Port Adelaide young gun Connor Rozee believes teammate Robbie Gray deserves far more recognition, labelling his forward line partner in crime "an absolute superstar" of the AFL and someone who has helped him enormously with his rapid development.
Gray, 31, carved up Essendon's dangerous rebounding defender Adam Saad on the weekend, kicking four brilliant goals from his 19 disposals as the Power surged back into finals contention with a dominant 59-point win at Marvel Stadium.
The four-time All Australian and five-time Showdown Medal winner has now taken his 2019 goal tally to 21, and that's despite having to spend more time running through the midfield due to injuries at various stages of the season to skipper Ollie Wines and ball magnet Tom Rockliff.
Rozee, who is enjoying a breakout rookie year and is one of the contenders to win the Rising Star Award, says Gray is a seriously special talent who is often overlooked when discussing the competition's greatest players.
"He's probably the best player I've ever trained with or played with or even seen on a footy field," Rozee told ESPN. "I've never seen anyone do what he can do with a football. Some of the things he does are unreal.
"Robbie has had a great career, he's consistent and has been a superstar of the game for 10 or so years now. He deserves way more credit than he gets."
The win over the Bombers has lifted Port Adelaide to ninth on the ladder with just three rounds remaining in the home and away season. Their cross-town rival Adelaide currently hold eighth spot, but with a relatively soft run to end the year, the Power could yet play finals football.
There's no doubt Ken Hinkley's side has been frustratingly inconsistent throughout the 2019 campaign, but Rozee believes they can make a serious impact in September should they finish in the top eight.
"We know we've been pretty inconsistent throughout most of the season, so it's really good to bounce back," Rozee told ESPN. "We've got a young group and so [consistency] all comes with a bit of maturity. Hopefully now that the young boys have played a few more games, we can get a bit more consistency about our footy.
"We're one of the only sides that has beaten the top couple of teams in the competition and we've already shown that on our day we can beat pretty much anyone. That gives us real confidence if we can get into September."
This season the Power have beaten four top eight sides in Geelong, West Coast, Adelaide and now Essendon. They will face the 15th placed Swans at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon before games against North Melbourne (Marvel Stadium) and Fremantle (Adelaide Oval) in the final two rounds.