LIAM DURKIN
FOOTBALL
By LIAM DURKIN
MOE footballer Sam Skinner was thrown a lifeline by Port Adelaide, who last week signed the key defender as a delisted free agent.
Skinner played three games in five seasons with the Brisbane Lions from 2016 to 2020, but was cursed with injury, undergoing two knee reconstructions.
He trained with North Melbourne ahead of the 2021 season after being let go by Brisbane, but was unable to gain a place on the Kangaroos list.
Not to be defeated, he moved to South Australia to play with South Adelaide in the hopes of getting a recall, and shone in this years SANFL competition.
A semi-final performance that netted 11 intercept marks caught the attention of many, with Port Adelaide eventually snaffling him.
Port Adelaide champion and current defensive coach Chad Cornes was shown footage of Skinner before meeting him for the first time last Monday.
Cornes said Skinner made a great impression at the meeting, not just from a football perspective.
“What was more impressive was how he spoke in this meeting,” Cornes said.
“He seems like a great leader and a really good person as well so I think he could be a handy pick-up for us.
“For a young guy he seems like he’s got really good leadership qualities.
“Having come from the Brisbane system he knows the AFL system so he sets up in the way we do at Port Adelaide, in the way he positions himself against his man, which is a bonus for him already,”
It was straight to work for Skinner, who met his new teammates for the first time on Friday and then joined in a running session.
“It means everything to get this chance. My partner and I moved to Adelaide to play in the SANFL to try and get another crack at it,” Skinner said.
“It was a big thing to pack our things up and move across after South Adelaide gave me a chance, so it means the world to both of us and my family to get that call today that Port Adelaide is willing to give me a chance.
“When I finished up at Brisbane, I felt like I still had a lot to give and I aspired to get back on an AFL list so to get an opportunity to do that, I’m just really keen to get cracking.”
The Power has a strong connection to Gippsland footballers, with Foster’s Xavier Duursma currently on the list, while former Port Adelaide players from Gippsland include John Butcher (Maffra), Danny Butcher (Maffra) and Don Webb (Warragul).
Port Adelaide appears right in the premiership window, having made the preliminary final in the previous two AFL seasons.
If the near-200 centimetre defender Skinner does get a game, the Power could potentially have some serious tall timber down back with Aliir Aliir (196cm), Trent McKenzie (191cm) and captain Tom Jonas (188cm).
Skinner is the son of Craig Skinner, who was recently announced as the new senior coach of Newborough Football-Netball Club.
Skinner played one senior game for Moe before being taken at pick 47 in the 2015 national draft.
