Port Adelaide forward Ollie Lord viewed recent rival interest as "flattering" but has revealed he "never turned my head" at the thought of leaving the Power over the recent off-season.
While contracted for 2024, Lord had garnered reported interest out of his home state of Victoria last year, with the 22-year-old already having ties to Geelong as the grandson of premiership Cat and Brownlow Medal winner Alistair Lord.
The Power stood firm in keeping Lord to his contract during the player movement window before the emerging forward inked a two-year extension in December.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, Lord said he hadn't given the external interest much consideration as he looks to be a key figure in Port Adelaide's plans for the future.
"I think whenever your name gets thrown up in other teams' talks in discussions it was definitely flattering but I never turned my head at all," he said.
"I thought my career's now at Port and I'm really happy with how I'm going here and the group, the upward trajectory so as much as it was flattering I never (thought of leaving)."
Lord made his debut last year against West Coast in Round 6 before featuring in a dozen further matches at AFL level to make his mark on the Power's premiership push.
Working alongside senior forwards Charlie Dixon, Todd Marshall and Jeremy Finlayson during his third season at Alberton, the Sandringham Dragons product now faces a greater degree of competition for a spot in Ken Hinkley's side as Mitch Georgiades eyes a return from an ACL injury that curtailed his 2023 campaign.
The situation is only being viewed as a positive by Lord, who is gaining plenty of knowledge from his teammates in the early years of his career.
"I think with any team competition for spots is really healthy. It just means you're a strong team and within the forward line, I think we've got a lot of different options up there," Lord said.
"For me at the moment, it's just putting my best foot forward and making sure I show the coaches what I can do.
"I feel like we all will lean on each other. As much as there's competition for spots within the team, we're all still really close, and we all help each other. We just want the best thing for the team.
"I think no one really knows what the best layout is at the moment, it's very early in the season so I think everyone's just trying to put their best foot forward and we all want to play, but I think it's pretty obvious that four doesn't go into three so yeah, it'll be interesting to see."
Lord enjoyed a breakout performance last September in the Power's unfortunate qualifying final loss to Brisbane, with the key forward standing tall to boot a career-high four goals against the eventual grand finalists.
That performance has placed him in good stead for the season ahead, with Lord finding newfound confidence in his ability at the elite level.
"I just showed myself and I think I showed a few others that I can stand up to the good players and the good teams out there and was just building confidence off that," Lord said of his maiden finals appearance.
"I really took that in my stride over the off-season and I use it as motivation to be the best I can be.
"Obviously that game was one of the best I've played ever so it's probably hard to replicate that every single game but in terms of the mindset and what I did before the game, I tried to emulate that within the first couple of games this season."
Lord will have the next week to strengthen his selection case ahead of Port Adelaide's Round 1 meeting with West Coast, scheduled for Sunday, March 17.
