Who will become Port Adelaide’s next AFL captain? Connor Rozee favourite to succeed Tom Jonas as skipper
Port Adelaide has had seven AFL captains and is looking for its next skipper. Former Power midfielder Tom Rockliff gave an insight into the leading contenders.
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As Port Adelaide searches for ways to improve on making a semi-final, the club is also looking for its next AFL captain.
Tom Jonas came into the season hopeful of playing on into 2024 but instead spent six games in the SANFL and retired last month.
Jonas had been skipper for five years, sharing the duties with Ollie Wines in 2019.
Wines is now a contender to take the mantle full-time after being acting captain for much of this past season.
But Connor Rozee is shaping as the leading contender to wear the Power’s No. 1 guernsey as the club rides a “generational reset”.
Rozee turns 23 in January, Wines is 29, while the other candidates Zak Butters, Dan Houston and Darcy Byrne-Jones are 22, 26 and 28 respectively.
Former Port midfielder Tom Rockliff tipped Rozee to edge out Butters for the position.
“I think they’d both do an outstanding job, but the conversations I’ve had with certain people within the club would lean that way,” Rockliff told this masthead.
“Just with some of the noise around it and comments, I think they’ll jump on the back of someone younger.”
Rockliff, who played 54 games for the Power from 2018-21, said no matter which direction Port went, it should expand the leadership group from three to five or six.
“You can get a few different ideas in the room,” he said.
“Sometimes if you narrow your focus, you don’t pick everything up within the group.”
Rockliff did not believe the fan backlash at having co-captains in 2019 would put the Power off going that way again.
But he expected there to be just one skipper.
Here are the contenders:
Connor Rozee
Rozee appears the favourite to take on the role after a second consecutive standout season during which he and close mate Butters have become the faces of the club.
They finished top two in the best-and-fairest, while also being named All-Australians.
Rozee’s ascent to “face of the club” status began well before round 1.
At the Power’s season launch in February, he was the sole present-day player whose image appeared alongside those of club legends Bob McLean, Fos Williams, John Cahill, Russell Ebert and Gavin Wanganeen.
Not the skipper Jonas, the Brownlow Medallist in Wines or the team’s most recognisable player in Charlie Dixon.
But Rozee, who at the time was the reigning club champion, coming off his first All-Australian season and had just turned 22.
Rozee told this masthead in February that he definitely wanted to captain the Power one day.
Port has been pushing him and Butters to step up more in meetings and at training.
The duo also went on a pre-season camp with the Power’s leadership group to welcome the team’s seven recruits.
Rockliff said it felt like Port had groomed Rozee to become captain.
“They’re all marketable, but I think Connor, just the way he moves, the way he plays, he’s the one who springs to mind,” he said.
“He’s a South Australian and captures everything that’s great about the Port Adelaide Football Club so ticks a lot of boxes.”
If Rozee gets the nod, it will be a fresh start, reminiscent of Travis Boak receiving the Power’s No. 1 guernsey at the age of 24 in 2013.
Rockliff believed Rozee would handle the extra responsibility well.
“Connor is one of the more mature guys for a 22 or 23-year-old, you’d think he was 27 or 28, and he’s always been that way,” he said.
“You’ve still got Travis Boak there, Ollie to lean on and other support networks.
“I don’t think there’s as much responsibility on a captain in 2023 as there was in 2000.
“It’s more professional, there’s more coaching and there’s more coaches around.”
Ollie Wines
The language last month from Power football boss Chris Davies hinted that Wines was going to be overlooked.
“We have to think about what’s setting individuals and the team up for success down the track,” Davies said in a post-season press conference at Alberton.
“It’s not a fait accompli that Ollie is captain.
“That doesn’t mean that I don’t think he is an outstanding leader and potentially the best one.
“What we have seen this year is a generational reset in our club that’s come naturally that we have to jump on the back of.”
Wines turned 29 last month.
He described 2023 as probably his worst personal season at AFL level, only to finish 10th in the club’s best-and-fairest – a sign he set really high expectations of himself.
His name has again been linked with a trade home to Victoria but Port has dismissed the rumours and is planning for him to be at Alberton next year.
Rockliff said Wines was still a really strong captaincy candidate.
“He still ticks all the boxes for a captain,” he said.
“He’s had the experience to do it as a co-captain and done it solely when TJ (Jonas) hasn’t been there, so he can certainly step into that role.
“He sets the standards away from what you see on the field and he’s done everything right.
“I know his body’s been a little bit banged up for the last couple of years, but he’s still got three or four strong years, maybe longer, left in him.
“So if he wants to do it and the group think he’s the best person to do it, that he can’t be captain again.”
Wines told this masthead last month that he would not screw his face up if he was overlooked as captain.
“It’s nothing I’d take personally,” the 2021 Brownlow Medallist said.
Zak Butters
Butters becoming Port captain would be a little like when the Crows chose Taylor Walker as skipper.
Walker’s knockabout nature left many outside West Lakes to view him as a surprise captaincy choice from new coach Phil Walsh ahead of the 2015 season.
Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane were more obvious candidates, only to be overlooked
Walsh admired how Walker always put the team first, consistently met elite standards, had a strong influence on teammates and was a fierce competitor desperate for success.
That sounds a lot like Butters.
The Power’s 2023 club champion is cheeky and often makes wisecracks about his lack of booksmarts, but is very passionate and determined to help his team win a premiership.
Rockliff described him as the Energizer bunny of the group.
“If you try to curb him a little bit and not have that buzz and larrikin nature, you can become someone you aren’t,” he said.
“I found that when I became captain (of Brisbane), I really struggled with not being seen as that larrikin.
“Not to say if he became captain, (those traits) would go away from Zak, but sometimes it can influence it a little bit.”
Comparing the Power’s 2018 first-round picks, Rockliff said: “Connor is more level, less emotive than Zak, whereas Butters really wears his heart on his sleeve and you can see his emotions throughout a game.
“Connor doesn’t have that buzz, energy and larrikinness like Zak does, so I think they complement each other really well.”
Butters was noncommittal when asked about the captaincy this week, saying he had not thought about it and would let the club’s hierarchy decide.
Dan Houston
Houston’s standing in the team has grown in recent seasons, boosted by All-Australian selection and a top-three John Cahill Medal finish alongside Rozee and Butters this year.
At 26, Houston bridges the gap between the veterans and the younger players.
But he seems more of an outside chance to be skipper.
Rockliff said internally the half-back flanker was forthright and well regarded.
“He’s probably been their most consistent player over a four or five-year period,” Rockliff said.
“He sees the game really well and is not afraid to voice his opinion if he thinks something should be challenged.
“Whether he wants to do it (captain), I’m not sure.
“I definitely see him in the leadership group.”
Darcy Byrne-Jones
Byrne-Jones has been in the Power’s leadership group for the past three seasons.
He was elevated off the back of a 2020 campaign during which he won the club champion award and was named All-Australian.
This year, his form was down early, before a shift from defence to attack rejuvenated him, leading to a ninth-placed finish in the best-and-fairest.
Rockliff ruled out Byrne-Jones, 28, getting the nod because of his age.
“I’d have Ollie in front of Darcy, so if you’re going to go for a 28 or 29-year-old, you probably lean towards Ollie,” he said.
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Originally published as Who will become Port Adelaide’s next AFL captain? Connor Rozee favourite to succeed Tom Jonas as skipper
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