Remember in 2012 when Kevin Foley wanted to make the Port Adelaide Football Club “less Port and more Power” and wanted to “stare down those who want us to remain the club from the Port with the Magpies tradition”. In the midst of rising debt, spiralling off field performances and talks of a relocation to Tasmania many thought this “Southern Power” approach was the only way to save the club.
Instead the club pivoted in the other direction. Embracing it’s Magpies heritage, having reunited with the Magpies, and re-engaging it’s loyal fanbase by referencing it’s famous history and even its (some would say divisive) Creed.
But 12 years later has the Port Adelaide Football Club become the Southern Power by stealth?
So what were those traditional values the Port membership wanted to fight for, even in its darkest hour? And are they still there in the Port Adelaide Football Club, or has it become “more Power than Port”?
Do they still exist to win premierships? As one of the 5 AFL controlled clubs that have won between them just 3 of the last 25 premierships we all know it is a tough task. And with the president David Koch daring anyone to suggest that 2024 was not a successful season despite losing 2 out of 3 finals (and only just scraping over the line by a post in the 3rd) it doesn’t seem that winning flags is the clubs top priority.
Do they still show the ruthless accountability that made the club so successful? Quite the opposite, it seems that the club has become a soft touch in recent years. Far from the days of all the players facing the members in the room at Alberton, the theme seems to be to avoid pressure and accountability at all costs. Whether it be signing a coach before finals, not being willing to hold on to a want away player (as top clubs Geelong and Sydney have done recently and successfully) or submitting the board to the members vote, accountability seems to be a lost thing down at Alberton. No one wants anyone to be under pressure and as a result no one seems capable of standing up when the pressure inevitably comes.
Do they still exhibit the “us against them” mindset that propelled the club into the big league? It would seem not. President David Koch is on record declaring that he would like his Power to be everyone’s second favourite club. Whether it be at the tribunal (or even the courts if need be), dealing with players and staff, a permanent agreement to wear the prison bars more than once per year or taking on the player managers, Port appears as Damien Barrett recently noted “too nice” and as a result gets “played off a break”. In the process the club seems to have become more “us against us” and less “us against them”. The strength of Port Adelaide was always its members. They gave blood, sweat and tears (literally) for the club to make it what it was, and in return the club showed gratitude. No one wanted to let the members down. The members controlled their destiny, the members paid their wages and the members held them accountable. It was a club of the members, for the members. Contrast that to club president David Koch recently labelling the “white noise” wanting to hold coach Ken Hinkley accountable as “bastards” at the recent Best and Fairest celebrations. Us against us.
Do they still exhibit the intimidation that made Port so famous? No one ever wanted to be in the gun of the old Port, run by the likes of Fos Williams and Bob McLean. These men were ruthless in their pursuit of success and woe betide anyone who stepped into their path (on or off field). This was a club feared and admired for their ferocity. A working class club made up of hard men, who had seen worse before and triumphed. They never took a backward step and they moulded a club in their image. Could we say the same about the current custodians?
So where is that old Port now?
Rightly or wrongly Port is currently seen as a soft touch. Weak when it comes to negotiating with the AFL, weak when it comes to holding their players and staff accountable, weak at the trade table and worst of all weak on field when the heat rises in the finals. More Southern Power and less of the Port Adelaide that made the club great and got the club off the canvas in that 2010-2014 period.
Can the current custodians right the ship? Or will this only change when the members once again get to shape the destiny of this famous club, rather than be ostracised by their own board? Or are we now doomed forever to be less Port and more Southern Power?
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