Port Adelaide recruit Aliir Aliir ready to return to track after off-season jaw surgery

Pre-season jaw surgery is a distant memory for Aliir Aliir, the prized Port Adelaide recruit is now champing at the bit to join his teammates on the pre-season track.

Aliir Aliir has been on light duties since his surgery. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Aliir Aliir hopes to join the main group at Port Adelaide training for the first time on Friday as he takes the next step in his recovery from off-season jaw surgery.

The former Sydney Swans defender has been with the rehabilitation contingent since coming out of a 14-day quarantine earlier this month after a procedure last year to correct an underbite then a post-Christmas check-up.

But the 26-year-old told The Advertiser he was eating solid food again and looking forward to taking part in more drills.

Aliir Aliir is ready to mix it with teammates in training. Picture: Mark Brake

“I’m feeling good,” Aliir said.

“The plan is to do a little bit more on Friday, try to join the main group.

“I’ve had a soft diet – the first two weeks my mouth was fully shut so I had to eat through a straw, which wasn’t great.

“Then I got to soft foods – mashed potatoes and smoothies were the go to.

“I’m back eating now and you don’t realise how much you miss food.”

Aliir, who expected to play in defence for the Power, said he was settling in and trying to learn quickly.

“Training is different in terms of drills and the type of running they do (compared to the Swans), just the whole game plan,” he said.

“I’m asking questions, trying to fast-track my learning, so when I do go out there, I know what to do and what position to be in.”

Aliir said the nickname he acquired at the Swans – “Chanders”, as in chandelier – was sticking at Alberton.

“Orazio (Fantasia) and Hammer (Hamish Hartlett) had been throwing it out there and a few boys have caught onto it,” he said.

Young ruckman Sam Hayes is champing at the bit to make his AFL debut. Picture: Tait Schmaal

NEW DEAL SHOWS PORT’S FAITH IN YOUNG RUCKMAN’S POTENTIAL

Promising but untried ruckman Sam Hayes says making his AFL debut is now in his sights after he signed a new two-year deal at Port Adelaide.

The 21-year-old is behind Scott Lycett and Peter Ladhams in the ruck race at Alberton, meaning Hayes is yet to debut at AFL level for the Power.

A season-ending knee injury in 2018, and then no SANFL program last year, has also hurt Hayes’ chances of breaking into Port’s side.

But the 205cm big man is highly rated by Power staff – with it predicted by some Hayes could emerge as the best out of all three.

The Power on Monday announced that the 47th pick of the 2017 Draft had signed a new deal to keep him at Alberton until the end of 2023.

There are big raps on Hayes, who has signed a new deal to stay at the Power. Picture: Sarah Reed

Port general manager of football Chris Davies said the Power had high hopes for Hayes.

“Sam is a smart, talented footballer who continues to develop and build his all-round game,” he said.

“Injury and the impact of COVID-19 on our SANFL program has meant Sam has yet to play a full season of league football but we have high hopes for him as part of our club’s future.”

Hayes said he was now targeting making his AFL debut in 2021.

“It was an easy decision to stay. The club has felt like home from the minute I stepped into it,” Hayes said.

“I have a great bunch of teammates and I love the history behind the club, so I couldn’t be happier to sign on.

“It was a tough start for me doing my knee in my first year and then having no SANFL because of the COVID impact in 2020 but this year I just want to have a consistent year of footy and I’d love to make my AFL debut.”

Hayes has played 18 SANFL games for the club, kicking 16 goals and averaging 13 disposals and 18.5 hit-outs per game.

He recorded 26-hitouts for the Port Magpies in the 2019 SANFL Grand Final.

His new deal means the Power have 11 players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of this season.

Jase Burgoyne in action for Team Grundy during the AFL Draft Combine Boys All Stars Game at Thebarton Oval in Adelaide last October. Picture: AFL Photos

IS PORT IN BOX SEAT TO LAND ONE OF THE DRAFT’S BEST?

Port Adelaide great Peter Burgoyne hopes to feel a sense of deja vu next summer.

Twenty years after his younger brother Shaun joined him for their first AFL pre-season together, Peter’s sons Trent and Jase are on a path to share the same experience.

They have already had a taste of it – last week highly-touted 2021 draft prospect Jase trained with Power rookie Trent for a week at Alberton.

The family’s dream is they are teammates this time next year.

Port Adelaide has access to Jase, who is considered a potential top-20 pick and is one of four South Australians in the AFL academy for 2021, via the father-son rule.

“It’s going to be like watching me and Shaun starting all over again, hopefully,” Peter, a member of the Indigenous Team of the Century, told The Advertiser.

“It’d be sort of like deja vu.

“They’d play AFL anywhere but to play at Port Adelaide, hopefully that’s where they should end up – that’s the family club.”

Port Adelaide champion Peter Burgoyne ahead of his 200th game with children Jase (then 4), Rome, 11 months, and Trent, 5.

Peter featured in 240 games for the Power, while Shaun – the league’s oldest player in 2021 – lined up in 157 before moving to Hawthorn.

When Peter and Shaun won the 2004 premiership, Trent and Jase were on the podium as babies.

“Jase has been around the footy club for the last 17 years,” he said.

“They’re Port Adelaide through and through.”

Jase spent his week at Alberton in rehabilitation, recovering from a post-season clean-up on his left knee that addressed a minor tear of his meniscus.

Last season the Woodville-West Torrens product gathered the second-most disposals in the SANFL’s under-18s, averaging 29 per game.

He also finished third in that competition’s best and fairest, the McCallum Tomkins Medal.

His strengths include his dash and decision-making, and he takes kick-ins for both the Eagles and Henley High.

At 184cm, he is also 7cm taller than Trent, who plays mainly as a small forward and is yet to make his AFL debut.

Port Adelaide great Peter Burgoyne and his son Jase at Alberton in January. Picture: Brenton. Edwards

Woodville-West Torrens talent manager Darren Hams said Jase was a pure footballer.

“He reads the play really well and knows how to find the footy,” Hams said.

“He’s not going to bash or crash a pack because he’s not strong enough, but one-on-one he has the smarts to use his body the right way and get his hands on the footy, and is clean with it.”

Hams said Jase was capable of playing league this season for the Eagles, the reigning premier.

Peter believed the sky was the limit.

“I don’t think anyone knows Jase’s potential,” he said.

“It can be whatever it wants to be but it comes down to him doing the hard work and listening to his coaches.

“I’ve always told them ‘you can’t take shortcuts, you’ve got to do extras’.

“During the COVID shutdown … Jase was on the treadmill every day running and I think that put him in good stead.”

Jase training with Port Adelaide in January. Picture: PAFC

If Jase joins the Power, he will become its fourth father-son selection.

Brett Ebert (son of Russell), Jackson Mead (Darren), Taj Schofield (Jarrad) and Trent, who is out of contract at the end of the season, are the others.

Jase would also add to the family’s history at the club that began when his grandfather, Peter Sr, played there in the 1970s.

“My father was the one who put down the pathway for myself, then Shaun coming through,” Peter said.

“When Trent got picked up, I said it was my proudest day, other than the day he was born.

“If all goes to plan, I hope my boys can have a good 10 or 12 years at the club, or even longer and cement their names at Port Adelaide as well.”