Port Adelaide’s rise from being the laughing stock of the AFL to a genuine premiership force is officially complete.
The team have gone from losing to both expansion clubs in their first year to defeating the two AFL powerhouses within the space of a month.
It was April 23, 2011, when the club, then coached by Matthew Primus, welcomed the Suns, just four games into their existence, to AAMI Stadium on a windy Saturday afternoon.
Having defeated cross-town rival Adelaide in the Showdown the previous week, the Power were largely expected to defeat the newcomers, who were coming off a 90-point loss to Melbourne at the Gabba.
All went to script when the Power led by 40 points late in the third quarter, only for them to shockingly lose the match after Justin Westhoff missed a set shot at goal after the final siren.
After the loss, the Power were branded as “the laughing stock of the AFL”, and it would have a psychological effect on the club for the remainder of the season, only narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon when it defeated Melbourne by eight points in the penultimate match of the regular season.
Losing to fellow newcomers GWS became the final straw.
It was then the Power started a total rebuild of the club, appointing untried Ken Hinkley as its head coach and popular television personality David Koch as the successor to Brett Duncanson.
Most of the playing list from 2012 survived through the off-season, though there was one notable addition to the squad in Angus Monfries, who returned home from Essendon through the free agency system.
Amidst this, however, there was one tragic loss and that was John McCarthy, who lost his life during the Power’s end-of-season trip to Los Angeles in September 2012.
Port Adelaide then started the 2013 season with five consecutive victories, before subsequently going on to lose their next five. They maintained a positive win-loss record throughout the season, a 12-10 record being enough for the club to qualify for its first finals series since being massacred by Geelong in the 2007 grand final.
The Power faced Collingwood at the MCG in its elimination final, and defied the odds to upset the highly-favoured Pies before ultimately having its season of mass improvement ended by Geelong in the semi-final six nights later.
Despite its season of resurgence, many experts did not predict that Port Adelaide would repeat the success story that was season 2013, some even predicting second-year blues for Ken Hinkley, the same fate that befell Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson that year.
The Crows had crashed from being within a kick of reaching the grand final to finishing eleventh in the space of twelve months, though there were some factors behind their downfall, including the Kurt Tippett contract saga and the suspension of the late assistant coach Dean Bailey for his role in the Melbourne tanking scandal.
Sadly, however, the critics have been proven wrong. So far this season the Power have won eight matches and lost just one (against North Melbourne by seven points in Round 3), and at the end of Round 10, the club that was once the laughing stock of the AFL will sit proudly on top of the ladder.
The club’s rise from the dark days of the time period between 2008 and 2012 to the powerhouse team that we all know has culminated in their hard-fought victory over last year’s premiers, Hawthorn, and the rest of the AFL has been put on notice.
Never at any stage of the match did the Power trail, though they were challenged by a Hawthorn side that were missing Jarryd Roughead (suspended), Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson and Cyril Rioli (all injured) in the second half.
With its victory over the Hawks, they have become the first team since the Sydney Swans in 2012 to defeat both Geelong and Hawthorn in a regular season.
On that occasion, the Swans went on to win the premiership – and given the form the Power have enjoyed so far this season, a second flag to compliment its solitary success a decade ago remains a strong possibility.
Port Adelaide plays Melbourne and St Kilda in the next fortnight; both are very winnable matches that should set the Power up for a strong second half of the season after having recorded their best ever start to a season.
There is no doubt that this current Port Adelaide side is a premiership team in the making. Chad Wingard is fast becoming one of the premier midfielders in the competition, and if he keeps up his current form, then he will be a serious challenger to Gary Ablett Jr for this year’s Brownlow Medal.
The Power’s decision to bring home Jared Polec from the Brisbane Lions has also been vindicated, and Travis Boak, who wanted out of the club at the end of 2012, has made good on the two-year deal he signed with the Power at the end of that season and led by example on the field.
Remarkably, of the 22 who lined up in the Power’s win over Hawthorn, 13 of them survived the history-turning loss to the GWS Giants – thus showing how far the club has come from its darkest days.
Among those 13 included current captain Travis Boak, his predecessor, Domenic Cassisi, Kane Cornes, Chad Wingard and Aaron Young, who was the sub both in the win over the Hawks and the loss to the Giants, among others.
It’s now fair to say that the darkest chapter in the history of the Port Adelaide Football Club has officially ended, with the club now in serious contention to challenge for the 2014 premiership.
Even so, the Hawks still remain, to many, as the team to beat this season, though they have now lost consecutive matches in a regular season for the first time in over two years.
Kevin Martin
Guest
This story is about Port ... but Radelaide brought it up. ... keeping Trigg gets the AFC the facepalm of the year award
Leo
Guest
Perfectly said!! Pipe down Gene and up the Swans this weekend
Barneythecrab
Guest
Your kidding right about Polec and Wingard to be in the chance for the Brownlow? Am i reading correctly? Ablett, Pendlebury, Kennedy, Dangerfield, Cotchin, Griffen, Fyfe, Watson, Jack, Selwood HUUUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE amount of daylight plus lots of other players then Wingard or Polec. Dont worry about the awesome things that Polec does like hard ball gets they dont count or Tyson Edwards would have won 3-4 Brownlows.
