Hamish Hartlett reveals the ‘big picture inking’ behind his body art – and his dream of a Power premiership tattoo
Hamish Hartlett is covered in ink, but there’s two tattoos that mean more to him than any of the others – and he hopes a third will make the cut in two weeks’ time.
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Hamish Hartlett takes his shirt off to put on his Port Adelaide guernsey for The Advertiser’s photo shoot at Alberton Oval, briefly exposing the tattoos that cover his arms and chest.
Most of them are images he has liked in magazines, but two have special meaning.
They are on his biceps and the result of asking his brother, ex-Carlton defender and West Adelaide premiership player Adam Hartlett, and his sister, DJ/music producer Annabel Hartlett, also known as Godlands, to nominate the animals that best represent them as people.
“Adam reckons he’s a big grizzly bear and Annabel reckons she’s a leopard,” Hartlett says.
If things go Hartlett and the Power’s way this month, a third tattoo of significance awaits.
“There’ll be one that I’d be pretty happy to get in a few weeks,” he says, hinting at premiership ink.
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Grand final success has eluded Hartlett since winning the SA schools knockout competition with Sacred Heart College in 2007.
That same year, Geelong thumped Port Adelaide in the flag decider by a league record 119 points.
Neither the player they call “Hammer” or the Power have been back to a grand final.
Hartlett, 30, has featured in 182 games and is in his 12th season at Port Adelaide, and the closest the club has come in his career is its three-point preliminary final loss to Hawthorn in 2014.
Now, the Power are again one win away from the last game of the season, needing to beat Richmond at Adelaide Oval on Friday night to get there.
For Hartlett, that means trying to topple the team that has caused plenty of internal debate.
What if he had joined the Tigers at the end of 2016 when, after a disappointing personal and team campaign, Port told him it was open to a trade and he toured Punt Rd?
“I might have missed out on a couple of premierships,” the Edwardstown and West Adelaide product says with a laugh.
“There’s always those questions that go through your head.
“I was probably 60-40 going to stay.
“It was always going to be hard to leave the club and my friends and family at home, so there was always some reluctance around, but I thought it might be a good way to refresh my career and become the footy player I really wanted to become.
“It is what it is but I’m happy I’ve still got the opportunity ahead of me now this year.
“It will be far more fulfilling if I end up winning one here – I’ll be absolutely ecstatic with the decision and there’ll be no question marks.
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“But even now I’m super proud of what I’ve been a part of and been able to create here.”
The Port Adelaide vice-captain is referring to more than the club’s climb from non-finalist to minor premier this season.
He is talking about its culture of care, connection and camaraderie.
The Advertiser noticed it on the Power’s camp in Maroochydore in December, evident in little things like the rest of the squad waiting after they had finished training to form a guard of honour for Hartlett, as he ended his session with 50m sprints that teammates built to a crescendo with claps.
Hartlett was coming off a post-season arthroscopy on his knee and had been limited to just 16 games in the previous two campaigns after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament and injuring his hamstring.
“That was just one of plenty of moments we’ve had this year of the support and care we’ve got for one another,” he says of his camp sprint.
“That’s all come on the back of being more vulnerable to each other and telling our stories of adversity we’ve had throughout our lives, which are all very, very different from each other.”
Those stories have emerged in behind-closed-doors sessions facilitated by The Resilience Project and driven by Port Adelaide’s coaches and players.
“That’s where this sense of togetherness and closeness really stem from,” Hartlett says.
“It’s not easy for anyone let alone professional, male athletes who are seen to be supermen in a way to a lot of people, to break down those walls and barriers, but it’s been incredible for us, great bonding experience and held us in good stead.”
At the end of the 2018 campaign, when the Power finished a win outside the finals, Hinkley, senior assistant Michael Voss and football manager Chris Davies undertook a course called “Energising People for Performance” at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Illinois, US, centred around building relationships to make teams closer.
Hartlett completed the same program in Chicago last November, during the city’s snowy winter, alongside Power assistant Brett Montgomery and development coach Chad Cornes.
“It was all about personal development and trying to become better leaders around the football club, and trying to get this group where it wanted to go,” Hartlett says.
