Rocky road smooths out at Port Adelaide
Midfielder defies critics to find respect and great new start at Alberton
TOM Rockliff is yet to wear the Port Adelaide jumper in battle but he is already part of the new-look leadership group at Alberton.
The 28-year-old midfielder – who was captain at Brisbane in 2015-16 – has clearly made a strong impression at the Power since taking up free agency in October.
And that imprint starkly contrasts with the warnings delivered by the considerable group of detractors Rockliff had in Queensland.
When Port Adelaide made him a prime target of their offseason buying spree, more than once the line from the day-today observers at the Lions was: “Hope coach Kenny Hinkley knows what he is getting ...”
Power midfield coach Michael Voss, who coached Rockliff at Brisbane from 2009-13, knew exactly what the 2014 All-Australian was bringing to Alberton, to give the Port Adelaide midfield more depth, more experience and, critically, more “smarts”.
Hinkley and Voss’s fellow assistant coaches at Alberton certainly know they now have two instinctive, game-shaping midfielders to enhance the Power’s work at stoppages: Rockliff and Robbie Gray.
But the knock on Rockliff that prompted the question of whether Hinkley knew what he was getting with “Rocky” was about how a strong-minded player with a supposedly demanding character and personality would fit into a new team group and be accepted.
There would have been a few raised eyebrows in Queensland that within months of starting a new chapter in his AFL journey, Rockliff is part of Travis Boak’s new leadership group at Port Adelaide ... and with the other player who left Queensland with critics and cynics, key forward Charlie Dixon.
Internally at Alberton, the praise of Rockliff – in particular what he has brought to the midfield planning – reaffirms the well-noted talent that made the country Victorian recruit a club champion at Brisbane in 2011 and 2014.
But it is the references to how Rockliff has won his teammates’ approval that tell more of how a rocky road in Brisbane has become smooth at Alberton.
“Class act,” says fellow Port Adelaide midfielder and leadership group member Brad Ebert of Rockliff. “His leadership – and composure – has really shown through.”
But there will still be those in Brisbane saying: “Hope Kenny knows what he is getting ...”
Clearly, Hinkley thinks he has got a good one.
THE LINE FROM THE DAY-TO-DAY OBSERVERS AT THE LIONS WAS: ‘HOPE COACH KENNY HINKLEY KNOWS WHAT HE IS GETTING’