They each play off half back and each have a damaging left foot. They were even paired together as mentor and mentee, such was their similarity.
But for the first time Riley Bonner and Jasper Pittard will come up against each other when Port Adelaide takes on North Melbourne in the JLT Community Series this weekend.
“Jasper was my old mentor,” Bonner said.
“It’s going to be weird lining up against him as an opponent.”
Pittard was traded to the Kangaroos at the end of 2018 after 126 games in eight seasons with the Power.
Bonner follows Pittard at training in 2017 |
For Bonner it means less competition for his spot in the backline, although the Power has significant depth in defence.
It has super boots Trent McKenzie and Jarrod Lienert ready to step up and play AFL more consistently as well as having recruited Ryan Burton from Hawthorn.
Add to that Hamish Hartlett and Matthew Broadbent ready to return to the field after respective long-term injuries and Bonner knows he needs to continue to perform to stay in the side.
“It is really important we have Hamish Hartlett and Matthew Broadbent coming back from, I guess, Hamish with his ACL and Matt with a troublesome ankle,” he noted.
“So, it’s pretty important for me to play pretty well coming into round 1 as we have a pretty strong line-up going into it.”
While Bonner has impressed in three pre-season hit-outs playing primarily in defence – the intra-club match, under 23 trial game against Adelaide and JLT1 against the Crows – there is some talk that he could push up on the wing to replace another player who was traded to Arden Street, Jared Polec.
The 21-year-old is happy to play to play wherever he is needed, admitting he played as a wingman during his junior football years.
And while he is looking forward to being reunited with Polec and his former mentor Pittard, Bonner admits the Alberton faithful might not be as excited to see them.
“It will be fun and I’m sure the Alberton crowd will look after them with a bit of stick off the field.
“It’s all fun and games as a part of footy, we have no hard feelings.”