“It was quite daunting initially – there was pretty significant people from businesses and major corporations around the world.
“We’re talking business managers who have got a cohort of employees underneath them who they’re trying to manage and from our point of view it’s me as vice-captain and the players I’m working with.
“It really was about taking more care and time to get to know people you’re working with … and then get the best out of them as employees or as teammates.”
To try to forge those bonds immediately, Hartlett and the Power’s other leaders invite draftees over for dinners once they arrive in Adelaide.
Last year Hartlett cooked pasta for the likes of Mitch Georgiades, Miles Bergman and Jackson Mead.
Twelve months earlier, it was beef and chicken tacos and burritos for Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma.
“Whenever the first-year boys come into the state a lot come from Victoria, Western Australia and their whole life has been uprooted,” Hartlett says.
“Whether it’s myself or a couple of other senior players or one of the coaches, we just try to make them feel as comfortable as possible as soon as they can, so they can feel part of the group.”
The pasta went down a treat, according to Hartlett.
His Mexican food was not as popular with Power cult hero Butters.
“Buttsy’s quite particular with what he eats – he’s very picky – and I don’t know that he’d ever had a taco or burrito.
“But there was a big bowl of corn chips and he tucked away into them all night, I don’t know if he had any of the burritos.”
Draftee dinners, deeply personal storytelling and completing self-growth courses are newschool ways of forging connections at AFL clubs.
Change rooms remain a bonding bastion and the Power seem to have had as much fun celebrating wins there as any club this year, highlighted by Hartlett drumming during the post-match song for a few games.
“I got a couple of offers to join bands, which was quite odd,” chuckles Hartlett, who was anointed in the role by Power development coach Tyson Goldsack, the man behind the drum idea.
“Now that we’re linking arms in the circle for the last couple of weeks we’ve thought ‘stuff it, the drums can be given a miss’, so we’re back to the old ways,
“But they might make a special appearance if things go really well.”
So if Port Adelaide does win its next two games, expect premiership ink and the return of the drum.
As well as a lot of relief and joy for a group that believes it is tighter than ever.
“It’d just make 12 years of hard work and setbacks, and resilience all worth it,” Hartlett says.
“From a personal point of view it hasn’t been the smoothest and easiest ride, having sustained so many injuries and some pretty serious injuries.
“But I love the challenge of bouncing back, playing strong footy and being part of a group that’s really determined to bring home that cup.
“There’s obviously a pretty big hurdle to overcome first.”
Through all his setbacks and successes, Hartlett has had “incredible family support”.
Adam has, in particular, been an enormous influence.
First, as the older brother who went from backyard rival to the AFL and played 11 games.
Now, as the wiser, big grizzly bear and best mate who can offer plenty of advice and has what Hartlett is chasing – a senior flag.
“As someone who’s been my idol growing up, he’s your older brother so everything you do, you want to do as well as him and he’s a super competitive guy,” he says.
“He was unlucky in his career and probably didn’t do everything he possibly could’ve while at Carlton, but his support for me is unwavering.
“Like with a lot of people, if it wasn’t for your older siblings, you wouldn’t be in the position you are.”
‘Why not me?’ How Port’s past is powering flag push
On the night of Port Adelaide’s 150th anniversary dinner in February, Charlie Dixon posted a photo to his Instagram account which at first glance appeared nothing more than a regulation selfie.
But it also revealed part of the motivation behind the club’s premiership push this season.
In the photo was Keith Spencer who played 161 games from 1964-1973, during which time the Magpies won two flags from eight grand finals, but Spencer never got a medal.
Next to him was Greg Phillips who won a staggering eight premierships from 343 games including a stint as captain and a best-and-fairest which has rightly landed him in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Then there was Dixon, who has only played in two finals in his 152-game career that started at the Gold Coast and brought him to Port Adelaide in 2016, and is now an All-Australian. And like Spencer, Dixon is still searching for that elusive premiership.
They all wore different ties — Spencer a black-and-white bow tie, Philips a black and white necktie and Dixon a black, white and teal one — but binding them together was they had all worn the same number and shared the same locker at Alberton.
“Three 22’s,” Dixon captioned the photo with.
“To see the history of the club and learn more and meet the (past) players has been pretty special,” he told The Advertiser last week.
