Power co-captain Tom Jonas praises Port’s top draftees after they signed contract extensions

Tom Jonas says it’s a huge coup for Port Adelaide to re-sign its crop of draftees and he has singled out one of them for adding ‘a heap of value’ to the Power team.

Xavier Duursma after the final siren in Showdown 47. Picture: Sarah Reed.

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Tom Jonas says signing Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma to contract extensions is a giant coup for his football club while pouring praise on wingman Duursma who he says is an unsung hero at Alberton.

The three draftees on Tuesday signed two-year extensions a year early, keeping them at the Power until at least 2022.

Xavier Duursma, Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Jake Patmore and Joel Garner have all signed contract extensions to stay at Port Adelaide. Picture SARAH REED

After debuting in Round 1 this season they have missed just one game between them — Butters when he was dropped for Round 8. Jake Patmore and Joel Garner have also signed new deals.

“It’s a no-brainer to sign those blokes up for as long as you can, they’ve been huge for us this year and will be a massive part of our future,” Jonas said.

“It was just a matter of getting it done — I’m sure a couple of their managers got a sniff that these boys can play a bit of footy and made it a bit tougher but especially a couple of Victorians signing on is huge.

“They’ve had a couple of quiet weeks but they back it up with a big performance and they’ve been managed well to make sure they stay fresh and they’ve come up huge when we’ve needed them.”

Jonas said a lot of Duursma’s work might have gone unnoticed to the outsider but was highly valued internally.

“There’s a lot of stuff that you don’t see with Xavier that adds a heap of value to our team, he’s doing a lot more away from the ball than what you might see on the stats sheet,” he said.

“His running capacity, he’s always down tidying up the defenders if we have to press forward he’s picking up our opponents, he’s really good like that.

“He prides himself on his distance covered, early in the year he was number one in the AFL so he has a look every week and makes sure he stays up there.

“It’s incredible, some blokes spend five or six years building themselves up to be a good AFL player and they can come in and do it straight away, it’s nice to have that high talent and you see it excel.”

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