Port Adelaide ruckman Jordon Sweet reflects on his six-year wait to play his first AFL final as Power prepares to face Geelong
Jordon Sweet has not played an AFL final. But the Port Adelaide ruckman is ready after a long apprenticeship – and has been balancing footy with time on the SA Cricket Association roller.
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The grass back home in South Australia has proven to be greener for Jordon Sweet.
Eleven months after being traded from the Western Bulldogs to Port Adelaide, Sweet is getting the regular top-tier games he has long craved and is set to play in his first AFL final.
The ruckman featured just 11 times at the elite level in five seasons at the Bulldogs, as he toiled behind All-Australian Tim English.
Sweet has already exceeded that number at the club he grew up supporting, playing 14 matches, including 10 in a row, ahead of the Power’s home qualifying final against Geelong on Thursday night.
The wait to get here has been long and difficult.
But as someone who went undrafted for two years, took until his third season to debut, had a 645-day stretch between his last AFL match for the Bulldogs and first for Port, and lost his spot in the side twice this campaign, he held plenty of pride for his persistence.
“It was 645 days with no injuries in that time,” Sweet, now 26, reflects.
“I’d say most players would have been delisted.
“Kenny (Power coach Ken Hinkley) did mention to me this week that I should be really proud of myself and who would’ve thought you’d be in this position (after being traded).
“I personally wouldn’t have thought so, but I do believe in myself and try to be the best I can.
“I would’ve been very happy with just a handful of games this year, considering where I would’ve been at the Dogs, so I’m stoked with how I’ve gone so far.
“I don’t take anything for granted and am just more appreciative of things that are going on around me.”
Sweet has approached life that way since his dad died in September 2022.
Ron Sweet had a long battle with a heart disease and passed away the same day his beloved Norwood beat North Adelaide in that year’s SANFL grand final.
Sweet tried to join the Power in 2022 to be closer to family.
Returning to the Bulldogs provided perspective – and also the inspiration for a tattoo on his lower right leg honouring his father, who was an avid supporter of his former club.
“After he passed I went back to Victoria and probably took things for granted, which is why I said I don’t take things for granted,” says Sweet, who earned VFL Team of the Year selection in his last season at the Bulldogs.
“It was important I could get back here and see my family more.
“As much as he was a Doggies fan, I’m sure he would be really proud and very happy of how I’ve been going this year.
“I’ve got a tattoo of Dad’s name made out of sweets.
“There’s a killer python for the R, a doughnut, which we both loved, for the O then a Crunchie, Mars Bar and a redskin for the N.”
The same calf has more quirky inkwork.
It is his German shorthaired pointer’s head on the body of a dunking Shaquille O’Neal – the NBA legend Sweet’s dog is named after.
“(The tattoo designs) probably come from the boys I was around at the Western Bulldogs with obviously Libba (Tom Liberatore), Bailey Williams and Caleb Daniel also had alternative tattoos,” he says.
Sweet often takes Shaquille for walks at Karen Rolton Oval, not far from his home at Mile End.
The 206cm Power player has also been doing work experience there with the South Australian Cricket Association’s ground staff since just before the start of footy season.
Having done some greenskeeping in Melbourne at golf courses and Marvel Stadium, Sweet wanted to explore the field more this year to prepare for life after footy.
The opportunity with the SACA arose through the Power’s Beyond the Bounce program, led by former captain Tom Jonas, connecting players with networking or work opportunities.
Sweet had a taste of working indoors – in a warehouse after being overlooked in the 2016 and 2017 drafts – and did not want to go back to that.
So he was relishing the chance to be in the sun, on a roller and learning more about turf.
“It gives him a chance to switch off and also do something else outside of footy,” SACA grounds manager Trent Kelly says.
“He fits beautifully into our team environment and the guys love asking him about coming up against your Max Gawn types.
“The (roller) roof definitely has to be at its full height when he’s on it.
“We’re just really happy to see him playing some good footy.”
Thursday night will be Sweet’s first final at Adelaide Oval since rucking in North Adelaide’s 2018 SANFL premiership.
He plans to be back at the venue over summer getting work experience with their ground staff.
Hopefully as an AFL premiership player.
“It’d be good to go out and see what they do, especially during footy season, because I’m a big footy nuff,” he says.
“You’d know what blades of grass are doing what and it’d good to get that centre circle looking nice and crisp.”
Originally published as Port Adelaide ruckman Jordon Sweet reflects on his six-year wait to play his first AFL final as Power prepares to face Geelong
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