One of Port Adelaide’s greatest ever players was on the phone to Norwood within 24 hours of Logan Evans being passed over in the draft.

The rangy Redlegs defender began 2023 looking near certain to get selected by a club come November.

One club had him comfortably in their top 30 of players in the pool, ahead of the national under 18 championships in June and July.

This was backed up by a strong start for Norwood at SANFL level, with the then 17-year-old averaging 15 disposals and six intercepts in his first four matches in the senior side.

Yet by the time the draft was completed 64 players had their names called out, with a further 19 in the subsequent rookie draft.
Evans wasn’t one of them.

It was another blow in what was a turbulent year.

Over the space of two months, Evans’ world was turned upside down.

His much loved grandfather Bruce, a 14-year recruiter for Essendon in SA, passed away.

And then in August, he and Norwood had to endure the tragedy of popular teammate Nick Lowden taking his life at just 23.

Evans didn’t slide down draft boards, he plummeted as these twin tragedies severely impacted the second half of his draft year.

But while he had been passed over in the draft, the Power and club great Robbie Gray – who is now in a recruitment role at Alberton after retiring in 2022 – were still fans.

For Norwood senior coach Jade Rawlings, it was the resilience immediately after getting passed over that impressed him the most about Evans, who had just turned 18.

“We spoke immediately after the draft and another capture of his character was that he was able to have that convo and stay calm,” Rawlings told The Advertiser.

“He was disappointed but I think he probably resigned himself to it at that point but within 24 hours Port had called and Robbie Gray on behalf of Port had said they might look to have him as a SANFL Rookie, which we had to agree to at Norwood and we are not in the game of standing in the way of people’s aspirations.

“Thankfully it was done tastefully by both clubs and it has worked well for Logan.”

Worked well is one way of putting it.

After impressing over the summer, and then for the Magpies as part of the SANFL Rookie program – which allows the Power and Adelaide the chance to select a player from the state league to play in their side and train with their AFL squads – Evans was selected by Port with the 12th pick of the mid-season draft this year.

Within just a couple of weeks, he made his AFL debut for the Power, in its horror loss to Brisbane in Round 15 where he was arguably Port’s only shining light.

He has played every game since, fitting in almost seamlessly in Ken Hinkley’s defence.

It has been a journey few would have predicted at the start of 2023 and maybe even more towards the end of the year.

Evans’ emergence has been one hell of a find for the Power in 2024, with his average of 376m gained, 5.8 marks and 1.6 intercept marks all rated as above average for a general defender by Champion Data.

But there has always been a belief that Evans could make it to the big stage.

“We always believed he would be an AFL player,” Rawlings said.

“He didn’t have the year he hoped to have last year and that’s not a criticism it just didn’t go on the trajectory that he would have hoped.

“But for a kid to be playing under 18s at the start of 2022 and he is then playing Round 1 2023 of SANFL footy it shows a rapid rise.

“I believe the flow through being involved in the Port program in already being a part of the group and being in an environment that suited him being a mid-season draft pick because of the awareness of what they do and who his teammates are and the environment he has already been in.

“We’ve always believed he can be a player.

"There is no doubt, timing is everything and he probably got to Port where there was an opportunity afforded to him probably a bit quicker than he would have thought but he has made the most of it and I really love that the coaching staff at Port have supported him and coached him to continue to improve his game."

On Friday night, Evans will play his 13th game at the AFL level.

It will be a preliminary final against Sydney at the SCG.

Already he has shown the heat of finals doesn’t faze him on the field, with 22 disposals – 82 per cent efficiency – and five marks in the thrilling win over Hawthorn in the semi-final last week.

But he has also shown that getting to the big stage hasn’t changed what Rawlings described as a “great young man” who still lives with his mum Sheridan and brother and sister in Hectorville.

“He was at our reserves prelim final on Saturday morning after Port’s final, that is probably a good capture that he is still passionate about Norwood and that meant a lot to us and myself to see him down there,” Rawlings said.

“I still think he would have been there if they won or lose, so I think that’s a good capture of his character.”

Gray isn’t the only Port Adelaide great who has been a fan of Evans.

Seven-time premiership player and former captain Tim Ginever was out at Woodville Oval for the Round 3 SANFL clash between Woodville-West Torrens and the Magpies.

“I was out there and Mark Soderstrom (Channel 7 sports presenter) was talking to his mum,” Ginever recalls.

