THE word culture has been used a lot in reference to the Port Adelaide Football Club in the past week.
Let’s get one thing straight. The culture of our club remains one of our greatest strengths. It is one of the strongest in Australian sport. It has been built over 140 years and is based on the premise of an expectation of success. It demands uncompromising standards, commitment, pride and sacrifice.
This hasn’t changed. It will never change.
When assistant coach Dean Laidley used the word “culturally” on radio in Melbourne, he was not reflecting on the club.
Senior coach Matthew Primus summed this up during media appearances this week.
“The culture of our football club is very, very strong. Our fabric, what we’ve achieved in the past whether it’s a long way back or the short term has been fantastic. The people we have at the club, the supporters are fantastic,” Matthew told 5AA.
It was a point reinforced at the coach’s weekly press conference following training at Alberton Oval on Thursday.
“The culture or this club is fantastic. It’s got great history, great people who work here. Our supporters, our sponsors, the fabric of our club is no worries.”
Matthew and Dean have spoken about the issue, which both agree is more about getting the most out of all members of the playing group.
“We’re talking about the culture of our playing group, how we play. Like a lot of teams are. Our ability to play consistent football week-in week-out,” Matthew said.
“We need to keep working on that, keep educating, keep teaching them about that and find the 22, 25, 30 or 40 players who are going to do that week in week out. That’s what we’re talking about, not the culture of the Port Adelaide Football Club.”
“The last 2 to 3 years, our playing group hasn’t been a competitive consistent group week-in week-out. And we’re all well aware of that. And that is what the issue we have to sort out and work with the players and fix it. That is our issue.”
Matthew said the coaching group and the players are working constantly to improve.
“We are sorting those players out with form. If you’re not performing at the best of your ability you go back and play back in the SANFL and that’s what we’ve done in the last month and that’s what we’re going to continue to do until we find a team that wants to compete for 4 quarters week-in week-out.”
Competing and consistently doing it doesn’t mean you’re going to win games. But it’s a brand of football that keeps you involved in games. It keeps you in with a chance of winning.”
Matthew also praised Dean Laidley amid questions over his part-time role at Alberton.
“He’s a great support for all the coaches and a great teacher for our young players and he does a huge amount of work. He’s copped a bit of criticism at being part-time here, but he’s imparted a lot of knowledge onto our club.”
“He’s not here on players’ days off … but he’s here game day, for our main training sessions, for our match committee, our reviews. It’s not 100% of the time but it’s a lot more than people understand.”
Port Adelaide plays Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium from 8.10pm on Friday.
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