Defender Tom Jonas will captain Port Adelaide alone in 2020 with Ollie Wines as his vice captain
Port Adelaide has turfed its co-captaincy model after just one season, with Tom Jonas to skipper the club in his own right in its 150th year. It comes after he shared the role with Ollie Wines last season.
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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch says the club has listened to its people and responded to member backlash to its controversial co-captaincy model by dumping Ollie Wines and anointing Tom Jonas as sole skipper for next season.
Jonas will wear the No.1 guernsey as per club tradition in Port Adelaide’s 150th anniversary season in 2020, while Wines will be vice captain and Hamish Hartlett retains his spot in the leadership group.
“We’ve always been a club that listens to its members, listens to its people,” Koch said.
“The people of the Port Adelaide Football Club are incredibly engaged and passionate and we thank them, and we’ve heard loud and clear after going to a joint captain model last year that the number one guernsey is one of those iconic traditions that’s a really important part of this club.
“We are really proud of our history but like any successful organisation, we are not afraid to try things, be innovative, to take a tact that we think is a little different and sometimes breaks with tradition.
“But we also listen to our people and in this instance we have listened to them.
“It’s important to emphasis every decision we make at this club is a whole of club decision and we’re delighted that Tommy becomes the 28th name on the number one locker over 150 years.”
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Asked whether it would have stuck with the co-captaincy model had the 150th year not been looming, Koch said “no”.
“No because we pride ourselves on being an innovative club, on not being afraid to try something different, but also we’re a club that prides ourselves on being inclusive, with incredibly engaged people and they made it very clear that it’s one of the icons that should stay,” he said.
“It’s not all about listening to the fans, it’s about listening to our people and making a decision on what is best for the club as a whole.
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“From an operational and playing point of view it was the best model to put us in the best position to win a premiership, and frankly the model doesn’t change in practicality, in terms of football department and the playing group the leadership is still with Tom and Ollie and Hamish and I think the playing group will agree they will see no difference.
“But in terms of our people and the iconic nature of the number one guernsey it is important to return to that, so we think we have the best of both worlds.”
Wines said he was comfortable with the decision because he believed Jonas was “the most capable to lead us at this stage”.
“I can speak on behalf of myself and most of the playing group that he’s the one to lead us at this stage, we’d all follow him to the edge of the Earth and to be standing alongside him as well as Harts it’s as much of an honour as I’ve had,” Wines said.
“If it was someone I didn’t think was capable I would be disappointed, but there’s not many people I’d follow to the edge of the Earth and he’s one of them, so he has 100 per cent backing of everyone.”
Jonas said he was incredibly honoured to go it alone next season.
“It’s an absolute honour to pull on the number one next year and follow in the footsteps of some great leaders that this club has had and I don’t think I’ll change, but it’s an absolute privilege to lead these boys and our club,” Jonas said.
Less than 10 months after endorsing the co-captaincy model, Hinkley said the football department was equally as behind the move back to a solo skipper.
“It was something we wanted to have a go at and it was something we thought was absolutely right for the football program and it worked really well because we sit here with three young people who are better prepared to do the opportunities now in front of them.
“I’m not frightened of that, I’m really brave when it comes to making some tough calls at times, but I’m equally as brave and honest in this decision making process.
“This is a whole of club decision, not just one part of the program or administration, it’s the whole club.
“I saw the board as we came down here, 39,576 members - they are the reason that we exist and we’re going to continue to represent them as best as we can and one of their things is they love the idea of number one on their jumper and as a football department and club we are very much in tune together.”
The Power finished 10th with an 11-11 win/loss record in its only season under both Jonas and Wines as captain, but the club was understood to have received scathing feedback from members because it had broken with tradition and the famed No.1 guernsey was vacant.
But the decision to appoint co-captains to replace Travis Boak in February was widely endorsed by the playing group, including its oldest and most experienced player Justin Westhoff four weeks ago.
“The dual captaincy was a big success for me,” Westhoff said.
“They worked well together and led the boys well and there’s no reason why it needs to change.”
In October, Jonas revealed the Power was conducting a leadership review but he believed the co-captaincy model would continue in 2020.
“As far as I’m concerned that won’t lead to any change,” Jonas told The Lowdown Podcast.
“The dual captaincy worked well this year despite Ollie and I having tougher years.
“Ollie missed a lot of footy and it’s tough to do what you need to do to lead the group when you’re not out there, but despite that he was very impressive and I was more than happy to share the duties with him.
“I think it worked well and as far as I’m concerned it’s going to be co-captains next year until I hear otherwise.”
Wines had an injury-plagued season that started with shoulder surgery after a waterskiing incident over summer before breaking his leg and his thumb in just 12 games at AFL level.
He was also forced to regain his spot in the senior team via the Magpies in the SANFL.
Wines’ turbulent year continued even into the off-season when his manager and the club were forced to respond to reports that he had sought a trade home to Victoria after signing a four-year deal midway through 2018.
“These reports are completely untrue, Ollie is very happy at Port Adelaide, where he is captain and contracted for another three seasons,” his agent Nick Gieschen said.
“He certainly did not ask me to investigate the possibility of a trade and nor did I scope one out on his behalf.”
In February, when announcing that Wines and Jonas would co-captain the club, coach Ken Hinkley said the Power had taken their time to make a “really clear and really brave decision”.
“It’s a really, really brave decision to come up here today and say ‘we think this is the right model’ and while we didn’t rush the decision making, it was really good for us because it allowed us to get to a really strong position that we now have a much stronger model than we have in the past,” Hinkley said.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as Defender Tom Jonas will captain Port Adelaide alone in 2020 with Ollie Wines as his vice captain