Esava Ratugolea is coming off one of the most dominant games of his career, with the big key defender recording 12 intercept possessions.
Ratugolea was a pillar in defence in Port Adelaide’s one-goal win over West Coast, finding his stride after an interrupted first half of the season.
The defender spoke with the Adelaide media on Wednesday, touching on his own form, the way he’s growing as a leader, and the challenge of Sydney this weekend.
Ratugolea on his post-training routine
“A lot of my leg weights and stuff like that, I have tick off post-training, because I'm still warm. I'm at that age now, where I have to do it. When I was younger, I was looking at these blokes doing it, thinking I'm definitely not going to get to that stage, but these knees are not holding up too well. So I'm sort of trying to start a trend now, trying to get a few more older boys joining me after training.”
Ratugolea on his game against West Coast
“Yeah, (the body) definitely did (hold up well on the weekend). Definitely got involved a lot more. It's something I've been building to as well. I've had a bit of an interrupted season, so it's just been nice to get some continuity in my body for the last few weeks, and then we've been able to get the reward on the weekend. One game is nice, but I just have to keep it going and play consecutive good games. I'll get a lot of confidence out of that. It's something I know that I can do. It's just trying to do it on the weekend every week, so something I'm building towards.”
Ratugolea on Sydney’s forward line
“We’ve still got to figure out our matchups. I have played on Curnow in the past, so wouldn't be surprised if I did. Aliir’s there and we’ve got some other blokes who can play tall as well, so we’ve got a couple more meetings during the week, and we'll figure that out. There are a lot of big boys there (in their forward line), but our keys have been good. Jonesy has been really good, even Logan could play really tall as well. So, yeah, they’ve got some dangerous forwards, but I think we can cover them pretty well.
“(Curnow is) really powerful, and he does some really long leads. For me, it's just sort of taking that away from him. I like to be more aggressive and try and keep the ball in more of a marking contest, so as long as I can stop him from doing those long leads and playing his way, I’ll be alright.”
Ratugolea on Harrison Ramm playing ahead of him in pre-season
“Yeah, it was good. It was really good. He's someone who's super exciting that I think is going to play some really good footy. The thing that goes wrong is if you feel comfortable in your position. I think that's really good when young kids are coming up creating a bit of competition, but you know, he had a really good pre-season. He's a really hard worker, really always wants to learn, so yeah, he's been good. I think he's been playing pretty well too. So, I wouldn't be surprised if the opportunity comes his way sometime soon.”
Ratugolea on defence under Josh Carr
“Yeah, for me, individually, it’s just keeping things simple and just worrying about what I'm good at and trying to bring that and impact the game that way. Aliir is a really good leader back there, along with Farrell, so it's just those blokes leading the way. I think for a couple of keys it's about not sort of running into each other, and that can be the biggest issue, but I think that's going really well, and we've got a couple of good leaders back there that are leading us.”
Ratugolea on Xavier Bamert
“He’s a gun, he looks good out on the track, and he was good on the weekend. He’s got a really good footy head, really tough. Saw a couple of his highlights when he came to the side. So I'm looking forward to (his and Alex van Wyk’s) season, hopefully an opportunity comes their way. But yeah, super exciting for them.”
Ratugolea on Kane Farrell returning from injury
“It will be nice to get him back. Another leader in our background, like I said earlier, it'd be nice getting him back. I think he got through the session pretty well. No issues there. So hopefully he's back soon.”
Ratugolea on wearing the Prison Bar guernsey in training on Wednesday
“It's a values driven thing. We've got these meetings during the week where we vote for players that have driven our values, whether that is during a game or off field, blokes that have displayed the values, and I was fortunate enough to get it this week. Whitters (Jack Whitlock) had it last week as well, so I think it's a great initiative, gives the boys something to strive for. And we're able to put highlights up and celebrate each other as well, and the boys really get around it. So it'll be interesting to see who gets it this week.”
Ratugolea on his own leadership
“Yeah, I feel old, I'm 27 and I feel old! I've been in the system for 10 years, so I've learned a bit along the way, and the younger boys that have been coming through sort of remind me of myself when I was younger, like not really knowing a hell of a lot about my positioning, and footy knowledge. A lot of these blokes are asking questions, and I'm sort of in that spot where I'm experienced enough to give my tips and feedback, and you know, all these blokes are willing to seek out a lot of feedback as well, which is good for us older players, too. For me, anyway, I can learn along the way, while I'm teaching them, too. So it’s a good spot to be in.”
