A SUDDEN midfield move for Connor Rozee has coincided with Port Adelaide's best six quarters of footy for the season.

Trailing the Blues by 49 points at half-time a fortnight ago, Power coach Ken Hinkley swung Rozee into the midfield. The results were immediate, as the 22-year-old spearheaded a dramatic second-half comeback that fell just short.

His impact out of the centre was just as pivotal last weekend when Rozee claimed the Peter Badcoe VC Medal for best on ground after his career-high 31 disposals guided Port Adelaide to its first victory of the season over West Coast.

Rozee, who averaged just 2.9 centre bounce attendances per game last season, had only seven in the first four-and-a-half games this year. He's had 29 in the last six quarters, with the Power outscoring their opponents by 130 points in that period.

Just as a move across half-back late in North Adelaide's 2018 SANFL season catapulted Rozee back into top-five calculations of that year's NAB AFL Draft, his midfield move in 2022 has sparked an uplift in both his and Port Adelaide's form.

Rozee won 31 disposals, eight clearances, had 308m gained and finished with five tackles against the Eagles. It came after having 19 centre bounce attendances, the most of any midfielder at Port Adelaide.

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The week before, as the Power whittled back a 50-point deficit against the Blues to lose by just three points, Rozee didn't have a single centre bounce attendance to half-time. He then had 10 in the second-half, racking up 14 disposals, two clearances, 212m gained, three tackles, four score involvements and a goal for the half.

Of the 36 centre bounces Rozee has attended this year, Port Adelaide has a centre clearance differential of 23 to 8. That individual differential of +15 is subsequently the seventh-highest of anyone in the competition, despite him ranking 125th for total centre bounce attendances.

It's come as Port Adelaide's entire age profile throughout its midfield has shifted over the last fortnight. On the weekend, it started with a centre bounce quartet of Sam Hayes, Ollie Wines, Rozee and Zak Butters. Three of the four, barring Wines, were 22 or under.

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Rozee, a player who impacts games with the ball in his hands, has been the biggest beneficiary of that move. Having played just one percent game time through the midfield in round four, his numbers have since lifted to 41 percent in round five – including 100 percent game time in the midfield in the fourth quarter – and 90 percent in round six.

"Just leave him there. He is finding out how easy it is to run around in the midfield with no one on you. Contrast that with trying to be a small forward to start your career, it's so difficult," Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes told AFL.com.au's The Round So Far on Saturday night.

"He's going to be an absolute weapon for them. I thought his ball use was terrific. He had the eight clearances, he's always high in score involvements. I don't even know if he knows how good he can be yet.

"He's going to break away and when everyone is looking for an Isaac Heeney type, he can be that front-of-centre player there. Butters and Rozee start on the ball, Willem Drew is there, Travis Boak shifted to half-forward even though he came in and had big numbers. It feels like a subtle changing of the age demographic on the ball."

Perhaps that injection of youthful exuberance through the midfield, which has been led by Rozee over the last fortnight, is exactly what the 1-5 Port Adelaide needs to get its stuttering season back on track.