Jason Horne-Francis is enjoying the mood at the club this week after two wins in a row, saying the belief amongst the young group continues to build. 

The 23-year-old says he has long-term leadership aspirations at Port Adelaide, and is learning and developing his leadership traits as much as he can under the guidance of Connor Rozee and Zak Butters. 

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Wednesday, Horne-Francis discussed the growing belief in the team, his own flourishing form, and limiting Saints star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s impact this Saturday. 

Horne-Francis on the mood at the club this week 
“Yeah, it's been good. It's exciting to finally get two on the trot, and get into some form, even though we probably didn't play our best footy on the weekend. I think the build over the last month, we've played some good footy, and to get the reward of the wins is pleasing, and it's good for us as a young group, giving confidence to us to know that our best footy is good enough.” 

Horne-Francis on the belief in the group 
“It was pleasing on the weekend to be able to close out the game and play the way we did in the fourth quarter, besides probably not playing our way for the first three quarters, so that was obviously a really positive thing. I think we're just building, you week on week with our confidence. With a young group, sometimes it's hard to build that confidence without getting wins, and we were probably at that point a little bit, but now we've strung a couple wins together now, the group's full of confidence, and we're really excited for the next couple of weeks and the challenge.” 

Horne-Francis on enjoying the win over North Melbourne 
“Yeah, I did (enjoy it) on the weekend, they got us in round one, so it's definitely good to get a win over them, and I’ve still got a lot of close mates there, so you know how it is, going out against your close mates, it's good fun, and there's always that competitive edge to it, so it's really good.” 

Horne-Francis on Mitch Georgiades 
“He's a bit sore, but we're managing him like we manage every other player throughout the year. We managed him last week as well, and he's going alright, he's just having a little rest from training…I wish I was like him and was having a bit of rest from training! But he's going well. I think he'll be ready to play. It's just, like I said, at this time of the year, there's a lot of sore boys, and Mitch is one of those boys that are just a little bit sore.” 

Horne-Francis on his own improvement this year 
“It’s been good. I feel like I'm really confident my body at the moment, and I'm really fit and covering the ground really well, and playing more of where I wanted, which is in the midfield. At the start of the year, that the first game was almost my pre-season, in a sense, and it was tough to get through games at that point, but I'm really confident now with what I've done, and the work the high performance stuff put into me. Now I’m able to run games out and be in some good form, which is good.” 

Horne-Francis on lifting his performance in game 
“Yeah, I think (I can flip a switch sometimes). But also I want to be that player that stays pretty consistent throughout the whole game, and can have my moments, which I feel like I am having, which has been really good. The more I can stay consistent, those moments will just come, and I don't need to search for them too much or do anything special. I feel like we talk about that a lot. Our game plan is really of system-based, and we just want to go through the process of doing that. It was like on the weekend in the last quarter, we probably didn't have any big moments that won us the game, but we kind of just stuck to the process, and grinded our way out and that's how we ultimately won the game. But it's definitely good to be able to have those moments, like I'm saying, and flip the game on its head a little bit, and I feel like that's the type of player I am.” 

Horne-Francis on his form following a brief pre-season 
“I think I've always been confident in my ability to be able to go out there and play some good footy. It's probably just been that continuity with my body, especially over the last couple years of just playing that consistent footy. I feel like I’m bridging the gap between my bad games and my good games, and I think that's where I've made the improvement. Doing all the work I can behind the scenes to be able to set myself up for games, and that's been a big positive for me.” 

Horne-Francis on growing his leadership 
“We've had a few boys go down. Miles is in our leadership group, and obviously Connor, and Luko was out for a good chunk of the year, so that probably allowed me to step up a little bit and jump into a few of the leadership meetings and that kind of thing, and really pick their brains, and become that more of a leader that ultimately I want to be when I get into the later stages of my career. I think these are just all the stages that are helping me now and building me up to that and I really love the challenge of trying to become a leader and helping the young boys out and like I said, it’s a really young group so it's been a pleasure.” 

Horne-Francis on his formal leadership aspirations 
“I think I'm a leader and someone that leads by example, and I want to try to get the best out of the boys, but not only myself, but obviously everyone else. I want to win, and I think those leadership traits are there, but it's just when the time’s right. Obviously Connor's really young now, and I'm not in a rush to take anything over, so I'm happy where I am at the moment and that will just come when it comes. 

“I'd love to be able to lead this footy club. It would mean a lot if I could, but it's obviously when the time's right. Connor's an amazing leader at the moment, and we love what he's doing, and he's still really early in his career. So, I'd love to, but whenever the time's right.” 

Horne-Francis on the work he’s doing off the field 
“(I’ve been doing) a lot of things. I think little things, even like getting out here, doing a bit more touch during the day, in the mornings before the games, that kind of thing. Doing more oppo preview, there's all little things that I've probably learned off a lot of the older boys around the club, the likes of Zak and Connor, and just doing those little extra things, that’s always going to help you, and it's probably helped me a lot this year, and my form has come off the back of that a little bit.” 

Horne-Francis on Zak Butters’ leadership this year 
“It’s been tremendous. I think we've seen him grow each day with his leadership. He was probably more of that on-field leader, and showed by his actions, but everything else is coming into play now. Those little small chats in the corridor that Zak's having, and you can see it, week in, week out, and he's just building, and it's great to see. Obviously with Connor going down, sometimes that can be a hard thing to pick up, the captaincy role, but Zak’s taken it in his stride, and he's done a tremendous job with it, so he couldn’t be more pleased with him.” 

Horne-Francis on Sam Powell-Pepper 
“He just wants to get some real confidence in his body and to go out there and play, and it can be hard sometimes. I had the same thing with my foot, and really trying to get that confidence back going out there and playing, and he's just at that stage at the moment where he just needs to get a little bit more confidence in his body. We’re just wrapping our arms around him and giving him as much time as he needs to get that right, which is ultimately what's going to get him back and playing some good footy.” 

Horne-Francis on taking on good friend Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera this weekend 
“It’s always good coming up against your mates and being able to have that one up on them a little bit. We love coming up against Nas, he’s a quality player, and it's just going to be exciting and hopefully when we get out the field, I can go rough him up a little bit! 

“We’ll still play with that competitive edge that we bring to every team. We brought that edge to the Showdown, and we want to do that every week, and whether it's a Showdown or not, we want to try and bring the same ferociousness that we did that day. We just need to find ways that we can do that, and just be really clear on what our role is going to be the main thing. 

“There will definitely be a little bit of work into him, he's one of the superior players. Against every good player that we come up against, whether that's a tag or a team approach to it, we want to make their life hard. We'll probably be doing the same on the weekend with him.”