I sit here baffled, failing to comprehend what has happened in the past couple of days. Port Adelaide’s loss to Greater Western Sydney was possibly the most insipid, lazy, even amateurish match of professional football I have ever witnessed.
And the warning signs were there.
A former Port Adelaide coach and two former champions are now with the Giants, Port had a substantial loss of momentum leading into the game and the celebration for Kevin Sheedy’s 1000th game were all signs pointing to the shock 34 point loss.
Coach Matthew Primus has been told he won’t be the senior coach next year, which while expected, is further proof that the club is heading in the wrong direction.
Now, I’m not a Port supporter. A day after the Power lost to GWS, I was at Football Park cheering on the Crows in their dramatic win over Essendon.
But even though my allegiances are elsewhere, I find it to be a disappointing situation the club’s in. It is definitely not the sort of position a club that has spent 142 years building a tough, successful culture would enjoy.
Basically, Port needs to delve deep into the reasons why they’re lacking in almost every possible way. They need to sit down and sort this mess out.
They need to recruit players and coaches, marketing people, financiers, attract sponsors, pretty much start from scratch to begin to restore the respect that they used to receive.
The majority of situations are approached haphazardly at Port Adelaide.
For instance, I can’t for the life of me figure out why Hamish Hartlett would be used in between a half back flank and a back pocket when he should be utilising his agility, speed and long kicking through the midfield and at half forward.
They recruit inexperienced coaches, inexperienced players and don’t play to the players strengths and weaknesses.
Look at the Crows’ Patrick Dangerfield. Neil Craig had him playing as a crumbing forward last year. And while we could see potential for Patrick to become something special, Craig didn’t assess where Patrick could or should play and as a result he didn’t play as well as he could have.
Brenton Sanderson comes in and views Dangerfield as a bullocking midfielder, with exceptional pace and great clearance ability and utilises him in the best possible way.
Look at him now.
It isn’t rocket science, so I’m wondering why some of these coaches are valued so highly, when they can’t even grasp the basic fundamentals of midfield play.
Port Adelaide also needs to reconnect with their supporter base.
I don’t understand why they put tarps over bays at Port Adelaide games and then attempt to convince people it makes AAMI Stadium look more like Port Adelaide’s home ground.
Nothing will make AAMI Stadium look like Port Adelaide’s home ground, considering their wealthier rivals have built a $30 million megalith with big bold letters saying “Adelaide Crows: The team for all South Australians”. The message is attached to the Eastern side of the stadium as a memento to their continued success.
Port Adelaide people don’t give a shit about money, nor an extravagant headquarters. They don’t care for political bureaucracy in football, or the constant tomfoolery that childish players immerse themselves in.
All they want is for their boys to pull on the jumper with pride and go out there and try their absolute hardest.
Do you reckon they served up their best on Saturday? Not on your life.
They tried for maybe 15 minutes in the third quarter. Then as soon as they started to gain some ascendency, they thought they had the game won and took their foot off the pedal.
Is that something the faithful would enjoy seeing? Is that something any club’s supporters would enjoy seeing?
Well it’s pretty self explanatory, really.
And to the vast majority of people who think that Port Adelaide has no supporters, well you’re just plain wrong. There are thousands upon thousands of Port Adelaide supporters out there, but they’re refusing to turn up and watch sub-standard performances.
It’s also fair to say that a fair number of Port Adelaide supporters are from working to middle class backgrounds, so why would they spend their hard earned money on watching an underperforming team over more necessary things?
I don’t blame the supporters one bit.
To sort out this situation, people have to realise the buck stops with the club itself. Not the supporters or the sponsors, or even Adelaide Oval for that matter. Adelaide Oval won’t be the proverbial saviour the footy world believes it will be if Port don’t start winning games.
And until Keith Thomas and his board start making educated decisions, the rebuilding phase won’t yet have begun, and it will leave the club in a continued state of turmoil.
Walter Tibbs
Guest
Greetings from the future! FYI, your populist garbage isn't well-received.
Walt
Guest
Read your final sentence. The one about the board making educated decisions. You cant attack them when you want and then defend them when you feel like it. The board made an uneducated choice on Primus. Matty was either coaching to tank or couldnt coach on match day. He was always reactive rather than playing to the teams strengths, plays Hamish Hartlett and Jackson Trangove out of position, did the same to Chad and Kane Cornes, made horrible selection choices and constantly misses the boat on key changes and the sub. When you are sitting in the crowd and what is wrong is obvious to everyone sitting around you, but not to the coaches box - something is up.
Jason from Sydney
Guest
I agree Port don't need a name change. I want to give an example why names changes don't work. In the NRL Eastern Suburbs Roosters changed their name to Sydney Roosters and the idea was to attract more people. It hasn't worked, at the game the supporters of that club still calls them Easts at the game and they still get about 10,000 to games which was about the same before they changed their name.
