PORT ADELAIDE skipper Tom Jonas says he expects to be a premiership captain during his career and can see himself holding up the cup at the end of 2021.
Jonas was part of a unique AFL captain’s day in Adelaide on Thursday with Crows’ skipper Rory Sloane.
The event, usually held in Melbourne with every club captain from across the competition, was split across two days and five states with Jonas and Sloane taking part at Adelaide Oval.
Every captain has predicted that Port Adelaide will finish inside the eight with three expecting the club to play off in the Grand Final.
Jonas said it was nice to get that kind of respect and recognition from the other clubs, but it counted for little if his side didn’t deliver.
“It means you won’t be catching anyone by surprise this year. Everyone’s going to be keeping an eye out and knowing what’s coming,” Jonas explained.
“Now the ball is in our court and we’ve got to be prepared to play even harder and be switched on every single week because there’s not going to be any easy games.”
Port sat top for the entirety of the 2020 season, showing remarkable consistency in a year with more challenges than ever.
It’s a long way from previous years where Port was unreliable and sat on the edge of finals contention.
The club fell six points short of eventual premier Richmond in the 2020 Preliminary Final and Jonas said while that earned Port plenty of plaudits, he expected his side to go better this season.
“That’s nice but at the same time I want to be a premiership captain,” he explained.
“If I don’t finish my career without having played in a premiership, whether that’s as a leader or with someone else in charge then I won’t be satisfied.
“That’s the ultimate mark and ultimately you’ll be long forgotten if it’s Richmond (who win it) again or Brisbane or Geelong.”
When asked how he saw his season pan out personally, Jonas was forthright.
“Holding the premiership cup ideally,” he said without blinking.
“I think every team goes into the year expecting that, you’re probably wasting your time if you don’t.
“That’s the expectations of us as players, the coaches, all of our supporters.
“We were close last year so we’ll start from square one and build to that again this year.
“We’ve had another strong per-season of fine-tuning our game plan, we got some new recruits in, we got some more games into our younger players and just more games together in a group that hasn’t changed much over the last 12 months.”
Of the new arrivals, the Port skipper has been most impressed with fellow backman Aliir Aliir.
The Sydney recruit was among the side’s best in the 71-point pre-season win over Adelaide on Sunday taking 14 marks and intercepting the ball at will.
Jonas said as well as being a good player, Aliir was a good person who had fit into the group well.
“He gives plenty to the boys. He goes out of his way to break the ice and join in with whatever we’re doing, which has made him fit in really well,” he said.
“From a footy perspective, he’s a great interceptor. It wasn’t like we were giving him opportunities on the weekend, he just finds them naturally.
“He can play on someone and then when he gets an opportunity he marks the ball and uses it well so he’ll fit in well with our group.”
Jonas expected teammates Hamish Hartlett, Todd Marshall and Trent McKenzie, who each missed the game against the Crows, to be available for the club’s season opener against North Melbourne on March 21.
He said after having a 26-man squad against Adelaide, those extra additions would make selecting the side very tricky.
The 30-year-old was also impressed with the efforts of first and second year players Lachie Jones, Miles Bergman and Jackson Mead, but he could not confirm if they would be part of the Round 1 side.
“I love what I saw but I think the fans will be happy as long as we’re winning, it doesn’t really matter who is running around,” Jonas explained.
“Those boys have put their best foot forward, as have plenty of others so it’s going to be a tough decision for Kenny and I don’t really want any part of it.
“If we’re playing good footy like we expect to be there might be a couple of changes from Noarlunga in terms of blokes who were rested but it’ll be a strength of ours to have squad depth - being able to rotate when needed and being able to replace guys who are sore or injured.
“There’s going to be times during the year where we don’t have the exact personnel we’d like out there but we’re very confident that we’ve got others who can come in and fill those voids.”
