Tom Jonas earning respect of the footy world, praise from within and trust of his teammates in his first season as solo captain
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes initially questioned if the Power had made the right appointment in Tom Jonas as solo captain. It hasn’t taken long for him to change his tune though. What was the moment Cornes became a believer?
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Chad Cornes doesn’t do much media these days so when he says something it’s usually worth listening to.
Last week he was asked about Port Adelaide’s current captain, Tom Jonas, who swapped his No. 42 guernsey for the No. 1 this year when he was given the job as solo skipper.
“It’s like when we used to run out with Primus, the way he played, you just knew what you were going to get every week,” Cornes said.
“He plays that tough Port Adelaide way better than anyone, Jona.”
That’s coming from a man who typified what it meant to play for the Power jumper, comparing him with the man many consider its greatest ever captain.
There was never any doubt Jonas would make a good leader when the club controversially broke with tradition by installing him and Ollie Wines as co-captains for the 2019 season.
But it’s as if he has taken both his game and his leadership to a new level after the club backflipped after one year and made him captain in his own right.
“It’s an absolute honour to pull on the number one and follow in the footsteps of some of the great leaders this club has had, I don’t think I’ll change but it’s an absolute privilege,” Jonas said at the club’s announcement in December.
Even Wines, who was told to step aside and become vice-captain, said Jonas was the right man for the job.
“If it was someone I didn’t think was capable I’d be disappointed, but there’s not many people I’d follow to the edge of the Earth and he’s one of them,” Wines said at the time.
Seven months on and Jonas’ form is up there with the best defenders in the competition.
According to Champion Data he has stood Tim Membrey, Eddie Betts, Jeremy Cameron, Jack Darling, Matt Taberner and Darcy Fogarty for a combined 316 minutes this season and conceded a grand total of four goals.
He is considered ‘above average’ for disposals, contested possession, intercept possessions and spoils where he sits fourth in the competition behind Harris Andrews, Tom Barrass and Liam Jones with 7.3 per game.
“Tommy’s been fantastic all year, he’s been a great leader, and they play like him as much as they possibly can,” Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said after the Power beat Carlton in Round 7.
At the halfway point of a revised home-and-away season, Jonas would be in contention for the All-Australian squad and with a strong second half would be pushing for his first AA jumper.
From there the discussion would turn to whether he would be considered as captain as well, although Marcus Bontempelli, Nat Fyfe and Luke Shuey would have strong claims.
Being a defender doesn’t rule him out. Alex Rance (2017), Robert Murphy (2016) and Darren Glass (2012) have all earned the honour from their defensive posts.
“He goes about it the right way. His contest (work is) as hard as anyone in the competition I think and sets the standard from there and (he) expects everyone else to come along with him,” Port Adelaide midfielder and former Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff said.
“He’s had a really good couple of years down in defence but I think he’s taken his game to another level, rarely gets beaten in contest week-in, week-out, he sets a good standard for the defence and it flows on from there because when they’re crunching balls and giving us opportunities back the other way it definitely helps the team lift.
“I think he’s been outstanding, what you see is what you get with TJ, there’s no bullsh** or anything like that.”
But that ‘no bullsh**’ policy is also what Jonas has had to address in his brief evolution as an AFL captain.
“He’s really improved his relationships off-field, the way he communicates with the boys and coaches, you could not fault what he’s done this year,” Cornes said.
Port Adelaide has had a big focus on building connection and strengthening relationships given the significant list turnover in previous years and Rockliff said Jonas had learnt to evolve with it.
“Across the club everyone’s done that but I’d say with TJ that was always the thing, the relationship (side of his captaincy) because he is so hard and firm some guys might not know where he’s coming from, but it’s always coming from a good place because he wants to get better,” Rockliff said.
“But he has also understood that some people react differently to different situations and different lines of feedback, so there’s no doubt he’s worked on that enormously.
“And as we start to continue to evolve particularly in this space we understand it’s not one thing for everyone, you can’t be just brutally honest with really strong feedback particularly during the week, you can during a game because you have to be, but you can follow up from there and I think he’s worked really hard in that space to make sure the boys understand he’s coming from a good place but he’s also worked on that softer side.”
Jonas’ performance, combined with glowing reports coming out of Alberton and the fact the Power is on top of the AFL ladder after Round 8 means the other Cornes has had to eat his words.
Chad’s brother Kane last week said he was wrong to initially question whether the dour defender from Rostrevor via Norwood and the rookie draft was the right man for the job.
“I was pretty critical of Port Adelaide at the time when they named Tom Jonas captain. I didn’t think he was the right fit to be captain for a number of reasons, just because he plays full back, it’s hard to influence games across there,” Cornes said.
“Is he as marketable as someone else? Does he have the aura and marketability about him that a Travis Boak has? So they were my reasons for it.
“But his game (against Carlton) was a truly outstanding captain’s game, so maybe I got that one wrong on Tom Jonas. The impact he’s having on that group has been significant.”
Port Adelaide’s defence is better this year and the team is playing stronger for longer.
“I think teams know they’re always up for a contest against us, whether it’s right at the start or they’re a couple of goals ahead, we’re not going to lie down,” Jonas said last week.
“The pleasing thing for us is we’ve shown the resilience that we may not have shown in previous seasons.
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“I don’t think it’s an effort thing, more of a mental thing and an experience thing, game management we know what we need to do at what time of the game and also we’ve invested a lot of effort into the resilience space and building on that so we’re starting to see some of the benefits there.”
At 6-2 and a healthy percentage but with Melbourne, the Bulldogs, Richmond and Geelong up next, the biggest challenge is still ahead of Port Adelaide.
But just as any doubt they have the right man as coach should officially be gone, supporters can also rest assured that the man leading them on the field is just as good.