AFL 2023: Port Adelaide confident it will re-sign Mitch Georgiades as clubs clamour for rising forward
Several clubs would move heaven and earth to secure this rising Power forward. But the club remains confident they can ward off rival interest.
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Port Adelaide is confident it will re-sign emerging forward Mitch Georgiades on a lucrative deal despite massive interest from Victorian clubs and cross-town rival Adelaide.
Georgiades is considered one of the rising key position stars in football and has already been the subject of a trade raid from West Coast last year.
They tried to involve the West Australian product in the Junior Rioli trade but with a contract for 2023, Port Adelaide immediately shut the Eagles down.
He has no interest in a return to Perth and while he was not satisfied with a 2022 season that saw him dropped and battle multiple injury concerns, he is happy and settled with the Power.
But Victorian clubs with massive cap space including Essendon, St Kilda, Hawthorn and North Melbourne would all move heaven and earth to secure a player of his calibre.
He kicked 32.17 in his second season as a versatile mid-sized marking forward.
As a 191cm athletic beast he has massive appeal because he can so easily complement an established power forward like Max King, Mitch Lewis, Nick Larkey or Peter Wright.
That quartet of clubs are set to shape the trade period given cap space and an immediate desire to add significant talent to under-performing lists.
Georgiades’ manager Tom Seccull of Hemisphere Management will meet with Port Adelaide list boss Jason Cripps in coming weeks to discuss his progress.
But at this stage Georgiades, who signed his first contract extension in November after his debut season, is likely to wait until later in the season.
His father John Georgiades played 15 games in the VFL for Footscray then returned to Subiaco in the WAFL, with Mitch playing for Subiaco until being taken at pick 18 in the 2019 national draft.
Entering his fourth season with 47 games under his belt, he is hoping to emerge as one of footy’s most reliable forwards after post-season syndesmosis surgery and then a further procedure after irritation in the ankle in December.
Georgiades was a surprise axing in round 21 last year from the Port Adelaide side that was already missing Todd Marshall with Covid.
That demotion piqued the interest of rival clubs but Power coach Ken Hinkley said at the time his inaccurate goalkicking (19.23 to that stage of the season) was affecting his form.
“Mitch is a young, developing forward. And I have been through this journey with Todd (Marshall) over the time as well,” Hinkley said.
“Sometimes there’s just a time where they need to go back and work on some stuff and they’ll come back and they’ll be better.”
Teammate and close friend Connor Rozee told News Corp he expected Georgiades to be at the club in 2024.
“I think he’s loving it in Adelaide and we love having him,” said Rozee, who travelled to the US with Georgiades and three other teammates for an off-season training stint.
“I think he’ll be there, for sure.”
Power’s sigh of relief after Boak diagnosis
— Simeon Thomas-Wilson and Matt Turner
Port Adelaide is relieved veteran Travis Boak has avoided serious injury from a collision in the match simulation against West Coast in Perth on Friday night.
Tests found Boak, who was crunched by Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern in a marking contest in the second quarter then did not return to the game, had no fracture but extensive bruising around his ribs and lungs.
Travis Boak cops a heavy knock from Jeremy McGovern! 🤕
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) February 24, 2023
📺 Watch the #AFLPreseason LIVE on Fox Sports or stream via @kayosports: https://t.co/0LIxbDtGdK
✠BLOG: https://t.co/RhYb2rKcO6pic.twitter.com/GpSRfoEYuX
Port Adelaide star Connor Rozee told News Corp things could have been a lot worse.
“It was a pretty big hit,” Rozee said.
“It seems like he’s just got through without anything broken, which I think was the fear because that could have been a bit of a lingering issue for the rest of the year.
“He said he’s pretty sore but I think he’s mostly relieved there’s no break or fractures.
“It’s great news.
“Hopefully he can have a few days and weeks off and be right for round 1.”
While Boak is in doubt for Thursday’s game, Charlie Dixon, Zak Butters and Darcy Byrne-Jones are all expected to play.
Rozee said spearhead Dixon was close to lining up against the Eagles before being a late withdrawal due to bruised intercostal muscle between his ribs.
The Power trailed by eight points after four quarters, at which point both sides rested most of their best players.
Rozee said Port was not dwelling too much on the game because it was experimenting with different things, including a smaller forward line in Dixon and Jeremy Finlayson’s absence, the team was jelling and some key players were missing.
“I don’t think there were major disappointments,” he said.
“We actually got a lot of positives out of it.
“I felt like we played pretty well and most of the stats we seemed to be up on.
“We were up in inside 50s by about 25, we played our game style and if we can be a bit more accurate in front of goals, we can win most of those games.
“We tried a few things last night, some worked, some didn’t, but it’s nice information for us, we’ll adapt and take some things out of it.”
Port Adelaide plans to keep 26 to 28 players in Perth for the Dockers clash and will field its best side.
The remainder of the squad will return to SA.
EVERY PORT PLAYER RATED AFTER FRIDAY NIGHT MATCH SIMULATION
Port Adelaide star Travis Boak will undergo scans on his back and ribs after he copped a heavy hit in the Power’s match simulation against West Coast.
Boak was forced from the field just minutes into the second quarter of the Power’s clash against the Eagles at Mineral Resources Park on Friday evening.
The 34-year-old Power veteran was left in pain and on the ground when he was on the end of a hard hit from Eagles gun defender Jeremy McGovern.
Boak stayed on the ground for some time after he suffered the heavy contact and was slow to get off the field.
