Tom Rockliff column: The characters who make up Port Adelaide
It takes all kinds of players and staff to make up a football club and Port Adelaide is lucky to have so many great people, writes Tom Rockliff in an exclusive column.
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FOOTBALL clubs are wonderful places.
Sure, in the professional world of AFL, there is the serious side where there is so much at stake for the players, administrators, sponsors and supporters.
As a football-loving kid, all I wanted to do was play at the highest level and I’ve loved every minute of my time in the big league, despite the intense pressure that comes with expectation and the need to perform at a high level week-in, week-out.
While there is plenty to play for — we are all chasing that elusive premiership — one of the great joys with being involved in a football club is not necessarily what happens on the field, but in the inner sanctum.
Whether it’s an AFL club or a country football team, the boys love to hang out together and take the mickey out of each other, whether it’s in the changerooms, ice baths or hot spas.
Each club has a mixture of great characters, some who love to be seen and heard, some who cannot let a day pass without some sort of practical joke and others who are happy to go about their business in a quiet, almost shy, manner.
It takes all kinds of players and staff to make up a football club and Port Adelaide is lucky to have so many great people.
It is this mix of characters which makes our team spirit so great and helps us gel as a team on and off the field.
It’s also what makes coming to Alberton so much fun each day.
COACH’S PET
EVER since I arrived at Port from Brisbane at the end of 2017, our coach Ken Hinkley has loved Ollie Wines. If you were to ask any of our players who the coach's pet is at Alberton I'm sure they’d say it’s Ollie. He does everything right and sets a really high standard on the training track. Kenny just loves the way he goes about things. It’s through no fault of his own that Ollie’s been labelled the coach’s pet by the players, but he’s going to have to live with the tag.
THE MIRROR MAN
NO shock here. Hamish Hartlett thinks he has a sensational rig and loves his tattoos, which he has covered himself in. I’ve never seen a bloke check himself out so much in a gym as Hamish. In between sets and reps, you will often see him having a gaze in the mirror looking at himself or fixing his hair. Watching Hamish in the gym offers some light entertainment for all of us.
THE PROFESSIONAL
I’VE never seen anyone quite like Travis Boak in my 11 years in the AFL. He always goes above and beyond with his preparation for games, whether it’s recovery, with such things as massages or spa baths, or doing extras at training. The amount of time that he puts into his body and preparation to make sure he is ready to go on game day is more than I’ve seen from any other player. At age 30, he's thoroughly deserved the success he’s had this year.
QUIET SUPERSTAR
I KNEW how good Robbie Gray was as a player before I got here but I didn’t know how quiet he was. While he exudes confidence on the field, off the field he is quiet and keeps to himself. Robbie is one of the nicest blokes you will meet in football but it is surprising how quiet he is because for a player with his talent and the runs he has on the board, he has every right to talk himself up. He is among the top five players I have ever played with but you wouldn’t know it from his demeanour.
MR SHY
JUSTIN Westhoff is nicknamed “Humphrey’’ for a reason. It’s hard to get him to say a couple of words through that bushy beard of his. He’s incredibly quiet and just goes about his business in a professional manner each day, a bit like Robbie. But he’s a smart man and when he talks, the players listen. While he’s quiet during the week, when it comes to game day, ‘Hoff’ does open up. He can be out there and loud and on the ground he's very directional.
THE FATHER FIGURE
I CAN’T believe I’m a couple of months older than Brad Ebert. He’s just turned 29 but he seems a lot older, both physically and mentally. He’s got his life in great order, with a lovely wife and two kids, but he seems to have been mature since he came into the competition as an 18-year-old. All the boys look up to him as a bit of a father figure because he’s just so grounded, mature and well respected.
THE JOKER
SAMMY Gray is always taking the mickey out of everyone and everything. Half the time it’s hard to know whether he is serious or joking. He can’t help but make a joke about something and constantly has the boys in stitches. He’s great entertainment, especially when he gets on a roll. He’s not the sort of bloke who will put dead fish in lockers or take the wheels off a teammate’s car but he’s great on the lip.
THE MAD MAN
SAM Powell-Pepper is gentle at heart and would do anything for you but he plays hard and also comes across as a hard man in the clubhouse. He’s always flexing and putting on a face and is the sort of person whose good side you would prefer to be on. He’s got that mad look about him when he gets wound up, particularly on the field, where he's very tough.
THE GAMER
DAN Houston is our self-titled Fortnite champion. I don’t know much about the game but he tells everyone that he gets the most kills. A few of the boys play the online video game and because I have my locker next to his in the changerooms I am always hearing about how good he is at Fortnite.
BRAINIAC/MR GRUMPY
OUR co-captain Tom Jonas is a really good fella but he’s not afraid to tell it how it is. He's a straight-down-the-line type of guy who doesn’t mess around. When he’s got something to say, good or bad, he says it. He’s also very intelligent, having studied to be a lawyer. He’s got his finger in a lot of pies and is always trying to educate himself.
THE FARMER
TOM Clurey loves the outdoors. He’s from the Victorian rural township of Katamatite and takes every opportunity to get out and about camping, fishing, being on the water or on the farm. He loves talking about what he gets up to on his break. He’s a no-fuss type of guy, your typical meat and three veg man.
MUSIC MAN
STEVEN Motlop is very talented when it comes to music, one of the best I’ve ever seen on a guitar. He’s also got a very soft singing voice. There’s a few YouTube videos floating around of him, illustrating what a talented muso he is. He gets our boys to sing along at times and when he gets going the boys love it.
FASHION KING
DARCY Byrne-Jones likes to think he’s a bit of a hipster and fashionista. He always dresses up for the Captain’s Run each week, with the RM Williams boots on and some nice jeans and buttoned-up shirt.
AND ME
I’m the pest and have probably been that way before I even signed with Port. If anyone is going to keep Kenny (Hinkley) on his toes it's probably me. When I rang him to tell him of my decision to join the club as a free agent I started by saying that I wasn’t coming and had decided to go elsewhere. I had him going for a few minutes and he went a bit quiet before saying ‘I can’t believe it, I thought we had you over the line’. When I told him I was joking, he was pumped but said he would pay me back in time.
It was a good way to break the ice. I can be relentless at times and continue to go after blokes, always trying to wind them up or stitch them up in some way. It’s all in fun because without a few laughs a football club would be a pretty boring place.
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