“We’re trying to do something special in our 150th year and also repay what the founders did for us all those years ago.
“It only took me a year to be honest to really feel at home and fall in love with Adelaide and the football club, I’ve always made my feelings known about this football club and all the help they’ve given me over the past five years.”
Earlier that night at the club’s 150th celebrations at the Convention Centre, captain Tom Jonas told the audience that Port Adelaide’s proud past was now powering its future which leads to a preliminary final against Richmond on Friday night.
“Some of the stories we’ve heard tonight are truly inspiring and we really could sit here and listen for hours,” Jonas said at the 150th dinner.
“As current captain I love hearing stories of your past success, you have created a legacy that our playing group admires greatly and you inspire us to achieve our own great deeds.
“One day we would love to be a part of a night like this so that the Port Adelaide community can be just as proud of us as we are of you all tonight … hopefully in about nine months.”
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Three months earlier Jonas sat at a table with president David Koch and coach Ken Hinkley and was unveiled as Port Adelaide’s new solo skipper.
Having broken with tradition 12 months earlier by appointing Jones and Ollie Wines as co-captains for the first time, some things at Port Adelaide it seemed were simply too sacred to part with after all and the No. 1 guernsey which had been shelved for a year, was back.
“We’re older than Manchester United and the Yankees, so we are a significant part of football in this country and really proud to represent our community for 150 years,” Koch said to open his press conference.
“Port Adelaide will return to the one captain leadership system that the club has had for much of that 150 years.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that number one guernsey is one of those iconic traditions that are really an important part of this club.
“And we are delighted that Tommy becomes the 28th name on the number one locker over 150 years.”
But what means as much to Port Adelaide as the number on the back of its captain’s guernsey is what’s on the front, and the club is refusing to mothball its black-and-white striped prison bar guernsey for its AFL existence.
It has worn the jumper five times since entering the AFL in 1997, including the 2014 elimination final thrashing of Richmond and this year’s Round 2 Showdown mauling of the Crows.
Club chiefs are lobbying the AFL to wear it in home Showdowns from next season and will present a petition to the AFL this year.
“Every time you put it on it means a lot and you’re representing more than just yourself,” former captain Travis Boak said of the jumper.
“You’ve got your teammates, past history, everyone involved in the footy club, you’ve got everyone who is involved in the Port Adelaide area. There’s so much history in that jumper and every time you put it on, it’s like armour for us.
“Even some of the young kids they absorb that energy and there’s no doubt we made our fans proud tonight in our 150th celebration in a Showdown representing that guernsey.”
Boak was one of those young kids once. He arrived at Port Adelaide from Torquay in the 2006 national draft and became so indoctrinated in the ‘Port Adelaide way’ that despite several attempts by clubs to lure him home, he could never bring himself to leave.
For today’s draftees, the indoctrination starts the day they arrive at Alberton and are met by Port Magpies legend Tim Ginever for a guided tour of the club.
“Tim Ginever took us through the old Alberton stands and changerooms, as you know he’s amazing, he can talk to a brick wall for hours so it was a very entertaining hour and he got a lot of words out,” said Xavier Duursma, who got the tour in 2018.
“We got introduced to the club legends, learnt the history of the club, the Port Adelaide way, the blue collar attitude that the Port Adelaide people bring, to everything they do — not just the players but the community as a whole.
“This club is a great community club not just with footy and I think that’s massive that we’ve done that for 150 years.”
While some players like Duursma have been introduced to Port Adelaide’s rich history on arrival, others on the list have grown up with it like Trent Burgoyne and Jackson Mead whose fathers Peter Burgoyne and Darren Mead won premierships with the Power and the Magpies.
The link to Port Adelaide’s 2004 premiership also extends to its coaching panel where premiership players Jarrad Schofield, Brett Montgomery and Chad Cornes are calling the shots as did Dean Brogan who started the year as part-time ruck coach before COVID hit along with Michael Wilson who was their physiotherapist.
There is also a premiership flavour in the boardroom where Gavin Wanganeen and Darren Cahill — son of legendary coach John Cahill — are directors.
