PORT ADELAIDE Chairman David Koch has used the club’s best and fairest event to call for unity as the club looks to bounce back from a season in which it underperformed. 

The Power lost its last four games and missed the finals despite having won eleven of its first 15 games.

Koch praised the individual achievements of all of the night’s award winners but told the crowd of more than 1000 at the Adelaide Convention Centre football was a team sport and Port Adelaide was a club that measured itself on team success.

“This season we failed to live up to expectations and it left us all with a bitter taste at season’s end. It’s been particularly difficult watching football over the last month as other teams competed in the AFL finals,” he said.

“A lot of clubs would be satisfied with what is referred to as a “winning season” – 12 wins and 10 losses. For us this result is simply unacceptable when it means you fail to meet your first expectation of qualifying for finals.

Koch said the season’s failure was not solely the fault of the football department.

The Power president emphasised that players, coaches, staff, volunteers and the board celebrated wins and endured losses together, and 2018 was a case of the whole club underperforming.

While Koch reiterated that the club has faith that it has the people in place to turn things around, he said change was also inevitable.

“We have already changed the mix around Ken (Hinkley) in the coaches’ box. Recently we welcomed Brett Montgomery and Jarrad Schofield to the club after farewelling Aaron Greaves, Matthew Nicks and Brendon Lade at season’s end,” he said.

Koch suggesting loyalty and culture were key pillars to everything done at Port Adelaide.

He said everyone associated with the club needed to connect with its values and standards and be united in common goals.

“All the truly great sporting organizations around the world understand the power of having a set of values and standards that are simply non-negotiable,” Koch said.

“Achieving this will be a very high priority for our Club in this coming season.”

He also called for the club to bring “fun” back into its football, although he was quick to point out that it was part of a performance-based industry.

Koch said the club was determined to live up to its history of high performance.

“Our history of success has forever been based on unity,” he said.

“Good teams win games. Great organisations win Premierships.

“What I know about this club and its community is that we are up for the fight.”

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