Power stars happy with balanace in the midfield despite recent issues

The Power have been beaten in the midfield in their last two matches, but Ollie Wines and Zak Butters are happy with how their current mix is operating.

Two of Port Adelaide’s star midfielders say they are happy with the Power’s mix in the engine-room, despite two weeks of lowering their colours to their opponents.

The Power’s commanding Gather Round win over Essendon had Port’s midfield labelled as one of the best in the AFL, and ignited debate around just how good the trio of captain Connor Rozee, vice-captain Zak Butters and young star Jason Horne-Francis could be with Rozee the oldest at 24-years-old.

But against Fremantle and Collingwood the Power’s midfield has been second best.

The loss to the Pies prompted Power senior coach Ken Hinkley to say that maybe Port’s status of one of the strongest midfields in the league was “perhaps not quite as accurate as we would like it to be”.

The Power have also only used Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis as a midfield trio at nine centre bounces this season so far.

Zak Butters with ball in hand. Picture: Getty Images

Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines is again fit after struggling with injury issues last year, while the Power love the defensive work leadership group member Willem Drew does in the midfield.

Wines told this masthead the hype around the Power’s midfield was “probably external” and the on-ball group was well aware there were aspects it had to improve.

“That is external hype, we all see different things inside the club compared to outside the club,” he said.

“We have a good balance of guys going through there at the moment, obviously you probably want to play those three through there as much as you can but it is a long game of footy and guys get tired.

“So I think that just comes down to timing and interchanges.

“We are continuing to tinker with the balance of that… you are going to have guys going forward, guys going to the interchange and we are looking to find those combinations that work at certain times of the game and we all have different skills that we can bring to the midfield at times so it is about how that works.”

Butters also said he was happy with the centre bounce rotations so far.

“I think the balance has been good, it is not just all about us three,” he said.

“We have a Brownlow Medallist in Ollie Wines and Willem Drew plays his role and compliments us.

“I think we have a nice crew in there, we work really well together and we will get our chance together when it is myself, Connor and Jason but it doesn’t just have to be us.”

But Butters did concede that the Power had to work on how it fared against big teams after its heavy loss to Collingwood.

“I think that would be a fair statement that consistently we haven’t gotten it done in big games,” he said.

“We are not shying away from that as a football club, we owned that in our review and we need to go to work on it.”

Wines had by his own admission one of his worst seasons in 2023 after he had an interrupted pre-season because of a knee injury.

He missed Round 5 against the Bombers with a minor hamstring issue but said the confidence in his body was back.

Ollie Wines is feeling better about his fitness. Picture: Getty Images

“I’m really good, no issues. It is the first time in a couple of years that I have felt really good at this time of year so really confident,” he said.

“The confidence that I have in my body to back it in physically now is there and that was probably something I was second guessing last year and without that I am not the player that I need to be.”

Meanwhile Power chief executive Matthew Richardson said there was no “handshake agreement” for midfield coach Josh Carr to take over from senior coach Ken Hinkley at the end of next season.

“I think that talk has been external, we have been really consistent all the way through that Ken is our coach, he is the right person to lead this group for the next couple of years,” he said.

“And at the same time we have an assistant coaching group that we have a lot of faith in. Ken himself has said that Josh is a potential senior coach in waiting.

“The talk of a succession plan is external.”