The Power’s former coach Matthew Primus was cruelly denied the 2004 premiership by injury when he was captain, but he is so loved and respected at Alberton that the club invited him back to speak to the players and coaches when they were in Noosa during their 2018-19 pre-season campaign.
“Some of the things I spoke about were dear to my heart,” said Primus, who was sacked as coach in 2012 and replaced by Hinkley.
“The club, what it means to you, leadership and those sorts of things. It was good to see some familiar faces but also the younger ones and tell them how much the club means to me.
“They’ve got a core group here but a lot of new faces the last two years and a big turnover of the list, so just the connection to the players and a bit about our history in the AFL.
“As I said to them, they might have missed the eight last season but it’s very close between missing the eight and making otp four and this group is not too far away, but they’ve got to be able to go again.”
The man who coached Port Adelaide before him, Mark Williams, led the club to its only AFL premiership and used his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2018 to challenge the current players to make their own piece of history.
“You players out there that are now playing for Port Adelaide, you’ve got the guernsey and all that and yeah it’s OK and you can think whatever you like,” Williams said on stage.
“But for me, it was always walking past those other premiership players and premiership teams and I thought ‘geez I’ve got to get one of them’.
“I haven’t been back to Port Adelaide for quite a long time, but there used to be a spare space next to the last premiership, and if you see that space next to the premiership of 2004 it should drive you, why not me?”
POWER RESPECTS TIGERS, BUT NOT INTIMIDATED: JONAS
Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas says the Power respects Richmond but is not intimidated by the reigning premier and his side will go in as the underdogs trying to dethrone the champs in Friday’s preliminary final.
Despite having won their last meeting in Round 11, finishing on top of the ladder and playing in front of a home crowd at Adelaide Oval, Jonas said in his eyes the Power was the hunter and the Tigers the hunted as they shoot for a third flag in four years.
“It’s a bit of an individual thing, I like to feel like a bit of an underdog, like we’re trying to knock them off,” Jonas said.
“Despite beating them earlier in the year and finishing top, they’ve got the runs on the board over the last three years.
“But at the same time we’re well aware that we’ve played a lot of good footy this year and we completely back in our game plan and the way we go about things.
“We definitely shouldn’t play second fiddle or be intimidated by them.
“It’s more respect, you’ve got to respect what they’ve done and acknowledge that, but then focus on our game.
“There are obviously a lot of great players in their team and they’ve performed on the big stage for a long time so you acknowledge that and then focus on yourselves.”
Port Adelaide veteran Justin Westhoff joined the forwards group for training on Monday with Todd Marshall doing non-contact work as he recovers from a sore shoulder in the qualifying final win over Geelong. But Jonas said both Marshall and Xavier Duursma, who was concussed in that game, would be “close to 100 per cent” for the Tigers’ clash.
The Power is 5-5 from its past 10 games against Richmond and won their last meeting against the Tigers in Round 11 this year.
Both sides were missing key players who are now back in the side for the preliminary final and Jonas said his team took confidence from their last clash.
“I think that was a quintessential Richmond side, they played their same style and yeah there were a few people missing but the bones were the same and we like to think that we’ve improved as a team in that time as well,” he said.
“We’ve got that great balance of youth and excitement and blokes that just aren’t afraid, those young boys go out and play their natural game and we have those experienced guys so if things do get tight they know exactly what to do and can give some great direction.
“Having won that qualifying final in a big game that also gives you a heap of confidence as well.”
Jonas said Port Adelaide had not spoken about specific match-ups on Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt yet and he was not expecting his team to deploy a run-with role on Dustin Martin.
“He’ll (Martin) get the respect he deserves but I think we stick to our game, we haven’t shown that we have tagged players much this year and if you shut down Dusty you open a door for Cotchin or Edwards, so there are lots of threats and we just stick to what we do well,” he said.
“I think it’s pretty well the same (for us), if you go to Boaky (Boak) you open the door for Rocky (Rockliff) or Wal (Wines) or vice versa, so it’s going to be a genuine head to head clash, both teams have plenty of respect for each other and you’ve got to give them their dues for what they’ve done throughout the year.”
Originally published as Hamish Hartlett reveals the ‘big picture inking’ behind his body art – and his dream of a Power premiership tattoo