Riley Bonner’s stunning start to the AFL season is a tribute to his eagerness to succeed
NO-ONE doubted Riley Bonner had the talent to be an AFL player - and now everyone is sure the Port Adelaide defender belongs in the big league.
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SOMETIMES talent is not enough.
At the start of last year’s AFL pre-season the perception around Alberton was Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley would play novices Riley Bonner and Sam Powell-Pepper in every game.
First-round draftee “SPP” was there from the start. Bonner, a second-round pick in 2015, was over-taken by rookie-listed defender Dan Houston.
A year on, Bonner, 21, is where so many expected 12 months earlier - a first-choice, running defender ... after five games. His fifth - on Saturday against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval - delivered more than impressive numbers such as 31 disposals and 80 per cent disposal efficiency for a team wanting players with precise skills.
It is a statement on Bonner’s character beyond his skill - and a reaffirmation that Port Adelaide once again, after falling in the abyss in 2008-12, is a football club that can fulfil a player’s potential.
But talent is not enough ... as Bonner knows too well after his long apprenticeship in the SANFL.
Former Power vice-captain and experienced defender Hamish Hartlett is Bonner’s mentor.
“Every game he has played,” Hartlett said of Bonner, “he has looked like he has played 100 games.
“And the fifth game ... he has been sensational. Really calmed and composed - and he has some weapons to help him get out of trouble and help us as a team to move the ball. He is just going from strength to strength.
“As his mentor, I’ll claim part of that ...”
Bonner made his AFL debut in the Power’s season-closer at Gold Coast in 2016 and - on the talent noted from his SANFL journey at West Adelaide - was earmarked by the pundits as the face of change at Alberton for Season 2017.
But Bonner did not break into the AFL line-up again until the round 22 clash with the Western Bulldogs at Ballarat and stayed in the line-up to play his first AFL final in his third game.
Talent was not enough.
“Early on in his career,” Hartlett said of Bonner, “those first couple of years (after being draft pick No. 37 in 2015) Riley had some deficiencies, particularly with how physical he would be around the contest.
“He needed to work on that ... and that’s just part and parcel of the challenge faced by a young player with a lean body (and draft-age weight of 83 kilograms).
“That is where his biggest growth has come in the past few months. Riley has really put his head over the ball when he needs to; he tackles well now. He has become really strong in the contest.
“It is a key part of the AFL game - and Riley has added it to his game.
“The natural competitor inside Riley wants to play AFL football. He has taken a lot of feedback in the three years he has been at the club about what needed to change in his game - and to his credit, and as a sign of his strong character, he has taken that on.”
Originally published as Riley Bonner’s stunning start to the AFL season is a tribute to his eagerness to succeed
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