He went straight to the rooms and was ruled out of the match simulation by the Power at half-time.
After the four quarters were done, in which the Eagles triumphed over the Power, Port Adelaide defensive coach Nathan Bassett said the club was still waiting on scans to find out the extent of the injury Boak might have suffered.
“We don’t know too much at this stage,” he said.
“He’ll have scans on his back and ribs and we’ll see.”
Before the game Power spearhead Charlie Dixon was ruled out of the match simulation after he suffered bruised intercostal muscles in Port’s internal trial last week.
That added to a Power absentee list including Zak Butters, vice-captain Darcy Byrne-Jones, Trent Dumont and young gun Josh Sinn.
Bassett said Dixon, Butters and Byrne-Jones will play in next week’s practice match against Fremantle at Fremantle Oval.
“We’re at relatively full health now. Jeremy Finlayson (syndesmosis) is the only other one,” he said.
Despite the loss, in which the Eagles were able to break away from the Power late on in the game, Bassett said there were some positives for Port.
Bassett said he was pleased with the performances of Junior Rioli and Orazio Fantasia while Scott Lycett was back as the Power’s first ruck option after Brynn Teakle rucked for the stronger side during Port’s internal trial.
“Scott Lycett was really impressive tonight,” Bassett said.
“He did a good job in the ruck. He’s had a rough run with injuries, but he’s been building during the pre-season.
“It’s good to see him back playing good footy.”
PRACTICE MATCH NOTES: TRADE RECRUIT SHINES, ROZEE’S CRAZY GOAL
He has been highly scrutinised for months but Jason Horne-Francis was able to finally let his footy do the talking.
And Port Adelaide fans would have been thrilled with what they saw from their high profile recruit despite a loss for the Power in their match simulation against West Coast in Perth,
But the 13.6 (84) to 11.10 (76) loss will be quickly forgotten by the Power as they hope that star Travis Boak has not suffered a nasty injury.
Boak copped a huge hit from the Eagles’ Jeremy McGovern just minutes into the second quarter.
The 34-year-old remained down for some time with what looked to be a back injury, and slowly left the field.
He went straight to the rooms and for assessment by the Power.
While they went down after four quarters, there were some promising signs for the Power.
Connor Rozee was damaging when he had the ball, Powell-Pepper was dangerous up forward, Dan Houston impressed with his ball movement while Aliir Aliir was rock solid down back.
The Power also looked a lot better with their transition from their back-half to their forward-half than they were in 2022.
A glimpse of what's to come from new Port Adelaide recruit Jason Horne-Francis. pic.twitter.com/VgSMgJdvfO
— AFL (@AFL) February 24, 2023
MAGNETS MOVED
There weren’t a lot of surprises from the Power when it came to players’ roles.
As they have done all pre-season Boak started at half-forward while Kane Farrell started off half-back.
Horne-Francis started at the first centre bounce with Ollie Wines and Connor Rozee, but interestingly when he did rest forward he was at full forward a lot of the time.
In one passage he got ahead of Tom Barrass to mark an Aliir kick showing this could be a strategy Hinkley could use this season.
Lachie Jones continued to be used in the midfield in stints with the Power keen to utilise his hard edge.
For West Coast Tim Kelly was sent forward a lot with the Eagles looking for him to use his goal kicking ability to hit the scoreboard a lot in 2023.
RECRUIT WATCH
The Power would have been happy with how Horne-Francis fared.
The ex-No. 1 draft pick was prominent for the Power, showing some moments of quality for Hinkley’s side with the ball.
He still has some development to do, especially against the more mature and older bodies but there were positive signs for Horne-Francis after an interrupted pre-season.
Returning to his former club Junior Rioli kicked two goals and provided plenty of pressure with his hunt of the footy.
Both his goals were the result of some good Power ball movement, with Rioli eventually found out the back for easy goals.
The first prompted some jeers from the Eagles supporters, but Rioli was nonplussed.
Former Melbourne speedster Jayden Hunt looks set to be a shrewd recruit by the Eagles.
Hunt impressed on a wing for West Coast and kicked a fine goal in the fourth quarter from near the boundary.
Connor Rozee zigs, zags and scores.
— AFL (@AFL) February 24, 2023
Watch now on Kayo and Fox Sports. pic.twitter.com/ZGG0Kf8N2E
ROUND 1 BOLTERS
With Charlie Dixon a late withdrawal with bruised intercostal muscles from last week’s internal trial Dante Visentini continued to build on some of the positive momentum he has built up this pre-season.
The young tall was strong as a target for the Power, and managed to kick a goal.
He also spent time in the ruck, and with the Power’s issues in that department last year Visentini could be one to watch.
After starting as the ruck on the stronger side in Port’s internal last week, Brynn Teakle found himself behind Scott Lycett as the Power’s first ruck on Friday evening.
Teakle still did play a fair bit of the game and looks to be still in the mix for Round 1.
For the Eagles draftee Elijah Hewett showed he will be an excitement machine for them.
Only on the field late on in the game Hewett kicked the goal of the game when he danced around Power players in a stoppage and snapped the ball between the big sticks.
Fellow draftee Noah Long stood out with his kicking when he was on the ground.
NOTABLE ABSENTEES
WEST COAST: Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Rueben Ginbey, Jack Darling
PORT ADELAIDE: Zak Butters, Charlie Dixon, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Tom Clurey (played in two 20 minute periods following the four quarters)
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