The List Manager: Jon Ralph runs the rule over Port Adelaide’s current group, its future and everything in between
It all starts in the middle for the Power, with their three young superstars leading the charge, but how far can Butters, Rozee and JHF take the Power in 2024?
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Port Adelaide talked the talk about its bold, bright future in 2023 but ultimately failed to walk the walk when September arrived
A team that had won 13 straight games mid-season was battered and bruised come finals time.
Charlie Dixon was on one leg, Scott Lycett was rushed back from knee surgery, Miles Bergman was sore and Jason Horne-Francis was battling a back injury.
Todd Marshall was hampered by a hip issue that would need serious off-season surgery and Trent McKenzie was battling but Tom Jonas (calf) and Tom Clurey (back) couldn’t be called up as his reinforcement.
Even accounting for those circumstances the straight sets finals departure was meek and mild.
Brisbane kicked Port Adelaide’s butt in an eight-goal hammering then GWS stormed Adelaide Oval in a 23-point semi-final defeat of the Power.
It meant for the second time in three seasons Ken Hinkley’s mob had won 17 home-and-away games yet failed to reach the Grand Final.
Most finals losses are ugly, but for a team that has won only two finals in four years – and lost three home finals in that period – it was even more harrowing.
So the Power got busy in the trade period using up its entire draft hand and next year’s first rounder, attempting to bulletproof its list to ensure when it hits September again in 2024 it does so with a deep, vibrant list.
Those gains will again set up the Power as a contender for 2024 and yet the context of those recent finals failures means there is added urgency to cash in on a list Hinkley says is the best in his 11 years at the club.
TRADE PERIOD
Rating: 7/10
Phew. Richmond eventually relented and traded ruckman Ivan Soldo (for pick 41, a future second-rounder tied to Fremantle and a future fourth-rounder).
It turned what could have been a mixed trade period into an outright success given he will play as the club’s first ruckman for the next five years.
He is a physical, high-leaping ruckman who will give silver service to the elite Power midfield.
And he kicked a goal a game for the Tigers this year, handy given Jeremy Finlayson often plays ruck and forward.
He joins ex-Dog Jordon Sweet (acquired for pick 50), who brained them in the VFL this year (ave. of 14 touches, 43 hit-outs, 5.3 tackles, 9.7 contested possessions) but has played only 11 senior games in five seasons.
Cats interceptor Esava Ratugolea will come with more fanfare than Essendon fullback Brandon Zerk-Thatcher given his hefty price tag of up to $700,000 and high-marking style.
Pick 25, 76 and 94 for Ratugolea was a fair trade and while his best is excellent (2.8 intercept marks a game this year) he needs to show he can lock down an opponent when he isn’t clunking his marks.
Zerk-Thatcher will surprise after a season where Jesse Hogan and Tom Hawkins torched him yet otherwise he played an excellent year averaging 2.2 intercept marks and 6.6 intercept possessions.
Port Adelaide scouted Zerk-Thatcher hard (Hogan only kicked four of his nine on him) and saw him play great football on Taylor Walker, Ben King and Brody Mihocek.
So they will play him on the athletic speedy full forwards and play Ratugolea on the big brawny forwards, aware their presence will also release Aliir Aliir to become the intercept defender that saw him win All-Australian honours in 2021.
LIST HOLES
Port Adelaide will enter 2024 believing it wants for absolutely nothing — talent, a blend of experience and youth, matchwinners on every line.
The top 10 in the best-and-fairest spoke of the bright future.
All-Australian trio Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and 26-year-old Dan Houston in the podium spots then 25-year-old Willem Drew, with Jason Horne-Francis seventh and re-signed half back Miles Bergman in eighth.
The defence now has myriad marking options and intense selection pressure with Houston, Aliir Aliir, Ratugolea, Zerk-Thatcher, Trent McKenzie and mid-sizers Dylan Williams (1.4 intercept marks), Burton (one intercept mark, 4.4 intercept possessions), Bergman (1.8 intercept marks).
In two finals Jesse Hogan kicked four goals and Joe Daniher five against the Power defence, with Jake Riccardi (four), Ollie Henry (four), Taylor Walker (seven) all kicking bags on Port Adelaide in the final five home-and-away rounds.
The rot has to stop, and the Power finally has the defence to do just that.
Port believes its midfield can be the best in the comp, and in time it should set its sights so high it can rival the best in the modern era.
And yes, we are talking about Cousins, Kerr, Judd and Voss, Black, Akermanis, Lappin and co.
In Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis plus defensive mid Willem Drew as well as Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines they have depth, aggressive ball movement, pace.
