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“He’s gone”: Another Port star tipped to return home to Victoria
SEN • February 26th, 2025 1:46 pm
SEN SA The Run Home duo Kym Dillon and Michelangelo Rucci expect Port Adelaide defender Miles Bergman to return home to Victoria this off-season.
The 23-year-old comes out of contract at the end of the 2025 season and has reportedly put extension talks on hold at Alberton.
Hailing from Melbourne’s Bayside area, Bergman admitted to SEN last July that ‘home is always a temptation’ and Dillon and Rucci expect that to come to fruition next trade period.
While Port coach Ken Hinkley told AFL Media that he believes Bergman wants to remain at Port Adelaide, Dillon and Rucci are convinced that he’ll finally be pulled back to Victoria after initially considering a trade home back in 2023.
Dillon: “They (the audience) have more of a concern with Miles Bergman leaving, which would leave a hole in Port’s defence… well, he’s gone.
“I'm tired of you getting all the headlines. Is there any chance Miles will stay at Port Adelaide?”
Rucci: “I'm with you, I don't think so. No.”
Dillon: “He sort of intimated it, didn't he? We had him as a regular last year.”
Rucci: “It's not about not liking Port Adelaide, it’s about going home.
“I enjoy listening to Ken Hinkley and he preaches care for each other and family being important. If a player comes to you and genuinely wants to go home to family … Ken says you’d be a hypocrite to then say no.”
Rucci also thinks that Zak Butters is more likely to leave Port Adelaide and pursue a move home to Victoria than stay beyond his current deal which expires at the end of the 2026 season.
If Butters does want to return home, Rucci thinks that the club should look to trade him 12 months before he enters free agency to receive a suite of draft picks in return from a Victorian club.
