Last week wasn’t just another week for the Port Adelaide Football Club ……

It started with Russell Ebert being elevated to legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, together with Greg Phillips and John Abley being acknowledged for their induction into the Hall of Fame in recent years when the events had to be cancelled.

Wednesday night was an historic occasion for the club as our inaugural AFLW team took to Alberton Oval for their first training night. It was a special moment as our female athletes entered the ground through a guard of honour formed by our AFL playing and coaching group. It was so good to see our club come together as one, including several hundred foundation AFLW members who were there to share the moment. The players are still buzzing from the experience, and I think it reinforced for many of them that they have come to a special football club and community who is already fully embracing them.

On Thursday night the generous donors who’ve supported the re-development of the new social club were treated to our first event at The Precinct at Alberton. Our gratitude and thanks to this group of special families is ongoing as they shared our vision to make this a reality. Later this week is an official opening night for key stakeholders and then from Friday we are open for business!

We are very proud of the transformation that’s been achieved and look forward to seeing you back at your football club soon. There’s something for everyone with the football club reception and member services counter, interactive museum experience, an incredible Premiership trophy cabinet flanked by 160-year old original wharf pylons and expanded retail store downstairs.

And then there’s the grand staircase leading upstairs to the bar and kitchen, double sided gas fire-place, sports bar, deck and function room – and of course the fantastic views out over Alberton Oval with the Adelaide Hills in the background.

Then on Friday, nearly 400 school students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds came together to celebrate the vibrancy of our community at the Power Intercultural Program Carnival. The children and their families were then our guests on Saturday at Adelaide Oval for the curtain raiser game. Just one of the many fantastic stories of the day was seeing a young family at the game who in September last year were fleeing the Taliban. The joy and excitement on two young boys faces as they had their first AFL experience reminded all of us why football can mean so much more and has the power to bring people together from all backgrounds. We are really proud of our community team who continue to change lives and grow our club with all the fantastic work they do.

And finally on Saturday afternoon against a quality team in the Sydney Swans, we played the type of football we’ve all been looking for this year and at the same time we saw our next generation emerging in what was a really strong performance despite a couple of early challenges with injury.

As we’ve said consistently, we’ve made the season difficult due to our 0-5 start and every game from here is just so important, but we’ve remained firmly focused on the next challenge all year and for this week that’s an in form Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon at Adelaide Oval.

Early on as CEO I had a fantastic conversation with another club CEO (whose club has achieved greatness in the last decade) and he reinforced that winning in the AFL competition is hard and you need some luck, but if you’re not “all in as a club” it’s all but impossible. At Port Adelaide, we remain “all in” as we fight for our 2022 season.

Membership

Thanks to those members who took the time to complete the mid-year member survey and provide valuable feedback. We listen closely and ensure we embrace the expectation that our members have of us in terms of how we deliver and know that this year could have been much better.

We understand that the transition to digital membership ticketing has been an enormous source of frustration for many members and after speaking to other club CEO’s last week, it is a sentiment that is shared by members across the league. Digital ticketing has been an AFL mandated change and we worked hard to make the process as easy as possible. However, we know it’s not the preference for all.

Pleasingly the AFL have listened and in 2023 members will once again have the option of selecting a barcoded membership card and digital ticketing will not be compulsory.

We are hearing you.

We also acknowledge that the late delivery of membership packs this year was not even close to greatness and I promise we will correct this for 2023. Our membership team have been planning the 2023 program now for several months to ensure this is not repeated and we are excited to deliver an enhanced pack and experience for 2023.

Alberton Oval & SANFL Games

We have made significant progress in the last few months on the transformation of our facilities at Alberton Oval with the opening of The Precinct and the upgrade of the changeroom facilities beneath the Fos Williams Family Stand (FWFS). However, we’ve still got a big agenda in front of us.

In preparation to host our AFLW games at Alberton this season, we need to build upgraded coaching and official’s facilities in the rear of the FWFS. The player and official boxes at ground level need to be rebuilt to replicate what’s in place at Adelaide Oval to ensure Alberton Oval is a premium venue for AFLW and SANFL matches.

Given the shortened timeframe with the start of the AFLW season coming forward to the last weekend of August, the only way we will get this work completed is if we start immediately. To do that we will have to move our two remaining SANFL home games away from Alberton. We did not take the decision lightly given the importance of our home games, but for this year there was no alternative if we are to complete these works in time for the start of the AFLW season.

This means Saturday’s SANFL game versus Glenelg will be our last at Alberton Oval for the year so please make sure you get along and support the boys, and then pop into The Precinct post game to enjoy the fantastic new facilities. There are capacity restrictions upstairs so please be mindful of that as we all get used to how to best operate the venue on game days.

I conclude by passing on my condolences, on behalf of the club, to the Kretschmer family for the sad passing last week of past player and Premiership hero Marx Kretschmer. Our thoughts are with Marx’s children Ian, Peter, Kym, Karen and Vickie and the extended family.

Marx was a legend of our golden era representing Port Adelaide in 143 games from 1951 to 1960, including six premierships.. He was a hard and tough enforcer in one of SA’s toughest football eras, so that’s saying something. I had the great pleasure of meeting Marx on several occasions and he was a lovely man, a humble champion who loved his football club. He will be sadly missed but never forgotten.

I look forward to seeing you at the footy, or finally I can say at ‘The Precinct’ in the coming weeks.

Cheers

Richo