Former no.1 draft pick Jack Watts believes Jason Horne-Francis will flourish at Port Adelaide.
The top selection from the 2021 draft turned heads when he requested a trade home to South Australia after just one season with North Melbourne.
Another former no.1 draft pick, Watts, similarly experienced leaving Melbourne for Adelaide when he departed the Demons for the Power in late 2017.
Even though his own experiences weren’t all that memorable, Watts is confident that 19-year-old Horne-Francis will thrive at Alberton under Ken Hinkley due to the environment the Power have created in a “crazy footy town”.
“I think it will be great for him,” Watts said on SEN’s Sportsday SA.
“Especially with Kenny (Hinkley) and the Port boys, they’re an incredible group, they really are. I didn’t quite get to fulfil that with my own career over there, breaking my leg just as I was starting to get going.
“I look back on that and I think, 'geez, if I could have stayed healthy…' I think they played in a prelim that year and I just would have loved to have played in those big games just once. But not to be.
“Jason Horne-Francis, I think he’s a gun, I think he’s going to be a great player. The way that they wrap their arms around their players over there.
“It is a crazy footy town, but it’s almost like the pressure isn’t as intense. That’s what I felt anyway. Because you’ve either got the Crows supporters who are going to hate you regardless or you’ve got your Port Adelaide supporters who just adore you no matter what you do.”
Watts can see Horne-Francis fitting seamlessly into Port’s midfield while predicting the club to challenge for this year’s premiership.
“He goes over there into a midfield that’s all class,” he added.
“He’s got a lot of help around him, they’ve got a senior list so it’s not all going to fall in his lap and he can just sit there and shine with Ollie Wines and Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma and Connor Rozee and Mitch Georgiades up front and big ‘Dicko’ (Charlie Dixon) will be flying.
“They’re my smokey for the flag this year.”
The Power play two practice matches in Western Australia, against West Coast (February 24) and Fremantle (March 2), before opening up their 2023 season against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval on March 18.