McEntee matching it with the best – Young gun Jed is the vital cog that Port so desperately needs
Written by Will Faulkner
Picked up in last year’s mid-season draft, Port Adelaide’s Jed McEntee is quickly becoming the vital component his club needs to reach premiership success with their current playing list. Overlooked in the 2019 AFL Draft, McEntee has become a hardened product from the extra one and a half years that he didn’t anticipate on playing at SANFL level.
At a club with a plethora of forwards, it’s a hard best 22 for Jed to crack into.
The mid-sized likes of Connor Rozee, Xavier Duursma, Robbie Gray, Zak Butters and Steven Motlop make Port’s attack one of the best in the league; not to mention their taller forwards in Charlie Dixon and Mitch Georgiades.
It makes his addition to the Power’s team tomorrow night for Showdown 51 all the more impressive, having had only the smallest of tastes at AFL last year.
A seven-minute cameo against St. Kilda in Round 18 as the medical sub is all he’s had to go off so far at the top level.
Funnily, a singular handball is the only mainstream stat next to his name heading into tomorrow night’s blockbuster – at 100% disposal efficiency.
A jet midfielder all throughout his junior career, Jed has remodelled the fundamentals of his game to better suit his new playing role.
Playing all representative sides from State U12 to U18’s, he has always been mixing it with the best as a midfielder.
It was around the Under 16’s level that he was first pulled aside by former Sturt junior coach David Oatey, and told that he had what it takes to play professionally.
Jed was a consistent part of South Australia's junior carnivals as a hard-ball midfielder - Image: SANFL
“When Oats [Oatey] took me aside and told me that, that was when I realised that my dream of being an AFL player could come true”
From that point forward going into the 2019 AFL Draft, both Oatey and state coach Tony Bamford helped the Mitcham Hawks junior develop not just his playing skills, but also mature himself as a more self-assured person.
“Mentally, it was more me being more confident within myself. I always had the athleticism; it was just using it with confidence,” Jed said of his personal growth heading into the 2019 Draft.
After unluckily missing out on finding an AFL club in his first draft year, his focus turned towards dominating at district level.
It’s exactly what he did.
His 14 SANFL matches in 2020 did his confidence the world of good, as he begun to spend more and more time in the midfield around the ball.
From there, he leapt into a very strong staple in Sturt’s midfield in the first half of last year, consistently getting 20+ disposals per. game.
It was the perfect purple patch to have heading into the mid-season draft, where Port Adelaide, who had previously shown interest in McEntee, begun to take more and more scouting notes.
In the last game before the draft, and what turned out to be his last game for Sturt, Jed amassed 24 touches and confirmed everything the Power scouts had wanted to see.
Just four days after arguably his best SANFL game to date, Jed was taken by Port in the 2021 mid-season draft - Graphic: Port Adelaide FC
On June 2, four days later, he was selected by Port, and had found a new home club in Alberton.
His swift change in role from a midfielder to a pressure forward took a couple of weeks for Jed to find his feet in - mostly for the fact he was playing in a side with people he had never kicked a footy alongside.
“Orazio Fantasia was my mentor early on at Port; he’s helped me in moving my game to one of a high half-forward. Zak Butters and Connor Rozee have also been good,” McEntee stated when asked on his mentors at the club
Paul Puopolo and Ned McHenry’s attributes as smaller forwards are also something he’s tried to incorporate into his own game, while Jack Viney has consistently been someone he idolises as a midfielder.
After coming back to SANFL level after his seven-minute spell against St Kilda, Jed’s scoreboard pressure continued to improve at the end of 2021.
Five goals and nine shots on goal in his last three games for the year indicated to the Port coaches that his role as a pressure forward was really starting to pay dividends, and that he was more than required for their AFL list in 2022.
Jed with teammate Trent McKenzie after his win on AFL debut - Image: Michael Wilson
“My current role in the team is as a pressure high half-forward, and I really want to continue to improve my game there,” Jed noted when talking about his new role.
“For me, I’m quite small so it’s naturally harder to get into a midfield role - I’m a better player at AFL level as a smaller forward too I think.”
Away from the heavy professional athlete lifestyle, Jed is constantly trying to find ways to take his mind off the sport 24/7.
“You can only do so much footy - for me, it’s making sure I’m not at home all the time. Playing golf is really good for me to take my mind away from the game.”
A COVID-free off-season allowed him to relax and spend his time away from the game without having to isolate too often.
More importantly, it meant was able to have his first full pre-season at AFL level uninterrupted, unlike many of his Port teammates.
Tomorrow night's game has been a long time coming for him, and in ironic circumstances.
A passionate Adelaide Crows fan as a youngster, Jed will be lining up against some of his childhood heroes in front of 50,000 people at Adelaide Oval.
Jed knows better than anyone what pressure means, having fine-tuned his craft as a pressure forward very well in recent years.
So if there are any expectations for him on and beyond the big stage tomorrow in Adelaide, you can bank on him to match it with the best under any level of stress.