Port Adelaide co-captain Ollie Wines says he is proud of the way he’s fought through injuries this season but is ultimately disappointed that the Power won’t feature in September
It has been a baptism of fire for Ollie Wines in his first year as Port Adelaide skipper and when he stopped to reflect on it last week he was proud of his efforts but says it doesn’t numb the pain of his team missing finals.
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PORT Adelaide co-captain Ollie Wines says he can take some personal pride in the way he has battled through constant injuries this year but it doesn’t mask the disappointment of his team missing finals.
Wines dislocated his shoulder water-skiing which required surgery in pre-season, broke his ankle in Round 6 and broke his thumb in Round 17 but defied the pain barrier to play out both games.
He returned to form with 33 disposals and six clearances in Sunday’s final round win over Fremantle which he says gives him some individual satisfaction to have finished the year strongly.
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“I had a good think about it the other day and I’m really proud of myself for sticking tough and having that resilience, it’s incredibly hard to lead this team with Jona (Tom Jonas) and not be out there with the boys, play a few games here and then stop,” Wines said.
“I am proud of myself for sticking tough and doing my best to remain positive despite a few injuries at times.
“It takes a few games to get that consistency, that real heat at the end of pre-season that I missed to find your feet, and it was always taking me three games to get back to my best.
“But Jona and I have done an enormous amount of work in bringing the group together so I think off the field there is a lot you can do to stay involved and develop the team.
“As much as I only played 12 games I feel I did as much as I could to help the team.”
Wines played two games in the SANFL on the way back from his ankle injury and was initially named in the Magpies’ team after his broken thumb before a late AFL call-up when Zak Butters was injured.
“I was a little bit flat initially (about being named in the SANFL team again), but once I thought why it was happening I understood the reasons,” Wines said.
“I’ve had an incredibly disrupted season and sometimes you need those games to find your feet, as I said it takes about three games to get rolling.
“As long as it’s the same with everyone, like it was, I think it breeds a good culture and the upside is the younger guys seeing a fair few senior guys play with them, it’s led to the Maggies being in such a powerful position and we look forward to watching them in September.
“That’s been a big part of our connectiveness this year, the amount of boys supporting the Magpies, they are us so I’m sure the whole list will be hanging around and riding them.”
Wines said it was a strange feeling in the rooms on Sunday night when his team had beaten the Dockers but could not progress to the finals.
“Overall it’s a loss missing finals, it’s a bit of a weird night, we spent our opportunity last week (against North Melbourne),” he said.
“That was so disappointing and if we weren’t able to back up from that then we’re not competitors.
“The boys were hungry to come out and win and to battle it out was pleasing, but overall we’re disappointed to miss finals.
“It will hurt but we think we’ve got the list and the youth coming through that will help us for the future.”
Wines said he shares coach Ken Hinkley’s optimism about the list going forward.
“I’m obviously biased, I think we can win a premiership and I think that every year, and we believed we could definitely play finals this year and we didn’t so it’s a failure,” he said.
“There’s no doubt the boys hurt not playing in September but we come back and give our all and next year will be no different.
“We look at the positives at the list we’re developing and hopefully that will pay dividends in the years to come.”
The positives included full seasons into first-round draft picks Butters, Xavier Duursma and Connor Rozee as well as the rapid improvement of Dan Houston, Tom Clurey and Darcy Byrne-Jones who was given a stint on the ball in the last quarter on Sunday.
“He’s always said ‘geez it’s easy in the midfield, get me in there’ so he got the run and got a couple of clearances which was impressive,” Wines said of Byrne-Jones.
“He could have knocked one (goal) over as well but he gave it off unselfishly, he’s had a terrific year and carried the load a lot when some more senior guys had missed through injury and were down on form so those guys have matured a lot.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au