Rodney Penny
Roar Pro
You know, I'm not so sure. Primus wasn't given the necessary resources to coach an AFL club. Primus had to work with a part-time senior assistant and a bunch of inexperienced assistant coaches, which is far from ideal. There wasn't a lot of money for football department spending either, which then translates to disadvantage with the player group. You can't coach to your best without a state of the art football program. Trust me, if he flat out couldn't coach like you're implying, then Port wouldn't have hired him in the first place.
Jason from Sydney
Guest
I agree and I'm so happy he is gone. Port Adelaide need to find a good coach. And not only the coach, they need to get better people at the club. Peter Rohd Football operations manager needs to go as well. They need to get the best people they can to our club.
Jason from Sydney
Guest
And I am a supporter/Member from Sydney, I am a not ticketing member. I am a member of both PAFC Magpies and PAFC Power. This season I bought 8 memberships [1 Power + 7 Magpies], I don't go to games but I support the Club via memberships and I will continue to do so.
Jason from Sydney
Guest
Hey Rodney good info buddy. I'm a fan of the PAFC I have never lived in Adelaide, I paid for 8 memberships this season to help my Club, my memberships are non ticketing ones as I aren't able to travel to games. Now I have been a Port Adelaide supporter since 1990 and how it came about was a school friend Dwayne Francis who originally came from Adelaide and moved to Sydney in 1985, in 1990 he told me about the PAFC, he showed me a book he had on the Club's History and that moment without ever watching Port Adelaide play I decided to become a Port Adelaide fan. And so I have been a supporter ever since. However last season [2011] was the first season I became a member of the PAFC and I have Power [AFL] and Magpies [SANFL] memberships. I will continue to support both clubs by being a member even though I live in Sydney. I won't go to any games but still I'm supporting the PAFC by being a member. Now when Adelaide Crows entered the AFL in 1991 I supported Adelaide Crows in the AFL from 1991 to the end of the 1996 season. In 1997 it was only natural for me to support Port Adelaide in the AFL as well as the SANFL. I don't hate Adelaide Crows, I just support Port Adelaide. In 1997 when Port Adelaide missed the finals and Adelaide Crows won the Grand Final I was supporting Adelaide in those Grand Finals [1997 & 1998]. I hope PAFC can sort all this mess out and become a strong team on and off the field. I really would like to see both SA AFL teams really strong on and off the field. My friends Girlfriend [Halley] she is an Adelaide Crows supporter, we both don't bag each other out.
Walt
Guest
Oh it was justified. He didnt know how to coach.
Walt
Guest
Youre a guru? Heaven help us. Port Adelaide audiences are better than Brisbane and Sydney. They are DOUBLE those of Gold Coast and GWS, not barely better, and they rival the Bulldogs and North Melbourne (who play their home games in Melbourne and the away supporters from up the road get counted). So they cant fill a 50000 supporter stadium on a regular basis. So what? Can most AFL teams? Not a chance. Try again guru. Your statement about Tasmania getting a team is pure fantasy. Think Ports crowds are bad? Wait until Tasmania is attracting less than 10000 a game. Most Tasmanians already support an AFL team and arent going to start supporting a local team. Lets face it, it was always going to be a failure// Oh please, the club finished top 3 years in a row and has played in two GFs, all in the last decade. Port doesnt need a name or colour change. They need to start playing consistently good football again and get the 30000 people back to games who are tired of seeing players pull on the guernsey, put in rubbish efforts and then take the money. That aint the Port Adelaide way.
Brewski
Guest
And as usual, and on Q, a Z grade post from you. But keep trying Harry.
Harry
Guest
'Skill', I didn't see any skill from either side in this fiasco Ian. It was a Z grade game in front of a Z grade audience, plain and simple.
rory_s
Roar Rookie
As much as Matthew Primus' sacking was unjustified, I believe it is the right step towards a ,hopefully, very succesful future for the club. Hopefully Port Adelaide can enjoy success like they did in the early 2000's.
