Port Adelaide star Ollie Wines to miss start of season after ‘successful’ shoulder surgery following waterskiing accident

Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines will miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery for a dislocated shoulder today. But the Power insists it is happy for its players to have an outlet outside footy and that it won’t hurt his captaincy chances.

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Port Adelaide says it will not rule players’ lives and has no problem with Ollie Wines waterskiing after he had surgery this morning to repair ligament damage in his shoulder that will sideline him for 8-10 weeks.

Wines was skiing with teammates near Mannum on Saturday when the rope got away from him and dislocated his shoulder. It had to be put back in at a nearby hospital.

The 24-year-old is unlikely to be available for Round 1 but has avoided a reconstruction that would have seen him miss up to four months of football.

The Power’s football chief Chris Davies said the arthroscopy on Tuesday was the best outcome given the circumstances and while the club was disappointed Wines was injured it was not disappointed in his decision to take to the water.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk whether he should or shouldn’t be out there but let’s be really clear, our view is we value guys having time away from the club and spending time together,” Davies said.

“They need an outlet, we’re really comfortable with Ollie doing what he did outside of the fact that he got injured.

“Hindsight is 20-20 vision, our position is right now we value the guys having an outlet, Ollie loves his skiing, he’s a light plane pilot, we’ve got other guys who like to ride motorbikes and go-karts, we’re not going to stop them doing their own thing in their own time.

“We want them to take as much care as they can but we’re not here to rule their lives.”

It is the first time Wines — who grew up on the river at Echuca — has been injured on the water in a lifetime of skiing.

“Fair to say he was disappointed but to be absolutely clear we are not going to run the lives of these guys 24/7. We expect them to take care but all of these things have to be put in context,” Davies said.

“I spoke to his mother (today), Ollie has been skiing since he was six years of age, hasn’t had a hiccup in all of that time, we’re not going to hang him on something like this.”

Port Adelaide footballer Ollie Wines on the Murray River at Echuca. Picture: Instagram

Ollie Wines during Port Adelaide pre-season training at Alberton Oval. Picture Simon Cross

Davies also rejected any suggestion Wines’ injury would dent his chances of becoming the club’s next captain.

“That’s not our view, we’re going through a process that we’ll work through over the next few weeks and if Ollie is in contention this incident is not going to make a difference to whether he’s captain or not,” he said.

Port Adelaide has not put a timeline on when Wines will return to football but expects to learn more as he begins his rehabilitation in the next two weeks.

“Ollie has historically been a good healer and we hope that’s the case and I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to be back as soon as he can be,” Davies said.

“But fair to say the type of player Ollie is we want to make sure he’s right to go when he comes back because the last thing we want is recurring injuries.”