Who can blame Dean Laidley for not putting his hand up for the top job? The failed Kangaroo coach came to Alberton to work alongside a premiership coach who boasted two night flags, dual ladder-topping performances in ’02 and ’03, plus a day flag in ’04.
All achieved during Brisbane’s reign.
Laidley is presumably desperate to flee the club or at least be held as unaccountable as possible for a poor 2010.
On and off the field.
Port’s problems are far from being restricted to the playing field. The Williams-era is over at Port and he leaves the club with his reputation in tact and with good job prospects at several current and future AFL clubs.
The Power are in a far worse situation.
Membership is down and crowd figures are down, largely due to the fair-weather South Aussie supporters.
But hey who wants to travel to West Lakes to sit in the windy freezing cold and watch a loss? But that’s another issue altogether. Oh, and they lost their major sponsors, Vodafone and Scott’s transport.
Coupled with their financial woes, some very questionable decision making has led to the Power being on the brink of possible extinction.
Substantial handouts from the SANFL and Mr Demetriou as recently as June this year highlight the problems the ailing club faces in generating revenue.
Demetriou claimed the joint $5m handout would “put to bed” concerns over the Power’s viability.
Recent events would suggest otherwise.
The loss of premiership heroes like the Burgoynes, Warren Tredrea and Brendan Lade have left Port with major holes, insufficiently plugged by woeful recruits Cameron Cloke and Jays Schulz and Nash.
Player managers are reluctant to send their clients to Alberton amid fears of a stagnant and unfulfilling career move.
Let’s hope Port can survive until AFL is played at the magnificent Adelaide Oval and that the move to the heart of Adelaide is embraced by fans.
In the meantime, the board needs to make strong, UNITED decisions. Matty Primus is a legend at Alberton and it’s unlikely they’ll be able to afford anyone with a better resume than the premiership and All Australian ruckman.
Only time will tell for the Power and the old cliché of performing on field couldn’t be more relevant.
David
Guest
tomdp58 - Check your facts buddy. You should watch the DVD of the 2004 Grand Final. Matthew Primus didn't play in Ports 2004 premiership because of Injury.
B.C Queenslander
Guest
The "Adelaide" in Port Adelaide stands for ..................Adelaide. N.Q or N.Z WTF?
JB
Guest
A simple solution is to take the licence off the SANFL and give it to the Port Adelaide Football Club. We are after all an independent club that's existed since 1870, unlike the Crows who are the SANFL's franchise. The decision to give to the SANFL was wrong from the start and a massive conflict of interest. The SANFL burned Port Adelaide's initial attempt to enter the AFL and thus created the Adelaide Crows. And the SANFL only cares about their own income, not the best of interest of Port Adelaide as shown with the dodgy stadium deal, so how can they be in charge of our licence?? Stadium wise, a quick fix is for Port Adelaide to move to Adelaide Oval, immediately. I honestly would have no problem with Port Adelaide playing at Adelaide Oval, and Crows at AAMI. Of course the best thing for both AFL clubs, the people of South Australia and the best thing for sport of all kinds in this state is to build a new multi-purpose stadium in the city with 60,000 capcity and a roof. Don't really care about Adelaide Crows interest, but it's clear Adelaide Oval is a bad move for them, capacity will be smaller, and the stadium redvelopment is clearly a quick fix dreamt up by Labor to thwart Liberals correct proposal. Port's board stuffed up with Choco's reappointment, that doesn't help the club's image. "Player managers are reluctant to send their clients to Alberton amid fears of a stagnant and unfulfilling career move." Are you a player manager?? Because i'd liek you to prove this. If you're going by that one player manager that made a comment, he's client is actually the Port Adelaide captain, and we've managed to sign Boak, Gray, Hartlett from outside interests. Port Adelaide supporters are loyal and love their team, but many despise the SANFL for the problems they've created, and the state of the game in SA is due to the state of the game in the AFL. We love footy, but AFL is quickly ruining the game,and we have a better product in the SANFL league.
CraigB
Roar Guru
Mate I reckpn you'll find Crows supporters a happy with AAMI and don't want to move. If Port came have all this so called history then why do people refer to W Tredrea as POrts best ever player when clearly, if that history is transferrable, R Ebert is clearly the best??? You need to face facts that you were big fish in a small pond. Now you're in the ocean and struggling to survive. All the 'Live the Creed' crap doean't make any difference. The Crows and all the interstate clubs are built to survie in the AFL and you blokes were so arrogant that you just thought it would happen. What happened is that now even your core supporters have jumped off and you survive on hand outs from the SANFL and AFL. Talk about a club reflecting its supporters...
B.C Queenslander
Guest
Without Port Adelaide, there would be no Adelaide Crows. Port forced the hand of the SANFL, (BTW whats with the "N"? National? umm yeah right ok.) The shame of it is, that Port have been so dominant in S.A for so long that the hatred has carried over to the Power. Rather than support a new team as is the case with the Gold Coast Titans, or N.Q Cowboys, in rl. People in SA just cant bring themselves to support the Power. SA owe Port Adelaide and should get behind them.
tomdp58
Roar Rookie
doughboy, laidley's time at nth melb wasn't filled with success, 1 finals win and a 49% games record, not disastrous but what i was getting at is that he would probably like some successful assistant work before he dives into a top job again.
Wayno
Guest
The AFL just forced the SANFL to give back some of the the cash they've been ripping out with the threat of handing the club its own license. That would disasterous for the SANFL, PA is still a massive cash cow for them and they wouldn't be able to finance their precious over inflated salary cap without them. The only real solution here is independence from the SANFL IMO. And another thing, It's not like there aren't a few other clubs holding out there hands for special dividends from the AFL either.
The all new King of the Gorganites
Guest
As ive been espousing on te Roar for the last 18 months - its time to relocate Port to North Queensland or New Zealand. The "A" in AFL stands for Australia and not Adelaide!
Doughboy
Guest
Laidley's hardly a failed coach! Done good with his cattle.
Savvas Tzionis
Guest
Port Adelaide.... the only 'additional' team to the VFL--> AFL that has a history. And it is the one struggling most!!! Why?!!! Here are some aspects of the truth.... It says alot about the vacuuousness of modern society. They all prefer to follow plastic clubs in all codes. Storm and Broncos for NRL Adelaide in AFL And yet, the AFL knows that the Port supporters are the most loyal so they (until recently) did not believe they needed help (unlike the Sydney and Brisbane ventures).
Redb
Roar Guru
Rocky road ahead for Port, they're no Fremantle, who despite never winning a premiership remained strongly supported through the lean years. The whole SANFL v AFL antipathy has hurt Port Adelaide it seems from a distance. A lot of disruptive history there.
Beaver fever
Guest
IMO Port will be fine, both the AFL and SANFL wont let them fall over.
Anthony
Guest
Written by a true Crows supporter!!!! The Adelaide Oval will be a disaster for football in SA. Improve AAMI & give Port Adel a decent lease arrangement. Port is the one interstate club that came into the AFL with history & tradition....something the Crows still can't cope with!