It came out of nowhere: Port captain on false rumour
Steve Larkin |
Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee is yet to learn results from an AFL integrity unit probe into a false rumour about his personal life.
Rozee took formal action when a rumour continued to wildly spread across the internet last week.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind of a week, last week,” Rozee told reporters on Monday.
“It sort of came out of nowhere. And early days, it was probably just ‘ignore it and don’t worry about it, it will brush over’.
“And it kept gaining a bit of momentum, people sending it around.
“We probably got to a point where we thought we’d probably need to say something and just make it clear for everyone out there that it has got absolutely nothing to it.
“So it was a pretty disappointing and frustrating week from my end, just in terms of how some people dealt with it.
“But hopefully we have knocked it on the head now and we can all move on.”
Rozee spoke to the integrity unit last week.
“We had some conversations,” he said.
“I have left that in their hands now and they’ll deal with it the way they need to.”
Rozee and teammates play their last game of the season on Friday night when the 13th-placed Power host Gold Coast.
The fixture will be Ken Hinkley’s last as Port coach and the final game for retiring former captain Travis Boak, a beloved 386-match veteran and the club’s games record-holder.
“It’s a massive week, clearly,” Rozee said.
“We’ll make sure that we touch on them throughout the week, we have got a few things planned just to make sure that we show the gratitude they deserve.
“They have both done so much for our football club over a long period of time, so it’s important for us that we acknowledge that in the right way.
“It would be great to send them off with a win.”
Long-time assistant Josh Carr, who coached Rozee at North Adelaide in the SANFL before he was drafted to the AFL in 2018, will take over from 13-year boss Hinkley.
“It’s probably a little bit easier because I’ve had Carry as a coach before,” Rozee said.
“Some of the guys that have been here for longer than I have, it’s probably going to be a little bit more strange to them.
“There will be a fair bit of change with personnel around the football club, and that’s exciting for us.
“We end a chapter and open a new one, which gives us a lot of excitement.”
AAP