“And she had played netball at Garville with Jenny Borlase... so we were chatting away and I asked why you are here and she said “oh my lad is playing for Port” and she explained it and said he had a bit of a rough Year 12, his grandpa died and few things and he didn’t get picked up and it just didn’t happen.

“I said “oh, well stick at it and you never know your luck and that”.

“So I kept an eye on him (at SANFL level) and I just liked the way he played, he was cool, calm and collected in those moments and when he got his chance he elevated himself unbelievably and I just think he gets better with every game he plays.”

In particular, Ginever was impressed with Evans’ ability to change and find angles with his kicking.

“That ability to see that I remember seeing that in Dan Houston when I went to watch him at SANFL level when he was quite young and he was playing half-forward,” he said.

“He has really nice peripheral vision and he can see people and angles that perhaps others can’t.”

Already in his young AFL career, Evans has been trusted by Port with the kick-in duties.

“He has a creative brain and sometimes the creative ones can hit some good ones and make you pull your hair out for the ones they miss but his game stacks up,” Rawlings said.

“As an 18-year-old you don’t get given the kick-in duties lightly, you have to show you can kick and make calm decisions.

“It shows just how far he has come that they have given him that responsibility and he can accept it.”

In four games for Port at SANFL level in 2024, Evans averaged 15.3 disposals and 4.5 marks before he was sidelined with a back injury.

But the Power had seen enough, and so did Ginever.

On his FIVEaa sports show, he said Port could do a lot worse than going for Evans in the mid-season draft.

He jokes that he “should have kept my mouth shut”.

“I probably shouldn’t ha

ve opened my mouth, I didn’t know what was happening behind closed doors,” he said.

“I have a story that I embarrass myself with a fair bit, it was a few years ago and I like to go to the SANFL finals.

“Obviously I am working but I go early to watch the 16s or the 18s and I was sitting there this day a few years ago now and I was watching this Eagles’ grand final in the under 18s and it was a pretty tightly fought contest.

“And there was this kid in the back pocket a little bit … not as conditioned as you would expect. Anyway he was fierce at the ball, he was straight line, he was attacking everything.

“There was a piece of play where somebody else was in the contest and they didn’t want to chase and he ran and chased this guy down and then had a go at his teammates for not chasing.

“And I thought this bloke is unbelievable so I got on the phone and rang CD (Port’s footy boss Chris Davies) and I said ‘Chris there is a lad playing for the Eagles in the back pocket I don’t think a lot of people will like him because of the way he looks physically but wow what a player, he is sensational, he is a footballer’.

“I said ‘he’s an good old fashioned footballer’, and he said ‘oh yeah what’s his name’ and I said ‘his name is Lachie Jones’ and he said ‘yeah he’s in our Next Generation Academy do you like him?’

I said yeah and he goes ‘all right see ya Timmy’ and hung up on me so I just thought to myself just stay in your lane.”

Luckily for Port, Ginever did stay in his lane this time, and Evans was able to be snapped up in the mid-season draft.

He is quickly becoming a fan favourite with his badges selling out at the Port Store three times since he got a Rising Star nomination for Round 24.

Ginever said he wasn’t surprised that Evans was loved by fans.

“I got his number off the media guys at Port, and I just congratulated him on getting drafted and I said to him ‘you know what mate in your last game for the Maggies there was a ball right near the end of the game and you stayed in line with it and a bloke ran over and took you out’,” he said.

“I said ’if you just keep doing that Port Adelaide people are going to love you. You didn’t come off the line, you stayed in line, you got bulldozed but you know what Port Adelaide people love that. You keep doing that mate and you won’t have any problems’.

“And he keeps doing that and keeps showing unbelievable courage and he is so good at reading the ball and the play.

“I have been so impressed with him and fingers crossed with everything going well we should see a nice long career.”

Rawlings said what Evans has done since being passed over should be used as inspiration by those who find themselves in a similar boat.

“He suffered a bit as an 18-year-old and it was healthy for him to go through that and come out the other side and find out that nothing is going to be handed to you,” he said.

“I deal with a lot of guys who either have been in and then come out or are still wanting get into it and they improve their footy, they get to work and show a better example of themselves.

“I think too often with the 18-year-old version of these young men the die is cast too easily, quickly and strongly where as they go and improve their footy and you keep looking at them and what they can do and they keep growing you can get an example like Logan.

“I think he is a great trailblazer for young South Australian players who are still looking to emerge in the AFL.”