Ollie Wines may not be as celebrated as Scott Pendlebury who has all the focus of the footy media tonight for obvious reasons, even though it is Wines who won a Brownlow Medal where Pendles didn't. They share something else though: they looked like they were on the way out in the late stages of their career with a move outside the centre square in recent years, only to be called upon to return to the engine room and contributing like they never left. Wines in particular has been the heart of a resurgence in Port Adelaide's contested ball, underlining his underrated quality.
Ollie Wines may not be as celebrated as Scott Pendlebury who has all the focus of the footy media tonight for obvious reasons, even though it is Wines who won a Brownlow Medal where Pendles didn't. They share something else though: they looked like they were on the way out in the late stages of their career with a move outside the centre square in recent years, only to be called upon to return to the engine room and contributing like they never left. Wines in particular has been the heart of a resurgence in Port Adelaide's contested ball, underlining his underrated quality.
Ollie Wines is present in a decent amount of fantasy sides going into round one of the 2024 season, having spent a couple of campaigns shifted out to flanks and wings like Travis Boak before him at Port Adelaide. Preseason action has included a big proportion of centre bounce attendances for the former Brownlow Medallist, and if that coaching decision sticks then he has the potential to be a classic role-based bounceback candidate for fantasy uses.He is a bit longer in the tooth than his prime, but he clearly still has the nous and positioning skills to accumulate if fit.
Ollie Wines has a Brownlow Medal around his neck but started off his 2022 campaign quietly due to injury, and had to watch as his team struggled to a 0-5 start. The Power have pressed the reset button and recovered to nearly .500 and Wines has returned and built match fitness to now be vying to come into your fantasy side, particularly after the byes. Port are going to be striving to reach the eight and then maybe the four as they are good enough to get there, and their experiment with Rozee and Butters has not worked at times. One for the watchlist.
Ollie Wines has hit a good vein of form at a good time for Port Adelaide, with five fantasy tons in his last six games across both wins and losses for the team. He has suffered in years past from spending too much time in the forward line, but the advent of younger forwards to fill spots in the best 22 has freed him up to accumulate in the middle to maximise his personal output. He is in that tricky range for fantasy purposes of having a high floor but not that high a ceiling, which is very handy for draft leagues but not quite there for other fantasy competition types.
Ollie Wines is the leader of the most dominant inside midfield division in the country, and he started 2020 in much the same scintillating form he finished 2019 with to help loft Port Adelaide to the top of the ladder. A shoulder knock picked up mid-season slowed him down, however, and there were points in the second half of the shortened and compressed season where he looked like he could use a few weeks off. He has had those two rests now, and he should be primed to lead the Power in an area where Richmond are historically deficient.
Forget the 2019 vintage
A shoulder dislocation in preseason and then a broken thumb in round 7 meant that Ollie Wines played only 12 senior games last year, treading water statistically from a rate that is slightly below his 2016 peak of a fantasy ton. The only changes to the shape of his stat line were a drop in contested rate by eight points to 41%, plus a few more goals. He underwent shoulder surgery in February and will not make round 1. With slight variations, Wines has delivered the same season six times in a row now, in a pattern fairly similar to Dylan Shiel. He is a large part of the reason why Port has risen to the top of the clearance rankings, and it's not his fault that the team has underperformed over that time. He is a strong yet limited player for both real footy and fantasy purposes, which makes him a middle-round pick with little upside to excite you.
Wines goes to water
If you had drafted Ollie Wines last year, he was a set-and-forget kind of piece. Drill down and you'll notice his scoring was down in the first half, as he picked up a handful of in-game knocks. His rates lifted by 27 points in the second half, with seven tons from his last 11. He was tagged twice during that time: Jack Steele held him under 20 disposals but he shook off Bailey Banfield to crest 30. Infamously, he dislocated a shoulder while waterskiing in January, and is in doubt for round 1. Port gets criticised for having too many of the same type of player, but you can never have too many Wineses. He is solid in every sense, including for fantasy with five to ten points of upside, assuming he can have a decent preseason and avoid the bumps better in the coming campaign. It seems unlikely that he would be rested forward more in the wake of Chad Wingard leaving, as that does not suit him as much as, say, Tom Rockliff. The injury will nonetheless see him drop through middle rounds.
Smooth drop of Wines
It appears we have found Ollie Wines' ceiling, as he matched his season four numbers with much the same output in 2017. The coaches would be pleased with an increase in efficiency from an execrable sub-60% up by five points to something more like the inside mid norm. Some fantasy coaches value consistency of output above most other things, and in Wines they have a mid who doesn't seem to get tagged, may not have the single-game upside to tear a league match apart but won't lose a game for you either. This values him slightly higher than his average suggests.
