For Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams, it’s a sunny dawn after a dark, wretched nightmare.

He’s consigned to history a horrid 2009, a season when Port was cast as a financial basket case beset by internal schisms, coaching controversy and inexplicable on-field collapses.

Williams last year was forced to accept his pay being cut in half to win another coaching contract.

His best player, Shaun Burgoyne – the man he wanted as captain but was overruled by the board – walked out.

The club’s finances took a battering as home crowds averaged a smidge over 24,000 – the lowest ever.

And Williams’ players served up preposterous inconsistency, not just week from week to week but from quarter to quarter, as they won nine times on their way to an ultimate 10th placing.

But that was then. This is now.

“This is a new beginning for Port Adelaide, this is like when we first started,” Williams says of 2010.

“This is exciting, there is going to be some ups and downs, but there is going to be some excitement.

“That is the journey that you go on when you are redeveloping a side.”

Williams’ recent coaching record is patchy – missing the finals in three of the past four seasons.

The anomaly was 2007, when the Power contested the grand final – and were thumped by Geelong by 119 points.

Since then, Port has won only 16 of 44 premiership matches.

The club is hamstrung by consolidated losses of $4.5m in the past two years.

And the season of Williams’ new dawn is forecast to lose another $2.6m.

But a coach couldn’t be a coach without being an optimist.

Williams may have lost his best player in Shaun Burgoyne (traded to Hawthorn), his gifted brother Peter Burgoyne, tap master Brendon Lade and premiership utility Toby Thurstans – the latter trio all retiring.

But the Power coach is bullish entering his 12th year at the helm of Port.

Port has recruited shrewdly and topped their list with players they aim to recycle from trash to treasure, including Jay Schulz (Richmond), Jay Nash (Essendon), Scott Harding (Brisbane) and rookie listed Cameron Cloke (Carlton).

They also have a batch of undoubtedly talented young players about to hit football maturity, such Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Steven Salopek, Nathan Krakouer, Danyle Pearce and Justin Westhoff.

But the question remains: can they develop sufficiently and deliver sustained excellence to support the reliable feats of proven performers like Chad Cornes, his brother Kane, Warren Tredrea, Dean Brogan and the brilliance of Daniel Motlop?

“We have spent a lot of time in the last few years to try and get new players into our group … we have got a lot of inexperienced young players in our group,” Williams says.

“But they are really enjoying being together, being in the group, and developing as a whole and I’m sure our supporters are thrilled from what they have seen in the first couple of weeks.”

Port also stands to benefit from a reshuffled coaches group featuring the significant recruitments of former Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley and ex-Geelong star Garry Hocking.

“The new staff we have in, the new young players that have shown a lot of excitement, pretty similar to 2007 when Westhoff and Gray and those blokes started to really hit their straps and people said `gee we have got some players coming through’ – I think that excitement is back again,” Williams says.

Laidley’s acute tactical skills have been dedicated to a strategy and innovation role, with his match day nous to centre on the midfield.

Hocking, who has coached the Geelong Falcons in the under 18 competition for the past four years, has been appointed a development coach.

PORT ADELAIDE

Coach: Mark Williams

Captain: Domenic Cassisi

Last five years: 6-12-2-13-10

Premierships: 1 (2004)

Star five: Daniel Motlop, Chad Cornes, Steven Salopek, Warren Tredrea, Kane Cornes.

One to watch: Hamish Hartlett. The precociously talented 19-year-old needs only to overcome persistent hamstring problems to stamp his class. An immaculate kick, has a rare ability to find time and space where others can’t.

Ins: Scott Harding (Brisbane), Jay Nash (Essendon), Jay Schulz (Richmond), Cameron Cloke (Carlton – rookie listed), John Butcher (Gippsland U18), Andrew Moore (Eastern Ranges U18), Jasper McMillan-Pittard (Geelong U18), Daniel Stewart (rookie elevation), Wade Thompson (rookie elevation).

Outs: Brendon Lade (retired), Peter Burgoyne (retired), Toby Thurstans (retired), Shaun Burgoyne (Hawthorn), Mitch Farmer (Richmond), Jonathon Giles (delisted), Nick Lower (delisted).

Best line-up:

B: Troy Chaplin, Alipate Carlile, Jacob Surjan

HB: Nick Salter, Chad Cornes, Nathan Krakouer

C: Steven Salopek, Kane Cornes, Danyle Pearce

HF: David Rodan, Jay Schulz, Robbie Gray

F: Brett Ebert, Warren Tredrea, Daniel Motlop

R: Dean Brogan, Domenic Cassisi, Travis Boak

I: Hamish Hartlett, Justin Westhoff, Mitch Banner, Tom Logan

© AAP 2012

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