Matt Turner: Why Connor Rozee, one of Port Adelaide’s youngest ever captains, is the right man to lead generational reset
Like Travis Boak in 2012, Connor Rozee represents new hope for a Power supporter base still reeling from finals failure. But is he too young? Matt Turner looks at what his age really means.
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Connor Rozee is both the right person to lead Port Adelaide and one of the club’s youngest captains in its 153-year history.
The smooth-moving midfielder will be not much older than 24 when he leads the Power onto Adelaide Oval for its season-opener against West Coast on March 17.
That will make him the youngest, permanent Port skipper since inaugural AFL captain Gavin Wanganeen (23 years, nine months) in 1997.
Before Wanganeen, you have to go back to club legend Bob Quinn, in 1939, to find someone younger than Rozee.
Age has proven to be irrelevant when you consider what Marcus Bontempelli (24), Joel Selwood (23) and Trent Cotchin (22) accomplished after taking on the responsibility in their early 20s.
Rozee, whom ex-teammate Tom Rockliff said “you’d think was 27 or 28” because of his maturity, now had the opportunity to follow a similar path to those AFL champions.
His elevation to captain was predictable.
Port Adelaide football boss Chris Davies basically told everyone it was coming after the straight-sets exit in September when he said the club had to jump on its “generational reset”. It pointed to either Rozee or fellow 2018 draftee Zak Butters getting the nod.
While Butters is inspirational on the field, he still maturing as a leader.
During Monday’s press conference to announce him as vice-captain, Butters’ cheeky comments and wry smiles whenever he gazed towards teammates at the back of the room was suggestive of someone who right now was more comfortable being Robin to Rozee’s Batman.
Age, form and the team’s direction counted against Ollie Wines.
He is 29 and coming off what he has described as arguably the worst season of his career.
His year was not as bad as that – he played every game and finished 10th in the best-and-fairest.
But the Power could not give the captaincy to a player whose finals struggles reflected the team’s and whose appointment would have ensured a feeling of sameness for 2024.
Rozee becoming skipper is a fresh start for a club that has had several other key posts held by the same person for a long time.
Hinkley and chairman David Koch are set to enter their 12th seasons.
Football general manager Davies is preparing for his 10th.
List boss Jason Cripps has been in his role for 12 years.
Rozee also represents the “generational reset” the team has undergone.
The likes of himself, Butters, Jason Horne-Francis and Dan Houston have become the faces of the club, taking over from the retired Tom Jonas, Wines and veterans Charlie Dixon and Travis Boak, who may be in their last campaigns.
Handing Rozee the captaincy is reminiscent of giving it to Boak in 2012.
Boak was also 24 when he led the Power for the first time.
Port Adelaide needed a change of a direction, mired by lousy crowds, a lack of wins, board resignations and a coach sacking.
Boak represented new hope when he came into the role in the same off-season that Hinkley and Koch arrived.
Rozee does the same for a Power supporter base still reeling from the club’s finals failure and desperate to get over its September hurdle.
He is also a Boak-like marketable fan favourite, polished media performer and midfield star who wins a lot of the ball.
The new captain has a couple of extra strings to his bow.
For all Boak’s on-field brilliance, Rozee’s best football is more electric than any Power skipper since Wanganeen.
That Rozee, a North Adelaide premiership player and Port Augusta product, is a South Australian is a bonus.
He happens to also have a different personality and style to the straight-shooting, hard-as-nails Jonas.
Rozee, who is now tied to the Power until 2032 after signing an eight-season extension, is also young enough to be in the role for many years.
Boak did six seasons and set the club’s AFL record for most games as skipper with 139.
They are in good company as players to first captain Port Adelaide at 24 years old, joining club legends Russell Ebert, Bob Quinn, Geof Motley and “Shine” Hosking.
Wines was also that age when he and Jonas became the club’s first ever co-captains in 2019.
Considered a skipper-in-waiting virtually since arriving at Alberton in late 2012, Wines was more marketable, less blunt and a bigger star than Jonas.
Yet he only held the title for 12 months before Port Adelaide returned to one captain – Jonas – due to fan angst.
It seemed Wines’ time as sole skipper would eventually come, only for it to pass him by.
He owns a slice of history as the Power’s first Brownlow Medallist and may end up with another as its only captain to never hold the position outright.
Port is unlikely to return to the co-captaincy model again anytime soon.
The club wants Wines to concentrate on returning to something close to his form of 2021.
His first task should be trying to reclaim his midfield spot.
Wines being back to his best in the engine room will ultimately help Rozee achieve his goal of leading the club to success.
Next season will mark 20 years since the Power’s only AFL premiership.
Rozee is 106 games into what is becoming a stellar career, already a dual All-Australian who has won and been runner-up in the best-and-fairest these past two seasons.
What will elevate him – and in many ways his time will be judged on – is whether he can join some of those club luminaries as premiership captains.
Originally published as Matt Turner: Why Connor Rozee, one of Port Adelaide’s youngest ever captains, is the right man to lead generational reset
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