NOT since 1969 has the Port Adelaide Football Club been so tormented by ill fortune. Every season brings the test of injuries, but some seem to come with a mean-spirited curse.

Port Adelaide's grand plans for 2025 started to crack in mid-January, late into a Monday training session at Alberton Oval when key forward Todd Marshall - as he put it - felt a sniper had pierced a lower leg. An Achilles' tendon was ruptured; so was a vision for a new-look Port Adelaide attack with multi-scoring options.

Season challenged already ... thank heavens for the off-season signing from Gold Coast of South Australian top-draft call Jack Lukosius to ease the loss of both Charlie Dixon (retired) and Marshall in attack.

How did that play out? Lukosius not only suffered an impact injury in his second game at Port Adelaide (with a clash of knees against a Richmond opponent) and soft-tissue ailments (calf) at the end of the season, there also was a back injury in the gym during his recovery.

The silver lining from such torment is the rise of lone-hand forward Mitch Georgiades, 58.42 this season. 

The pre-season had been just as mean with the defenders, notably Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (back in pre-season) and Esava Ratugolea (hamstrings) while Aliir Aliir battled on with knee injuries and a few bad turns on his ankles.

And when the injury list appeared to be corrected during the mid-season break, the pain deepened. The sniper kept firing ...

Port Adelaide started the year with external expectations clouded by debate on the succession plan announced in February that allowed Josh Carr to follow Ken Hinkley as senior coach at season's end. Even so, there was not a line-up of experts putting their faith into Port Adelaide's stock for 2025.

The season ends with Port Adelaide - as it did in 1969 - having fallen from being a repeat top-four contender. In 1970, there was a club centenary to inspire new enthusiasm. In 2026, there is a new era to build new hope ... and a stack of lessons to digest from this season. 

THE FINAL COUNT

WINS: 9
LOSSES: 14

FOR the first time since 2012, Port Adelaide had less than 10 wins in a home-and-away season. Unlike the consistent storyline during the Ken Hinkley era from 2013, there were multiple heavy losses - four by 91, 90, 98 and 88 points that contrasted all that had become the Port Adelaide trademark after Hinkley branded his teams as those that "never, ever give up".

The finish - the farewell game for club great Travis Boak, Hinkley and Hall of Famer Chad Cornes - against finals aspirant Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval proved there is an underlying spirit in the clubhouse that will make for a rebound in 2026.

BEST GAME

ROUND 24: Port Adelaide 10.11 (71) d Gold Coast 9.13 (67) at Adelaide Oval 

EMOTION can be powerful. So is respect for club greats. Travis Boak closed his AFL career - his one-club journey - with a victory built on everyone at the Port Adelaide Football Club and its community wanting to honour the former captain with a memory that will last forever. After all, Boak is the player who - by staying true to Port Adelaide in 2012 - ensured the revival from 2013 was real. Where "culture" is difficult to define in sport, at Port Adelaide it is summed up by the values left by Boak - loyalty, humility, professionalism (in work ethic) and decency. Whoever inherits that No.10 guernsey will follow enormous footsteps.

TOUGHEST GAME

ROUND 21: Port Adelaide 5.5 (35) lost to Adelaide 20.13 (133) at Adelaide Oval

RECORD books were rewritten with the biggest loss of the season (98 points) while Port Adelaide posted its lowest score of the year. Not much more needs to be said - although it should be remembered that midfielder Zak Butters put up a strong campaign of resistance.

BY THE NUMBERS

SCORED: 244.241 (11 points down on 2024 average)
CONCEDED: 310.276 (15 points up on 2024 average)

THE LIST 

PLAYERS USED: 40 (club record in AFL).

NOT only does that count of 40 players tell a story, so does the note that Port Adelaide had three picks in the mid-season draft - and played all three of them, Mani Liddy for nine games and Ewan Mackinlay and Harrison Ramm in the home-and-away season finale.

The depth of this list is questioned externally. There will be, as is the enforced norm in the AFL system, change through the October trade period and November drafts. There will be adjustments as Josh Carr works his new themes with a strong emphasis on role players for a team game.

And there already is invaluable notes on the power of youth, in particular with Christian Moraes and Joe Berry.

DEBUTANTS

AFL: Joe Berry (round 1), Christian Moraes (round 2), Tom Cochrane (round 3), Hugh Jackson (round 11), Mani Liddy (round 14), Jack Whitlock (round 21), Ewan Mackilay and Harrison Ramm (round 24).

CLUB: Jack Lukosius (round 1), Joe Richards (round 1), Rory Atkins (round 6).

BEST HEADLINE 

JULY 2: Miles Bergman signs two-year contract extension

AMID strong lures to return to Victoria - in particular from St Kilda - the 23-year-old defender-midfielder extended his commitment to Port Adelaide reaffirming the power of connection in the player group - the true legacy of Travis Boak's decision in 2012 to avoid his homecoming lure to Geelong.

Bergman's signature is significant. It speaks of belief in what is to come with Carr, as was Kane Farrell's five-year contract extension in late March. 

Of course, now the attention turns to Zak Butters with his contract to expire next year with free agency.

BEST PERFORMERS

1. ZAK BUTTERS: As endorsed by Ken Hinkley: "Best player in the competition!"
2. MITCH GEORGIADES: Stunning season for a forward left without support by the heavy injury count on Todd Marshall and Jack Lukosius.
3. CONNOR ROZEE: As a player (assigned as a defender for much of this season) and as a captain, Rozee stood taller this year.
4. ESAVA RATUGOLEA: Described by Ken Hinkley during the mid-season as Port Adelaide's most-improved player - as a result of finding his much-needed place as a key defender in the Port Adelaide system. Strength highlighted in aerial contests.
   
   

SUMMARY

PORT ADELAIDE closes 2025 with reason to look forward with a new era. But not all of the past season can be swept away when the issues exposed during 23 home-and-away games do stand as a strong message on where Port Adelaide has to step up.

As much as 2025 is the year so many want to pack away and forget, there is always reason to rake over the ashes. There are still questions with powerful answers for moving forward.

How much of the injury count was bad luck that led to a record count of hospital admissions for surgery or is there the need for new thinking in physical preparation?

What are the needs - particularly with balance - for the player list, both short- and long-term with expansion looming in Tasmania as the 19th national league team and inevitably a 20th side?

Who takes the personal lessons from 2025 as a guide to advancing their careers?

Port Adelaide has closed a significant era. It has established - after being on the cliff's edge in 2012 - the meaningful relevance and competitive spirit that ensures the club can plan for the future rather than survival.

Ken Hinkley leaves having put the football program on a sound foundation again. There was - as he knows too well - no grand final and no premiership. But there is a legacy of not rolling over.

Travis Boak departs as a club great. He can clear his locker, but his values will stay in the locker room as a point of reference and guidance to every Port Adelaide player who follows.

A new era will begin with Josh Carr. New hope will emerge. A change of luck would be much appreciated too.