullet that he has been rocking.
“We have a few old school coaches in the team,” Bonner jokes.
“I have to keep them young and be myself.”
Part of Bonner being himself is to try a variety of things off the field.
He’s doing a coaching course, while he will also look at one to build life skills out of footy.
“I’m just trying everything to further my development as a person,” he said.
PORT YOUNG-GUN RELISHING UNEXPECTED FRESH START
Francis Evans wasn’t thinking about trying to get a fresh start.
But after it presented itself to him, in a move to Port Adelaide, he quickly knew that it would be the best thing for him.
Evans played six games for Geelong in 2021 and 2022, with one stint as an unused medical substitute, after joining the Cats in the 2019 draft.
He was out of contract at the end of 2022, and while he hadn’t tasted any AFL minutes since round 11 he was still hopeful he would stay at the Cats.
But when the Power contacted him about a potential move to Alberton, his intentions started to change.
“I would have told them that they were kidding themselves probably,” he said when asked what he would say if someone told him he would be at Port Adelaide at the end of 2022.
“It all happened pretty quickly, they got in contact towards the end of the season and it happened quickly.
“It was a little bit of shock, you do start to weigh everything up.
“It is still a little bit weird because you are still at another club and that was probably the hardest thing to just coming to terms that it is the best thing for my career and future.
“When I kind of got to Geelong I was hopeful that I would stay there but things don’t work out sometimes and I’m very grateful for the chance and take it in my stride and keep working.
“I didn’t really start to think about it (a fresh start) until Port approached me and from there it was within a fortnight that I decided that the Cats are going pretty well and I’m not in the team and their team might not really change next year or the year after.
“So I decided to look down different avenues and Port were really keen.”
The move by Port for Evans came as a surprise to many given his lack of appearances for the Cats.
It continues a theme for the 21-year-old, who was the smokey of his draft in 2019.
When Geelong selected him at pick No. 41 draft watchers were quickly scouring their notebooks to figure out just who the Cats had picked up.
In 2019 Evans played just seven games.
Five of these came for the Brunswick Football Club in Division Two of the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
The other two came at the Calder Cannons before his year was ended because of a heel fracture.
But it was 21 goals in those five games for Brunswick, including impressing Geelong’s recruiting manager Stephen Wells in person, which convinced the Cats to take a chance on him.
“I was playing with the senior team at the time and I had a couple of mates who were mad Cats fans and they were telling me that Wellsy was there,” he said.
“I think we were playing out at Melbourne Grammar or something on a Saturday arvo and I just thought they were taking the piss out of me.
“I didn’t believe them for about a week and then I heard it from a bit more of a reliable source.
“It was pretty random and pretty funny I think for a few people there to see Wellsy rock up to that game.”
While he forged a slightly different path to play AFL, those who have worked with Evans or know him say he has the goal nous, temperament and work ethic to become a quality player in the league – he just needs an opportunity.
The 182cm, 83kg goalsneak kicked 20 majors and averaged 17.7 disposals in the VFL for Geelong in 2022.
But while he was behind the 2022 premiership winning combo of Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Brad Close and Gary Rohan at Geelong, the opportunities could be more plentiful at Port Adelaide.
Robbie Gray and Steven Motlop have both retired.
Orazio Fantasia has been going well in pre-season but didn’t play any AFL minutes in 2022 because of injury and defenders Lachie Jones and Darcy Byrne-Jones were at times used as pressure forwards.
This all led to the Power bringing in Evans as a delisted free agent and Junior Rioli from West Coast via a trade.
Evans said he was excited about the Port Adelaide attack.
“A few great players have left but last season they also had injuries in their team,” he said.
“They have brought in Junior who is a star and Orazio is flying at the moment and is looking really good which is great after the year he had.
“And even Jed McEntee is another one who got games last year so there is a lot of healthy competition for spots.
“So I think it is looking pretty promising.
“We (him and the coaches) haven’t spoken about too many things, my aim is to be in the 22 for the entire year but I think that conversation might happen post Christmas I’m not too sure.”
After Christmas when he returns from his break Evans will also move in with Power young gun Zak Butters,
“I’ve been living with Ollie Lord and Connor Rozee since I came to Adelaide so I’m close to them and then I’ll move in with Zak,” he said.
“We get along really well, we have a few mutual friends.
“But everyone has been great for me, I haven’t felt nervous at all.
“I feel at home already, which is a nice thing. It lets you focus on footy a bit more.”
Feeling at home already is big for Evans, who conceded that the move to the Power and Adelaide in general “was a little bit daunting at the start”.
“But kind of like anything you just need to take it head on and I just tried to look at the positives of the change and what it could mean for me,” he said.
