Dear Members & Supporters,

In my last update, I shared our strategic vision ‘Chasing Greatness’ and the feedback has been fantastic, thank you. I’m pleased it resonated with our people and that you could see that we are absolutely embracing the expectations you have of your Club.

Now we get down to the task of making it happen and achieving our vision and that starts on-field in Round 1 and right now ensuring we are prepared to start the season well. The AAMI Community Series match against Adelaide this Sunday is important and I’m sure we’ll see another step up with the selection squeeze tightening and our players fighting for a spot in our Round 1 team.

There is so much to look forward to for Port Adelaide members this year and we’re counting down the days before we welcome you back to Adelaide Oval.

Earlier this week some members would have received notification that we have to unfortunately relocate their reserved seat position for the start of the 2021 season. The COVID protocol requirements of SA Health to allow for 75% capacity means that the stadium is configured in ‘blocks’ of 120 seats resulting in some members having to relocate from their allocated seat. I’d like to thank those members affected who have been fantastically supportive as always, disappointed, but understanding this is out of the Club’s control. Our membership team are doing everything we can to accommodate your needs for 2021 and like everyone, we hope we can return to normal as soon as possible and all get back to our favourite seats at Adelaide Oval. My family’s seats in Section 337 have been affected, so this year we’ll be moving to the Western Stand, so I can assure you this is random and there are no favourites!

As Ollie Wines said earlier in the week, our first home game is going to be something special. I’ve got goosebumps already thinking about that Never Tear us Apart moment!

In regards to membership, thanks to everyone who has signed up for 2021. Remember, if you have a mate, a relative, a neighbour or work colleague that is a Port supporter who is just holding back, remind them that their club needs them on the journey now and there’s no better time to become a member.

Work on the Alberton Oval precinct re-development planning is progressing well and stage one, which is the social club upgrade, is advancing on schedule. The aim is to have downstairs, the ultimate Port Adelaide experience incorporating the interactive museum, the biggest trophy display in the southern hemisphere – (ok, taking some license but 37 Premiership cups plus 4 Champions of Australia titles needs a big area!) and expanded retail which will be 3x the existing store, all open come September. We are now in the final fundraising chase for stage 2 which will see the sports bar and bistro relocated upstairs to capitalise on the magnificent views out over Alberton Oval, the City and the hills. If anyone is keen to help realise this vision, please contact the Club, we’d love to hear from you.

Importantly the Port Store remains open for business, while the Port Club reopened its doors earlier this week after temporarily closing for building works. Thanks for everyone’s patience as we create something very special that our members and supporters are going to love.

On funding, we continue positive conversations with all levels of government to support this important project for not only the Port Adelaide Football Club, but more significantly for the community and the western suburbs. The vision to create a unique high performance and community sports hub at Alberton Oval which will also be the home ground of our AFLW team is compelling. It will be a precinct that will deliver far reaching outcomes for the broader community, whilst importantly being an elite training facility for our teams, and home ground for our AFLW team of course. As we’ve said, we have the perfect location, the plans and necessary approvals are underway so we look forward to realising this important part of our strategic vision soon.

I’d also like to congratulate our major partner MG who this week rocketed into the Top 10 selling car brands in Australia for the first time, at number 8 no less! We are extremely proud to be partnering with MG and thank all the Port Adelaide fans who are out there buying MGs, promoting their brand and championing all of our partners … make no mistake, you make a big difference!

Congratulations to Peter Ciao and Danny Lenartic and their fantastic team. Port Adelaide and MG are at the start of an amazing journey together as we both ‘Chase Greatness’ together in our respective fields.

In closing, there is much to look forward to in 2021, but now it’s time to focus and get to work. We are in good shape on and off field, and we can’t wait to welcome 40,000 of you back to the footy in Round 2 at Adelaide Oval.

I look forward to seeing a few of you at Noarlunga this Sunday.

Cheers, 
Richo.