On Tuesday evening, Jason Horne-Francis claimed his first John Cahill Medal, awarded to the best and fairest Port Adelaide AFL player. 

Beating out three-time medallist Zak Butters by five votes, Horne-Francis enjoyed a career-best year, despite a foot injury hampering his pre-season. 

Speaking to the Adelaide media following the win, Horne-Francis spoke on what the accolade meant to him, how much his dad’s support means and what he hopes for 2027. 

Horne-Francis on what winning the John Cahill Medal 
“It means heaps. It means so much. Having my dad play for Port Adelaide, and to now be a Port Adelaide player (myself) and to now be a John Cahill medallist, it means a lot. I'm really honoured, and I'm really lucky to have so much support around me, and a great team and a great coaching staff around me. It's been unbelievable.” 

Horne-Francis on what his dad Fabian Francis’ support means 
“I said it in my speech (dad) is the only person that ever wants me to be better than better than him. He's always said that to me, since day one. He said he wants to make me the best player I can be. And it's working a treat at the moment. He's doing a really good job, and I can't thank him enough on just the support he gives me. Early days, I probably leaned on him a lot, and needed him by my side and to help me through the challenges that would come in a game, and now I feel like I'm well drilled to it now. Every now and then, we have our chats, but it's good that I don't need to lean on him as much anymore, but he's still been such a support for me.” 

Horne-Francis on winning the medal despite a limited pre-season 
“Oh, I didn't (think I’d be here) to be honest, I didn't. It was rough. I didn't get another pre-season, which was unfortunate. I found different ways to be able to get myself fit and prepared and ready to go this season, and I feel like that's going to hold me in good stead for the long run. Whenever I get put in that situation again, I'm going to be well prepared for that. I'm just very grateful to be out there and winning this medal.” 

Horne-Francis on how he prepared himself for the season 
“I really just wanted to get my body right, first of all. I had so many complications with my foot, and I really just wanted to get that right. I came into the preseason, and I kind of hurt it in the pre-season game a little bit as well. And then there were some doubts there, and it was more of the mental side and getting over that and being able to run out a full game of footy. So there wasn't too many expectations, to be honest. It was just trying to get out on the field and get my body right and be able to play the footy that I know and I want to play in the future.” 

Horne-Francis on what he’s learned about his body 
“It's been a roller coaster. It's been a learning curve for me. I think I found how important my diet is, and that can keep you fit in itself. Just having a good diet, (because) I wasn't able to run, so I was sitting on the bike 24/7, and I did love the bike. I said to (head of performance science) Jarryd Wallace, surely I don't need to do another pre-season here, I can just sit on the bike! But no, I learned a lot, just keeping other ways to keep that fire in the belly and keep that drive.” 

Horne-Francis on his broken toe 
“Yeah, it feels pretty good to be honest. The bruising and swelling has gone down a bit, and what are we? I think we're almost two weeks post (injury) now, so it feels really good, and shouldn't be any troubles, and it should just be like normal off season. And when we start running, I should be ready to go.” 

Horne-Francis on his off-season plans 
“I don't (have travel plans yet) to be honest. A lot of weddings. I think I've got five weddings and four bucks parties. So they've all kind of come at once and it’s going to be good fun in the off season. No plans as of yet to go away. I think we've got a little two week period we might be able to get away, but we just haven't decided yet.” 

Horne-Francis Zak Butters’ free agency 
“You lose a player like Zak, of his calibre, and you don't like seeing those players go out the door and it's tough. I was in his situation, and he's done so much for this footy club and served his years and it's simple as he wants to get back to family and friends. You can't be mad at him for that and we support his decision and I think we've got a lot of talent in in the playing group to be able to fill in that a little bit.” 

Horne-Francis on 2027 
“Hopefully it can just be keep improving on my game and keep making the team better as much as I can and keep developing my leadership and becoming more of a leader at the club. And like I said on the stage, hopefully the footy just takes care of itself. I'm at that point now where I'm getting good continuity in my footy and getting confidence in my body and able to just bring some consistency to the group and some leadership, and hopefully that holds us in good stead for the rest of the years.” 

Horne-Francis on putting a tie on during the evening 
“Yeah, I had my manager Benny Williams come up and told me if you're going to be first or second, you might be on the stage speaking, so you need a tie. So I said, okay. I was just trying to bring a bit of Christie’s Beach up on the stage! So I thought I would just go with no tie, but I got a bit of stick for it to be honest. So lucky I put one on. It’s Luko’s (Jack Lukosius) tie actually. Shout out to Luko. He ripped it off and put it on me.”