Ollie Wines removed from Port Adelaide game after suffering cardiac scare during Power’s clash with Hawthorn

Brownlow medalist Ollie Wines has had an early exit from Port Adelaide’s game against Hawthorn after experiencing heart problems.

The 29-year-old squatted as a passage of play unfolded near the end of the first quarter, before slowly making his way towards the interchange bench at Adelaide Oval.

It was unclear what was wrong with the midfielder, and experts were left baffled.

“We certainly didn’t see any injuries, so when we saw that he had been replaced immediately, we were like, ‘What happened?’ Campbell Brown said at the halftime break.

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he’s okay and doesn’t miss a lot of football time with this.”

However, Mark Soderstrom later confirmed that Wines was suffering from heart problems and that the midfielder had experienced similar problems in the past.

“If you remember a couple of years ago, I think it was around April 2022, it was a Thursday night game and Ollie Wines came out with heart palpitations,” he said.

“He had it checked out and then about the next week they talked about it being a pretty common problem, particularly among older people and elite athletes, where essentially it’s an arrhythmia where your heart goes out of control.

“A lot of dizziness and a lot of nausea associated with it; it can present itself in different ways.”

Reflecting on his issue against Melbourne in 2022, Wines said at the time: “It’s more of a heart rhythm issue which is quite common in older people and elite athletes.”

‘Once it was explained to me, it was very reassuring and there aren’t too many long-term effects.

‘The prognosis is really positive… at this stage, it’s not a big problem.

‘It was (scary) during the game.

“And then after the game, when I went to the hospital and they rushed me in when they saw something was wrong, but the… staff, the cardiologist and the nurses were very reassuring and really put me at ease.”