As recent premiers Richmond (Dustin Martin, Shai Bolton), Geelong (Patrick Dangerfield) and Collingwood (Nick Daicos, Jordan De Goey), Melbourne (Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver) have proved, flags are won by aggressive midfielders charging forward out of the stoppages.
Wingman Xavier Duursma leaves for Essendon, with Bergman, Jase Burgoyne, Travis Boak and Ryan Burton all options to play wing.
The No. 12 pick in the 2021 national draft, Josh Sinn, has had a wretched run with injury and will play back across summer with a view to settling him in defence where he played his best junior footy.
The Power kept key forwards Ollie Lord and Mitch Georgiades despite rival interest.
And while they didn’t have a dominant weapon – Finlayson’s 38 goals were a season high – they boast Charlie Dixon, Todd Marshall, Finlayson, Georgiades (from mid-season) and Lord plus wrecking ball Sam Powell Pepper (31 goals), Willie Rioli (31 despite an interrupted season) and reborn forward Darcy Byrne-Jones.
DRAFT STRATEGY
With only pick 73, the Power will take up to two picks at the back end of the draft but could end up taking only one and upgrading a rookie.
The narrative is that the Power have traded away their picks but have taken 10 first-rounders in the last nine drafts — Sinn (2021), Lachie Jones (2020), Bergman and Georgiades (2019), Rozee, Duursma and Butters (2018), and Marshall and Powell-Pepper (2016).
Next year there are a trio of father-sons — Shaun Burgoyne’s son Ky (also linked to the Hawks), Peter Burgoyne’s son Rome and Brett Montgomery’s son Louie as an electric small forward.
With a 2024 second-rounder, third-rounder and two fourth-round picks (Carlton, Essendon) the Power have some draft capital with that trio all exciting but not yet in the top tier of prospects.
WHO’S UNDER THE PUMP
Ollie Wines. The former captain just wasn’t playing well enough to get centre square time last year.
Off major knee surgery his first running sessions were in the same week the club was starting its intra-club games as he also battled a toe injury mid-season.
So a player contracted to 2026 will attempt to have a flawless pre-season to re-establish himself in the competition’s elite. But with Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis the starting mids the 29-year-old’s form will dictate his centre square game time.
CAP SPACE
The Power have cap space for 2025 onwards even after their quartet of acquisitions.
Despite speculation about crazy money for Ratugolea he has signed a five-year deal on $650,000 a year with capacity to earn $700,000 with incentives.
The Power’s belief was the Hawks offered closer to $800,000 a year so it was a prudent deal in a crazy market for intercept talls as Ben McKay and Tom Doedee all earned around the $750,000-$800,000 mark.
It is understood Sweet, Zerk-Thatcher and Soldo have all signed three-season deals.
So even with a trio of big-name signings to come the Power have cap space for retention or another big-name acquisition.
PREMIERSHIP WINDOW
The Power now has a succession plan for Travis Boak and Charlie Dixon, so will believe they are only now entering their window of opportunity despite so many close misses.
AFL 2023 TOP 100 PLAYER RANKINGS AND A 2024 BOLTER
Zac Butters (3rd), Connor Rozee (23rd), Dan Houston (26th).
Willem Drew (107th), Ryan Burton (119th), Willie Rioli (131st), Charlie Dixon (139th), Jason Horne Francis (140th) could all make a jump in 2024 with Horne-Francis the key in his second year at the Power.
TRADE BAIT
OIlie Lord is out of contract and happy to assess the landscape after Geelong asked about him being part of the Ratugolea contract.
Jeremy Finlayson is also out of contract but is carving out a fine career at the Power.
First-round pick Josh Sinn is contracted to 2025 but repeat hamstring injuries have been his issue, so if he can get a clean run at it why wouldn’t he establish himself at the Power.
Players want to stay at the Power, as Georgiades and Bergman proved last year.
TRADE TARGETS FOR 2025
The priority is signing up out-of-contract stars Rozee and Butters as well as restricted free agent Todd Marshall.
The Power would love to have those deals locked away soon and have a loose target of round 1.
And while none of the contracts are imminent talks are underway and the club’s understanding is the players are all keen to re-sign if the price is right.
Butters and Rozee are both 23, so the Power are open to the kind of six or seven-year extensions that would lock them away to 2030 or 2031.
If Lance Franklin was worth $10 million over nine years in 2013, Rozee would surely command $15 million over nine years in current money if he was keen to move.
Thankfully he’s keen to remain but both Rozee and Butters deserve $1 million a year.
Drew is also a free agent.
Originally published as The List Manager: Jon Ralph runs the rule over Port Adelaide’s current group, its future and everything in between
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