Port Adelaide swingman Esava Ratugolea opens up on his career ahead of qualifying final against former side Geelong

Port Adelaide’s Esava Ratugolea will take on former side Geelong in a position many thought was in the past for him. It’s just part of a wild career for the Power big man.

It started out with a bag of chips, now Esava Ratugolea is ready to show he’s all that and some more for Port Adelaide as he comes up against former team Geelong with a place in a preliminary final on the line.

After a trade to the Power that was two years in the making, and a late-season positional switch that few outside of Alberton predicted, Ratugolea will take on many of his good friends as a key forward for Port at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.

“Yeah, I know, what are the chances, hey?” Ratugolea beams as he sits in the Adelaide Oval stands.

“I’ve got a lot of close friends there that I am coming up against but I’m more looking forward to the fact that we are in a final and we have been playing some good footy.”

But it still hasn’t stopped some reflection for the 26-year-old on his journey so far.

Esava Ratugolea at Port Adelaide’s captain run on Wednesday. Picture: Matt Sampson

It’s one that began in Cobram, where a previously rugby league mad Ratugolea realised as a kid that he needed to find a different sport after moving from NSW to Victoria.

Soccer was initially his choice – Ratugolea was a centre back/sweeper who came second in a couple of best and fairests.

But then he found out about footy, through a somewhat left-field way.

“I wanted to play league and I really loved my league and NRL but we were in Victoria and there was no rugby league around,” he said.

“So I had to join footy or soccer and I joined soccer first and that was like for the first eight years.

“The first time I ever knew about the sport (Aussie rules) was through the packet of chips when they had the footy cards in them.

“I had Adam Goodes and Matthew Pavlich and that’s how I kind of became aware of the game.”

From a Fijian family, Ratugolea hopes kids from similar backgrounds don’t have to almost stumble into the game like he did.

“When I was growing up I had David Rodan, Nic Naitanui and Alipate Carlile (to look up to), and if there is a kid out there who turns the TV on and sees me hopefully it can make them think they can do it, too.

“There’s a lot of talent overseas and I would love to take this game overseas and back to my home country, we will see how we go.”

Four years after starting to play footy, Ratugolea was drafted by the Cats with the 43rd pick of the 2016 draft – along with Quinton Narkle.

Nearly eight years on, they both play for Port Adelaide.

“We have gone through the journey together,” he said.

“He is one of my best mates, we lived together when we first got to Geelong, started in host families together and started playing footy together and lived together for ages.

“So we are really close and he was a big reason for why I came over here.”

Esava Ratugolea played 75 games for the Cats. Picture: Brad Fleet

Power teammate Francis Evans is another ex-Cat and someone who Ratugolea is close with at Alberton.

They were running together in Paris last off-season when Ratugolea got the phone call confirming that he had been traded to the Power.

It was a phone call a year in the making after Ratugolea tried and failed to get to Alberton following the 2022 season.

But the Power didn’t have the picks to convince Geelong to part with Ratugolea, who had begun to show promise as a key defender.

It meant he had to return to the Cats despite it being well publicised that he wanted to leave, and then have to again wait for a potential trade to be thrashed out.

Ratugolea says dealing with both clubs actually wasn’t that difficult.

“I don’t think I was nervous, I kind of knew the deal was going to get done. It was just a matter of when, really,” he said.

“I sort of wanted to go and Ken (Hinkley) had an opportunity for me, so I was pretty confident.

“It was so fine (returning to Geelong), the way those boys deal with things like that. It is a business at the end of the day, everyone is looking for a new job and you can’t hate anyone for looking for opportunities.

“I came in day one for pre-season and it was like nothing had happened, I’m still really close with a lot of people there.”

While the Power are liking him as a forward, Esava Ratugolea thinks his future lies in defence. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

It will be at the other end of the ground where the Power are hoping Ratugolea can hurt his former team.

In round 20 he was thrown forward with the Power facing a shortage of talls for its win over Carlton.

Aside from when he had to cover a briefly injured Aliir Aliir in round 24 against Fremantle, he has remained there since.

It might have seemed like a bit of a surprise move to those outside of Alberton, but Ratugolea knew it could be on the cards for a while.

“I did actually, we sort of spoke earlier in the year about if we need to play you forward will you play forward,” he said.

“And I said I would jump at the opportunity, I just want to play and do whatever to help the team.

“So we had the chat earlier on in the season so I was aware of it, it was just a matter of when and here we are now.

“There is still a lot of improvement to come in my game, especially as a defender.

“I haven’t played a lot as a defender, I feel like I have a lot to learn in that position and I still feel that it is my position going forward.

“But right now at the moment what we need as a team is me playing forward, and those boys have taken me in with open arms and been really good at giving me advice.

“We will see how it goes but right now I am a forward for the team.”