Out of favour Port Adelaide forward Orazio Fantasia has laughed off reports linking him with a trade back to Essendon, saying he “thought it was a joke” when he was contacted by a reporter this week.
The Age’s Sam McClure reported this week that the ex-Bomber was keen on a move back to the club where he began his AFL journey after an injury-stricken stint at Port Adelaide.
However, Fantasia downplayed talk of a Bombers reunion, saying he thought he’d been pranked by a teammate when he was contacted by McClure regarding a move back to Tullamarine.
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“I actually thought it was a joke because I got a message from Sam (McClure) who was writing the article saying he’d spoken to my manager Michael (Doughty) – who’s no longer my manager – and (saying) I’m going to write the story,” Fantasia said on FiveAA radio.
“I thought it was one of the boys taking the piss out of me. It wasn’t, it’s gone everywhere so that was a bit of a laugh.”
But his future is still uncertain, with the 27-year-old playing just three AFL level games so far in 2023 for the second-placed Power as he struggles with both form and injury issues.
“I know where I want to be but I’m also realistic to know that I haven’t played enough football at Port Adelaide for them to be dishing me a four-year contract, which is where I want to play footy,” he said.
All Fantasia wants to do is see out the season, hoping to find a spot in the competitive Port forward line.
“I’m just focusing on getting back and playing footy and hopefully I can help in the back end of the year and the contract will take care of itself,” he said.
The South Australian-born livewire didn’t want to look too far into his playing future, but knows where he wants to remain.
“I want to be in Adelaide, that’s the biggest thing. I moved back here for a reason, my family is here,” Fantasia said.
“But I’m a realist, as I said before, football is football.”
Port Adelaide and coach Ken Hinkley have thrown their support behind the unlucky forward, with Fantasia saying they are doing everything they can to get him back to full fitness.
“Kenny and I had a good chat about this even yesterday, he said, ‘We want you here, we just need you to play’, and I said exactly the same thing,” Fantasia said.
The Power host the 13th-placed Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval.
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