“I’m just trying to embrace all the ups and downs and have a positive attitude that this should help my future and I can hopefully be a part of Port’s future for the foreseeable future.”
PORT DRAFTEE’S UNLIKELY CONNECTION TO STAR RUCKMAN
As soon as he woke up Scott Lycett knew he was in trouble.
The Port Adelaide ruckman had played the previous day for the Magpies in the SANFL against Woodville-West Torrens in July.
It was his first game since he dislocated his shoulder in April, in the round 4 loss to Melbourne when he tried to play on against the Demons’ gun ruck duo of Max Gawn and Luke Jackson.
The 30-year-old got through the comeback match against the Eagles, recording 16 disposals, 13 hitouts and a goal. He felt fine, but that changed rapidly the following day.
“So, I had the three months off with rehab and then building myself up to play again and got through that and played one game in the SANFL,” Lycett said.
“Straight after the game I felt fine, but then the next day when I woke up I couldn’t lift my arm off the side of my body.
“It was tough, because I felt like I had a really good pre-season and I started the year off not too bad and I was looking forward to continuing that.”
After tests were done it was found that Lycett had an infection in the shoulder that he had surgery on.
“I had to spend another week in hospital and for about three weeks a nurse was coming to my house every morning and putting antibiotics in me,” he said.
An infection post-surgery might be confronting to deal with. But it wasn’t a new experience for Lycett.
“I’ve had three major surgeries now. Had both shoulders reconstructed and my knee and they have all been in different states and different cities and they have all had infections,” he said.
“So there might be something wrong with me I think, not the hospitals, it must be me.
“At one time I was a bit scared because I had the surgery and within two or three days I had lost 10 kilos.
“But with the surgery just gone I didn’t have any symptoms like that.”
Perennial understudy Sam Hayes got a chance at AFL level after Lycett suffered the first injury against Melbourne, featuring in seven games.
But some questions over Hayes’ ability to be more than just a tap ruckman led to the Power turning to the combo of key forwards Jeremy Finlayson and Charlie Dixon as they attempted to salvage their season.
Finlayson was tasked with most of this ruckwork, impressing with his ability to move around the ground and be an extra midfielder when the ball came to the deck.
It has raised the possibility of the Power looking at some matches in 2023 where Finlayson’s extra mobility might be the way they go.
Lycett said he thought he and Finlayson could work well as a partnership for the Power in 2023.
“I guess the way I look at it is that I had a year off, so hopefully that prolongs my career a bit longer, my body has had a chance to have a bit of a rest,” he said.
“So I look at it from that perspective hopefully it can make me play longer.
“I’m looking forward to working with them and whatever the coaches want to do going forward, I’m all for it.
“All I can do is get as fit and strong as I can and put my name back out there.
“It is hard to say, I think we can work together in the team. He (Finlayson) has played most of his career as a forward and coming up against those bigger rucks I think that was the only area he struggled in last season in the ruck because I thought he did everything else really well.
“Obviously, I can hold my own a bit more against those bigger rucks, so I think we can compliment each other in the team and now that he has been here for 12 months and has that confidence I think it is exciting and I’m looking forward to it.
“I would say that Jezza is more a forward, but he has done well in the ruck.
“You can’t play just the one position in a team these days, you have to be able to play forward/ruck, or half-forward/mid or halfback/wing.”
Winning back his spot in the Power team could be a long time coming for Lycett, after his lengthy off-season.
“Everyone thinks you get your fitness and strength in the pre-season but you actually set yourself up in the off-season to have a good year,” he said.
“We had more time off this off-season than any other year and obviously I had the whole year off, so I was really looking forward to coming back and soon as we were able to come back, I was back.
“Training with the boys is a lot better than just running laps by yourself, which I had to do a few times, so that was a lot better.
“(My body) still feels pretty good, I’m still getting some strength back in my shoulder but I don’t have those sore spots or anything like that in my legs or in my body, so I’m just looking forward to just smashing pre-season and getting back to where I was before I did my shoulder.
“I feel really good, we will start to do some match sim when we return after the Christmas break and by then I should have a really good idea of where I am at.”
While his 2022 was overall a frustrating year, Lycett did get the chance to help out the South Australian under-18 boys team as a forward coach.
And he has already had a quick reunion with one of his former charges at Alberton.
“I dad a bit to do with Tom Scully, who has just been drafted by the club, so that was pretty handy,” he said.
“That kept me busy at least.
“I’m probably not interested in coaching men’s stuff, but I am interested in coaching developing teams and developing talls.
“Because I feel like young kids like that can find it a bit tougher and might need some guidance to get to the next level.”
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