Michael huston
Guest
Good point Radelaide, but Port may have the issue of players taking points off each other. Anyone could make arguments for Gray, Wingard, Polec, Boak etc but if one player can't string enough together they won't have enough. I've had the same thing with my team the Swans in recent years, too many players taking turns at being best on ground
Radelaide
Guest
I agree on Wingard, he is spectacular but does it in 15 minute bursts so I would see Ebert and Boak as being more a smokey for "Charlie" but at 20 yrs of age Chad's best could be unbelievable but the Port player that might sneak under the radar is Polec he has come close to BOG for 3 games (Carlton, GWS and Hawthorn) with some other decent efforts in the showdown and Cats games. The reason why I say this is his reading of the play is so good that he gets in the right place at the right time and does the right thing with the ball, his skills by foot and hand is second to none, his kicking seems to have a 270 degree radius ( I've noticed more Port boys are kicking on the outside of their feet accurately and I believe it is because of Jared). But one thing that has really struck me is since the second half of the Cats game is his hard ball and courage to put his body over it has really picked up, he seemed to shirk a couple in the first half and I think he copped it at half time and has just been getting ever since to the point where he is getting better every game sure I mentioned the Carlton game but his last quarter when we steamrolled the Blues he was the catalyst (words escape me).
Kevin Martin
Guest
Well Said also to the OP ... chad wingard is playing as a small forward not in the midfield.
hawker
Guest
We never had a full team when we played the cats. Geelong were better team on the day and deserved to win but if you think Hawkins would've rag dolled Brian Lake as he did Cheney you're kidding yourself.
Radelaide
Guest
Yes but copping multiple injuries during the game is worse than having some players out to start off with and that Roos game was about as bad as anyone has had it all year it's just that we can cover the next week with new in's. But here is the thing about Hawthorn Lake and Mitchell are not as fast as they used to be and Rioli struggles with his hamstrings recently so who is to say that if they played and kept out 3 faster, fitter kids that they might've been exposed for pace against Port and been blown out the water more in the second half, they never looked like beating Geelong with a full team.
Penster
Guest
Hawks currently are reminding me of Swans towards the end of last year with all the injuries to top players. Hopefully they'll be able to regain some KPP before the finals and make a go of it in September. Olivia - it's got nothing to do with recruiting deficiencies, it's injuries to a large number of top players that would plumb the depth of any team, including yours if Sydney's first few games this year are anything to go by. Calling Hawthorn's recruiting is anything but deficient.
Michael huston
Guest
Wouldn't think Wingard would come close to the Brownlow. Too hot and cold. Firing one week, quiet the next. If Abletts out of the race, surely Josh Kennedy would be close? Can't think of many other players who have consistently been close to best on ground? But I highly doubt Ablett would get rubbed out. He's the darling of the AFL and the incident wasn't that bad, the uproar would be huge.
The Oven
Guest
It's really interesting you wrote this comment. I was thinking the same thing half way through reading all of the comments and then I got to this one. I'm a swans fan too and I remember watching the preliminary final last year as we were struggling against Freo and getting frustrated that we weren't keeping up. It never occurred to me at that point that I could simply blame the fact that we had a ridiculous amount of players out and had lost Tippett very early in the game. And strangely enough (and probably because it was such a symbolic moment for Freo making the GF) the media didn't make a big deal out of it either. You turn up with a team of 22, according to who is available at that point in time, and you deal with it. You don't sit around making excuses. And for everyone also coming up with great metaphors relating to when the cup is won - being at the end of the season - get over it!! Geelong were an average team before 2007. And the bandwagon was in full effect at this time of the year in 2007. Every team has to start somewhere and Port are well and truly away... and good on them!!
Fabes
Guest
Turn it up mate and watch the replay. I counted a few frees to Port that weren't there also. It was a good game. Leave it at that.
Penster
Guest
+1
Marie the Froggie
Guest
Bravo!
MFairPlay
Roar Guru
You can only play the teams fielded in front of you.
Fabes
Guest
Very impressed by Port and this coming from a Hawk supporter. I do feel that the loss of Lake, Gibson, Mitchell, Roughead and Rioli did take away experience, composure and a hardness at the contest to some degree. I'm still not convinced with Port against the genuine big boys of the comp, Cats, Swans, Hawks and Freo in the latter part of the year against seasoned September campaigners. However you have to give credit where it is due. My opinion is Port gives themselves every chance of success this year. They, also in my opinion are the fifth best team in the comp, above the four mentioned above, not in terms of ladder position at present but in terms of what I believe will be a lack of experience come seasons end. Well done Port Adelaide FC, wish you all the best for the future and you deserve where you are at present. However I will say I'm extremely proud of the Hawthorn boys and how they fought it out until the end. Looks like a ripper of a season! Carn The Mighty Fighting Hawks!! ;)
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
No, they can't only get better, they could also get worse. There's no rule to say a team or players have only an upwardly linear development path. Plenty of teams have been "ahead of the curve" for a season or two only to regress after that.
BigAl
Guest
Come on Gene . . . top that !
BigAl
Guest
This will be my mmmh... 88th ? post decrying "BT" and his crew's performances so I'm lost for (new) words at the mo. What I can say is that Wayne Carey (surprisingly ?) is like a breath of fresh air.
Brendon the 1st
Guest
Reckon Robbie Gray is a sneaky chance for top 3, both the real challengers have been suspended, Stevie J and Fyfe. It's a race for second, Ablett would need to break a leg, fingers crossed he doesn't get injured.