‘Thought it was a joke’: Power forward laughs off report… but leaves door ajar for shock move

Port Adelaide forward Orazio Fantasia says he “had a bit of a laugh” at a report linking him to a move back to Essendon, but admits he may need to “look at something else” if he’s unable to break into the senior side this season.

The Age reported this week Fantasia has spoken to former teammate and close friend Zach Merrett about his desire to return to Essendon, where he played 80 senior games and kicked 111 goals.

Fantasia has played just three senior games in 2023 in the final year of his three-year deal with Port Adelaide, with the small forward struggling with injury and form.

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The 28-year-old laughed off the report during a Friday appearance on FIVEaa radio, but admitted shortly after his tenure at the Power beyond this season was far from certain.

“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 I’m going to write the story,” he said.

“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.

“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.

“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.”

Fantasia later added: “I want to be in Adelaide, that’s the biggest thing. I moved back here for a reason, my family is here … but I’m a realist, as I said before, football is football.”

“If I haven’t played and Port Adelaide say you haven’t done enough then I’ve got to look at something else.

“That might be in the SANFL to try and get back in the AFL, there’s so many different avenues, but I still feel like I’ve got a lot of AFL football left in me.”

“Kenny (coach Ken Hinkley) and I had a good chat about this even yesterday, he said ‘We want you here, we just need you to play.’ I said exactly the same thing.”