Port Adelaide star Ollie Wines says Power players are sick of being inconsistent

THEY may have walked away from China with four points but if you think the Port Adelaide boys are happy with their start to the year, think again. This club has bigger fish to fry in 2018 and it all starts with consistency.

Port Adelaide players celebrate their win in China. Picture: AAP Images

PORT Adelaide’s players left Shanghai on Sunday relieved in having delivered on the club’s international agenda — but still challenged to answer the Power’s biggest task, the fight for the AFL premiership.

At 6-3 at their mid-season break, the Power players are one win better than at the same point in Season 2017 when Port Adelaide returned to the AFL finals after a two-year absence. But there is a still a burning want to find the elusive consistency that has stopped Ken Hinkley’s group from standing up as a top-four contender in the race to September.

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Power captain Travis Boak and vice-captain Ollie Wines spoke of this focus that came out of a team meeting a fortnight ago after the insipid performance against West Coast in Perth. This has been followed up by strong efforts — and consecutive wins — against Adelaide in Showdown 44 and Gold Coast in China on Saturday.

“The first half of the season,” Wines told The Advertiser in Shanghai, “has been similar to past seasons — our inconsistency between games.

Chad Wingard reacts after missing a goal in China. Picture: AAP Images

“We started the season with three good wins — and then get done by Essendon (in round 4); we have a good game against North Melbourne and get done by West Coast (in round 7).

“The key here against the Suns was again contested ball; we ticked that box. Now we have to deal with our inconsistency between performances.

“We had a big chat a couple of weeks ago that enough is enough. We’re sick of being inconsistent. It is time to make a change. We’ve reacted — we’ve implemented changes and we will continue to do that in the second half of the season to get some really good results to secure a finals spot for us.”

Boak wants the Power to return from Shanghai eager to build momentum to capitalise on the 6-3 start.

“We’ve won two in a row ... we have to continue to look after the things we have been doing well in the past couple of weeks,” Boak said. “And that is the contested ball that has not been consistent all year.

“We have to be strong in that area for the rest of the year. And we have to be demanding on each other — and that has been outstanding in the past two weeks.”

Ollie Wines wants more consistency from the Power. Picture: Getty Images

Port Adelaide’s playing group will not regather at Alberton until late this week with some players opting to stay overseas during their mid-season break. The team will resume AFL action again on the road — to Launceston to play Hawthorn on Saturday week (June 2).

Wines does not sense a need for rest after a heavy travel program in the past month.

“We feel pretty fresh,” he said. “We have a relatively free injury list. In the whole scheme of things, the squad is healthy. We have an early bye after nine games of football, so we will see how we handle a run of 13 games (to the end of the home-and-away season).

“Still, you take any week off when they give you one.”

Port Adelaide reported no injury after the 40-point win against the Suns.

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