Dan Houston’s move from defence to the midfield another win for Ken Hinkley
Dan Houston was drafted as a forward, started his AFL career as a defender and is now making his mark as a midfielder in Port Adelaide’s refit.
Port Adelaide
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Dan Houston is Port Adelaide’s dream player in an AFL era of coaches craving flexibility.
Claimed as a forward in the 2016 rookie draft, converted to a defender for his 50-game AFL apprenticeship from the 2017 season — and now a midfielder with the scalp of a Brownlow Medal contender, Geelong young star Tim Kelly.
“Dan has had an unbelievable season — and around the competition there are not many players in much better form,” said Power coach Ken Hinkley.
“So Dan deserves to be recognised for the season he has put together. To transition from half-back seamlessly to the midfield is another amazing performance.”
Houston, 22, is still not declaring his move to the Power midfield is complete, particularly when he was called to defensive duties late against Geelong on Saturday night.
“But I am enjoying the midfield,” Houston said. “I’ve had good leaders around me, particularly with (former captain) Travis Boak and Robbie Gray who have made it easy to move to the midfield in the last three weeks.”
Houston described his early match up with Kelly — in which he outmuscled the in-form Cat to beat him 12-5 on the disposal count in the first term — as “daunting”.
“I knew I had done enough during the week to give myself the best chance,” Houston said.
“It wasn’t a complete run-with with Kelly. I was manned up on him at stoppage a fair bit — and it was good to learn from such a great player.
“It will be interesting (if the midfield portfolio sticks). I’ve had a few chats with Kenny with him saying he is happy to put me back (in defence) if that is needed for team balance.
“I’ll play any role for this team. It is good that I have that string to my bow that I can play in the middle, so I am really enjoying my footy at the moment.”
Houston closed his 52 AFL game on Saturday night with the 11-point win against league leader Geelong marking his 30th win in national league company.
“We played four quarters,” said Houston, emphasising the ultimate agenda the Power players carried after their scoreless last-term collapse to Fremantle in Perth seven days earlier.
“We executed our plan. We weren’t high scoring, but we played aggressive footy through the middle — and we looked dangerous when we went inside 50.
“And it was good to have the boys back — Charlie (Dixon), Ollie (Wines) and Brad (Ebert), so there was plenty of spark up forward.”
Port Adelaide’s form line since Round 9 reads W-L-W-L-W to have the Power at 7-6 and still challenged to find more than two consecutive wins for the first time this season.
“That’s the thing — the need for consistency when the ladder is so tight,” Houston said. “We need to go into every game with the mentality we had (against West Coast and Geelong) — to play a consistent four quarters and get the four points.
“Against Fremantle, we missed on one quarter — and it cost us the game. This wee we bounced back, but we have been up and down … we need to stay on the up. We need to do the same next week (against the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night).
“Why we are inconsistent, I’m not sure. But I do know we have to do all the little things right — nothing must slide under the mat, on or off the field.”
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