Port, Pies re-sign stars
STAR midfielder Ollie Wines appears destined to become Port Adelaide’s next captain after re-signing with the AFL club on a four-year deal.
Wines was coming out of contract at the end of this season, and would have attracted big offers from clubs in his home state of Victoria.
He would have also been eligible for free agency at the end of 2020.
But the 23-year-old is so confident in the direction Port Adelaide is heading that he has signed on until the end of 2022.
Travis Boak is the current captain of Port Adelaide, but the soon-to-be 30-year-old could relinquish that post by the end of the year.
Wines, who has played 119 games for the club and was named vice-captain at the end of 2016, is a strong chance to take over the head role when Boak steps down.
“This club has done everything right by me and my family since it welcomed me into the club six years ago,” Wines said. COLLINGWOOD, meanwhile, has continued its contract re-signing spree, with a two-year extension for prized backman Matthew Scharenberg.
The No.6 draft pick has recommitted until the end of 2020 amid a breakout fifth AFL season.
Scharenberg, 22, is the seventh Magpie to re-sign with the club in the past month as it prepares to ramp up talks on the futures of out-of-contract stars Jordan De Goey, Jamie Elliott and Darcy Moore.
There is interest in De Goey from North Melbourne, St Kilda and Carlton, but Collingwood is confident it can keep all three uncontracted stars within its tight salary cap.
If De Goey accepts a bigmoney offer to leave, it will free up cash for the Magpies’ attempts to land Gold Coast free agent Tom Lynch.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said he believed De Goey, 22, was keen to stay.
“There’s a really tight bind between him and the playing group and you can see that in the way he is enjoying his footy and coming out and playing,” Buckley said.
“We are pretty confident that will continue.”