It’s easy to see why Jack Hombsch is well liked.

Ahead of the Port Adelaide defender’s 50^th match against the Cats on Friday night, praise was aired on social media from former teammates saying there wouldn’t be many who deserved a milestone more.

One tweet in particular from former Giants teammate and co-captain Phil Davis read “there isn’t a better guy in football”. Not bad from a guy who’s played with the likes of Simon Goodwin, Scott Thompson and Rory Sloane.

These thoughts were echoed on Friday night as Hombsch was mic’d up during Channel Seven’s coverage of match.

The 22-year-old – who is leading Port Adelaide for the team-oriented stat, one-percenters, this season – could be heard only encouraging his teammates as the side succumbed to Geelong by 23 points.

“He talked about players such as Darryl Wakelin, who wasn’t the quickest bloke, but managed to do some amazing things” – JACK hOMbsch on mark williams

While running out onto the ground before the match, Hombsch could be seen calming young teammate Tom Clurey, telling the fourth-gamer to keep it simple during the encounter.

“Play your role Cluzza, you’ll be right. Look after each other,” Hombsch said.

Having a career-best season, Hombsch is ranked third at the club in rebounds and contested marks in 2015. He’s also averaging a career-high 14 disposals and registered the least amount of clangers of any player at the club to have played more than seven games this season.

Last month he told The Advertiser former Giants assistant coach Mark Williams had a lot to do with his development when he was struggling for a game at GWS.

“There was a stage halfway through the first year when I wasn’t getting picked. There was talk about me being a little bit slow and a bit undersized,” Hombsch said.

“I sat down with Choco and asked, ‘What should I do?’ He pointed out some of the experiences he’d had at Port Adelaide, talked about players such as Darryl Wakelin, who wasn’t the quickest bloke, but managed to do some amazing things.

“He said smarts are so underrated in football.”