PORT Adelaide is sticking by its players to have a life outside football in the wake of midfielder Ollie Wines suffering a dislocated shoulder in a water skiing accident.
The Power also say the incident won't have any bearing on Wines' chances of becoming their next captain.
Wines is highly unlikely to be ready to play at the start of the season after having arthroscopy surgery on Tuesday to stabilise the joint in his right shoulder.
It is the first time Wines – who is an experienced water skier and wakeboarder from the age of six – has injured himself on the water.
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"I know there's been a lot of talk about whether he should or shouldn't have been out there," general manager of football Chris Davies said.
"Let's be clear – our view as a club is we value the guys having time away from the club and spending time together.
"They need an outlet, we're really comfortable with Ollie doing what he did, outside of the fact that he got injured."
Wines and several other Power players were on the water at Mannum – about an hour east of Adelaide – on Saturday when the incident happened.
"Our position is right now we value the guys spending time together," Davies said.
"We value the guys having an outlet, Ollie's a guy who loves his skiing. He's a light plane pilot.
"We've got other guys who like to ride motorbikes, other who like to ride go-karts.
"We're not going to stop them doing their own thing in their own time.
"Clearly, we want them to take as much care as they can, but at the same time, we're not here to rule their lives."
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As part of an AFL player's contract, a player must get the permission of his club before engaging in any dangerous or hazardous activity.
"We ask them to take care," Davies said.
"The guys need to be mature enough to take that care.
"Ollie's a guy who has been skiing since he was six years of age, hasn't had a hiccup in all that time.
"We're not going to hang him on something like this."
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Wines – vice-captain for the past two years – is one of the front-runners along with defender Tom Jonas to be the Power's next skipper after Travis Boak stepped down at the end of last season.
"We're going through a process from a captaincy perspective that we will work through over the next few weeks, but if Ollie's in contention, this incident's not going to make any difference if he's the captain of our club or not," Davies said.
The Power are aiming to appoint a new captain around the time of the JLT Community Series.
