Jase Burgoyne is now firmly on Port Adelaide’s radar after he and the club agreed to him being nominated for father-son selection.
The son of 2004 premiership player Peter took his time on the decision after his brother Trent was delisted by the Power earlier this month.
The Woodville-West Torrens young gun admits he was considering other options before talks with the club turned his head back towards Alberton.
“From the end of last year and the start of this year I always thought in my head that I’d be ending up at Port,” he said on SEN SA Drive.
“As this year ended footy-wise, there were some big calls that Port Adelaide had to make on my brother Trent.
“When I found out he was delisted I sat down with my dad and I guess the thought of moving interstate and playing for another club didn’t sound that bad.
“After I talked with Port last week they sort of reassured me and just told me that they wanted me. Once they told me that I pretty much made my decision.
“I wanted to be in Adelaide and stay with my friends and family and be at Port.”
Did the delisting of Trent upset he and the family?
He says it has disrupted he and his older brother’s dream of playing together, but it won’t dampen his enthusiasm to don the club’s colours.
“It was a little bit hard for the family and Trent’s got something else to figure out in his life now,” Jase added.
“I probably was a little bit angry at the start but those feelings eased.
“Since we were young we always thought we’d end up at Port together.
“That’s something my dad has been trying to aim towards to get all of his sons at Port. We came pretty close to getting there but unfortunately Trent had injuries he had to deal with.
“It was always a dream but hopefully it can still happen.”
If selected by Port in next month’s AFL Draft, Burgoyne will link up with his uncle Shaun who is now back at the club in a variety of off-field rules.
That helped him come to his father-son decision.
“I actually haven’t talked to him yet since I found out about that,” Burgoyne jnr added.
“It’s obviously a good thing for the family and for myself too, someone of comfort who I can always talk to if something is going wrong.
“To have family at the club is going to be a big help and it came into my decision that he was there when I chose to go father-son.”
The talented half-back/winger has attracted interest from several clubs (which he chose not to reveal) and if the Power opt to not match any bid for him on draft day, he will be content to head wherever footy takes him.
“I’ve been told there are a couple (of clubs) looking into me, but I’ll just be happy to get on a list to be honest,” he said.
“If Port don’t want to match that bid and I go interstate I’ll still be happy.
“But I’ve nominated for father-son now which implies I want to be here, so whatever happens happens, but there’s a couple of clubs looking around.”