Rising Port Adelaide star Connor Rozzee is hoping to translate his stellar debut season into an eventual move into the Power's midfield next year.
After finishing second behind Carlton no. 1 pick Sam Walsh in the AFL's Rising Star award, and finishing as his club's highest goalscorer, big things are predicted for the 19-year-old Adelaide local.
With the Power's pre-season training commencing this week, Rozzee has highlighted his plans for 2020, and is eager to combine his pace with a bigger motor to make the midfield move.
"Whenever Ken wants me to go in there [midfield], I'm happy to go in there, I'm happy I like playing down forward at the moment... whenever he needs me to go into the midfield, I'll go in there," Rozee said on Monday.
"I'll keep pushing my case and try and get my endurance and body size up a little bit to help that out but at the moment I'm enjoying my time down forward.
"Hopefully I'll keep building on that and maybe put on a few kilos as well, [to] help me move into the midfield.
"Endurance is probably the main one especially if I'm looking to move into the midfield, it's something I wanted to focus on last year as well.
"Coming up as a junior I played a fair bit 50/50 midfield-forward, even two years ago now for North Adelaide I played a bit down back."
Take a bow Connor Rozee!#AFLPowerFreo pic.twitter.com/4Tkwnn6jan
— AFL (@AFL) August 25, 2019
Possessing severe pace, Rozzee turned heads playing at half-forward in 2019, but the fifth pick in the 2018 draft believes he can add a new dynamic to Port's midfield group.
"I'm a little bit different body shape to most of those boys, they've probably got 15 or 20 kilos on me, so what I bring differently is a bit of leg speed and run and carry with the ball," Rozee said.
"Most of those boys are really good with their contested football and hopefully I can bring a bit of outside speed and ball use to the midfield."
