Port Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines has critical leadership duty as Power looks to young guns

PORT Adelaide will have a large part of its finals team experiencing September for the first time on Saturday night against West Coast at Adelaide Oval.

Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines’ last final - the 2014 preliminary final loss to Hawthorn.

PORT Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines has played five AFL finals - all in his first two seasons in the big league and all more than two years ago.

No-one at Alberton is more in tune with all that is working through the minds of 10 Power players who at the weekend could play their first AFL final.

EAGLES HOLD NO FEAR AGAINST PORT

Wines, 22, is learning - with invaluable mentoring from Brisbane premiership captain Michael Voss - just how his leadership will be tested this week as young guns such as first-year midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper, defenders Dan Houston, Tom Clurey and Dougal Howard and two-game forward Todd Marshall look for direction on just why finals are a “different game”.

Ollie Wines of the Power during the Round 23 win against Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval.

“There is a little bit more responsibility,” said Wines, who played his first final in his 23rd AFL game - the winning elimination final against Collingwood at the MCG in 2013. He was just 19.

By the end of his second AFL season, Wines had played 49 AFL games - five as finals.

In his fifth AFL season this year, Wines is the new Power vice-captain needing to draw on those raw experiences to help a large group of the team prepare for the unknown of September football - starting with the elimination final against West Coast at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

“I’ve had to adapt with that during the year,” Wines said. “At times I’ve had to think am I old enough - or mature enough - to be directing young guys like that when I am 22. Sometimes I’ve looked at these guys who are a couple of years younger than me and think, ‘Am I being something I am not?’

“That’s where I do a lot of work with ‘Vossy’ in that space and understanding my responsibility and the experiences I have under my belt and where that can help others.”

Now looking at a group of team-mates as if they were a mirror of himself in 2013, Wines notes of the new novices at Alberton: “They are pretty eager to play some finals.

“(The key message) is: Be the best at playing your role. The other guys feed off that. As long as you get your job done, we will be on the right track.

“Nothing too much has to change. A lot of people talk it up as being real contested and tough games - and that is the one thing they do have to think about. It does go up another level.

Ollie Wines of the Power celebrates after kicking a goal.

“You talk about levels in AFL footy - going from pre-season to home-and-away season; and then it steps up another level for the finals. It is about taking the opportunity.

“We encourage them to keep doing what they are doing. They are in the team for a reason - and their job is not to go set the world on fire; they don’t have to win the game off their own boot. We base our team on having 22 contributors, all just playing their role and no-one having to stand-out.

“As long as they play their role and understand what they have to do for the team, it will go a long way to winning footy games.”

After five finals in his first 49 games, Wines has been kept waiting through another 57 games for his sixth moment in the AFL major round.

“I took it for granted probably my first couple years playing finals and going deep into finals,” said Wines, whose last final was the epic preliminary final against Hawthorn at the MCG in 2014.

“To have two years off and see other clubs go and do things, see the Bulldogs story last year, really motivates you to want and play finals. We’ve got an opportunity to play our first final on Saturday - and keep our September run going.”

NEW EXPERIENCE

September - with AFL finals - will expose many of the Port Adelaide players to a new football experience.

MOST EXPERIENCED

8 finals: Travis Boak and Justin Westhoff

NO FINALS (10 players)

Logan Austin, Riley Bonner, Tom Clurey, Charlie Dixon, Sam Gray, Dan Houston, Dougal Howard, Aidyn Johnson, Todd Marshall, Sam Powell-Pepper.