Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines says he is “really excited” for the second half of the season, with the group using the bye to reset mentally and physically.  

Multiple players are eyeing a return from injury this week, with Wines looking forward to some added reinforcements, ahead of a trip to Canberra to take on GWS. 

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Monday, the 30-year-old spoke on the timing of the bye, how the club has reviewed the first part of the season, and who could be back against the Giants. 

Wines on having a mid-season break 
“I’m feeling really excited for the back half of the year. Probably in the past few years, the bye’s come a little bit later in the bye period for us, but this year it gave us a good opportunity to reset, assess where things are at and look forward to the second half of the season.  

“It's chance for the boys to get home, back to their home state or wherever they want to get to. I think we had four days off from Monday to Thursday, and then we came back in as a group Friday, and were able to train over those couple of days. So I think more than anything, it gives us an opportunity to freshen up, away from the club. We like to think we do a lot of things together as a group throughout the season when we're here. So I think it's just a good chance to get away and see family who might be interstate. We are a pretty heavy interstate team. We've got a lot of guys from a lot of different states, so it's good opportunity to get home.” 

Wines on the bye coming at a good time 
“Yeah, possibly. I guess we probably won't know until a couple of months into it, to see how things have played out. In terms of injury, I think we get a few guys back this week. So in terms of that, it's come at a really good time. I think we've got four guys ready to return, and they probably would have missed an extra game if we hadn't had the bye at this stage. So in regards to injury, I think it's come at a good time.” 

Wines on reviewing the first half of the season 
“We've discussed what probably hasn't gone right the first half year and how we can correct that, and how we can get on a winning run. I think in the past few years, we've been able to string, you know, six, seven, multiple games together where we're winning, and we've got full confidence that we can do that, but there's some things we need to tidy up. We've been able to reassess them and see where that's gone wrong and try crack that. 

“We've had a good look, particularly after the Freo game, we've treated it as a bit of a mid-season review, seeing where things have gone wrong and where we've got to make corrections to get back to our best. So we've certainly identified a few areas, and we're looking to work on them.  

“I don't think they’re wholesale changes to our game plan. They're more individual fixes we have to do ourselves to, you know, be in games and mentally play games out, whether that's in the contest or defensively, be a little bit quicker. So they're not major things. But you know, when you don't have majority of the group doing it, it adds up pretty quick.” 

Wines on fourth quarters this year 
“I don't think it's a physical thing. It possibly is a mental thing, coming down to defence and contest. I certainly think we're as fit as we can be. And I think majority of the AFL teams are similar physical levels. I think it's above the shoulders where it counts, and we might have not been on our best game in those last quarters, where we've had lapses and let teams get a run on in momentum, which has been proved hard to stop at times.” 

Wines on Jason Horne-Francis 
“He’d be huge (to have back from injury). I think he's probably a little bit less likely than the other guys, but I think Sav (Ratugolea), Faz (Farrell), Josh Sinn, Darcy (Byrne-Jones), who I think is looking good to clear the (concussion) protocols. So I think Hornet’s a little bit less likely than them, but in saying that, you want to make sure his hammy’s good, because he's a powerful player, and you don't want it going again.” 

Wines on the coaching succession plan 
“Nothing has changed since the announcement back early in the year. Obviously, Ken and Carry (Josh Carr) and CD (Chris Davies) announced it to the group, and you know, apart from that day, moving forward, nothing's changed. So Ken's our coach. He will be for the rest of the year, and I know he's got a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the job, and we'll be there for him.” 

Wines on his heart issue 
“Yeah, it's been really good. I had, as I said, a procedure back in December, and there was 1% likelihood that it wouldn't work, and unfortunately, I'm in the 1% that it hasn't worked for. So we've gone back to a bit of an intervention plan that we had in the previous two years to manage it up to that operation, and that's working well so far. And we'll reassess at the end of the season to see if we do it again. 

“It would probably be the exact same (procedure). So, yeah, as I said, there's 99% success rate usually, and unfortunately, I was in the 1%, so it’s bad luck, I guess. It was frustrating, but look at the end of the day it, luckily for me, it's not life threatening, and it's something that cost me a game of footy, and I have to get subbed out of a game of footy. So I'm in a really fortunate position. I've got the best cardiologists and doctors around me at the footy club, and they've talked me through everything. So at the moment, it's just this plan that has previously worked. I've never had an episode when we're using this drug intervention, and once the season ends, we'll assess if I need a procedure again.” 

Wines on the three new draftees 
“We've had limited time with them. They got here Friday, and we trained with them Saturday, but from that limited time, I think they could be really good. Obviously, they’re senior SANFL footballers, and I think they've all got potential to take that next step to the AFL. So I think they'll add a lot to our group, and looking forward to seeing them gel and join in with everything.” 

Wines on wanting to send Ken off on a good note 
“Yeah, he’s incredibly important to us as a footy group. He's done so much for our team, particularly when he took over in a really vulnerable position for the club. The club put a lot of faith in him, and he put a lot of faith in the people around him to get us to this point being a really strong, successful football club. Despite not winning a premiership, I think we've always been up there, and we've played a lot of finals footy. So Ken's done a lot for me personally as a footballer and off the field. So I'm always going to play for him.” 

Wines on GWS this week 
“They're a really good contest side. So I think we've got to be in the contest, which, unfortunately for us, has been a little bit of a lapse at times during games. So we've got to put our heads down, get to work, surround the contest, really good shape and try and win the ball that way. But they're in really good, hot form. They’re a top eight teams, so it's a big challenge going to Canberra and trying to knock them off.”