Phil
Guest
Firstly Port Adelaide had more hand one tenth of the supporter base. This is obviously by the fact that although w originate for one SANFL club we have 37,000 members and even at 18,000 per game are drawing more than a tenth of the combined Crows and Port total attendances. Further to that it was the Port Adelaide Football Club whose attendances were the highest each and every round through the 70, 80s and 90. Even now as we struggle in the SANFL our attendances hold up. That the Crows manage to draw only what they do from the remaining 9 clubs is nothing to be particularly excited about. Especially as many of the supporters are themselves those who had no football background and only jumped on the bandwagon when the Crows came in. As far as the betrayal goes you can bang on and on about it. We were supposed to abstain form that fateful SANFL vote and the end result was that you got your Crows. Something that you wouldn’t have seen for many years as the SANFL sat on its hands. The "flawed premise" that Port were allowed entry was that we had to retain a presence in the SANFL as well as the AFL. That was the dictate of the rest of the SANFL clubs to ensure the SANFL would survive. It was only after this situation had brought both entities to financial crises that some in the SANFL with short memories (or more likely Johnny com latelys ) were whining about how they didn’t need Port n the competition. The club that for years had brought windfall financial returns to their clubs each time they played them at their home ovals. And let’s not forget the Crows were in a similar situation with on field performance and coaching last year. With associated fall off in attendance.
Rodney Penny
Roar Pro
Yeah, valid points. But it's a little far-fetched to suggest Port Adelaide had only 1/10th of the supporter base in SA. They were by far the biggest club in the state, with success both on and off the field. It's more likely to be around 20-25%. Their attendance average in 2005 was a touch under 33,000 and their record membership figures have actually come this year (37,279). And I honestly don't believe it was a betrayal. The AFL came and said, "Hey, come play in our league". I'm sure playing against Essendon at the MCG would have seemed a better proposition than playing Westies on a cold Sunday afternoon with perhaps a few thousand people there. Port Adelaide were popular enough to sustain a team in the national competition. There were and still are able to. So I honestly don't see much wrong with it. Plus, the Adelaide Crows were formed on a basis of hypocrisy. The SANFL screamed "NO!", ever so determined to not get involved with the AFL. They were against it to the point that Port Adelaide were almost sent into exile when they put a bid in to join. So the Crows were formed quintessentially out of spite for the Port Adelaide bid, which begs the question, why all the hatred towards Port for their supposed act of betrayal? Port could have handled it better, but Adelaide were in the wrong too. The whole saga was messy, but it was both the SANFL and Port Adelaide's fault. By that simple logic, people should just get over it. I'm a Crows supporter and I couldn't care less. And now, Port are in this mess. Let's hope it doesn't have a sustained negative impact on the club like what happened in 1990.
Lachlan
Roar Guru
Port Adelaide they claim to not be in a crisis or they are, there is a crisis and that crisis has esculated over time and will only continue to get worse. Their only supporter base is a small portion of the good old alberton days. A lot of even their old magpies supporters refuse to support such a team. Their crowds are bewarely better than the two expansion clubs, they have pastic sheets covering a large portion of the crowd. Kevin Bartlett even suggested they remove from the competition and tasmania be granted a licence. My view on that is south australia must have two teams and tasmania will only get a team if two vic clubs merge and thus becoming a 17 team competition or a vic club relocates there or they may have to wait until we move to a 20 team competition. My solution to the port adelaide saga is clean up the club. Drop the 'PORT' and they become the Adelaide Power or even something else like 'Rams'. Get rid of all the port adelaide arrogance and become like adelaide crows a 'State wide' supported team. Change the colours, change everything, lets face it it was always going to be a failure, ever since they were granted a licence. Adelaide and south australia has a long and proud history.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
"They tried for maybe 15 minutes in the third quarter. Then as soon as they started to gain some ascendency, they thought they had the game won and took their foot off the pedal." No. They were trying in the second quarter, and in the second half of the third quarter as well. Unfortunatly for Port, it was massive and repeated skill errors that let them down in the second half of the third quarter, giving them four points from six kicks at goal and three other scoring opportunities.
Kasey
Guest
Port supporters always complain that the ‘fruit tingles’ made footy park their own. They did this by sheer weight of numbers The Crows just have more fans – because they represent more than 1 tenth of SA footy fans. The Toyota centre came afterwards. Until 3 years ago, the crows only had a small facility hidden behind the outer stand and even the social ’facility’ was a huge shed 200m away. I think that Port people have built up AO to be this El Dorado where the streets are paved with gold. If Port is expecting more fans to go to their games at AO, then surely the crows are too. So once again by sheer weight of numbers the Crows will likely dominate the Oval, and of course the final insult: it has the very name ‘Adelaide’ in it. In June 2014 I predict Port will be in exactly the same place they are now: scratching around for an identity, having trashed the once proud Magpies heritage with sustained mediocrity. Port were allowed entry to the AFL on a flawed premise, that they could expand their support base beyond the 1/10th of all SA Footy fans they had as the Magpies – this has proven that while Port fans may have tried to forget their betrayal of SA Footy in 1989, the vast majority of footy fans in SA have not. Bar their first two seasons (new car smell/shiny thing syndrome)in most seasons Port have recorded an average crowd in the mid 20k range. Sure they had a huge membership number over 35k after they won the flag in 2004, and this just screams bandwagon to me.