Official Club Stuff 2024 AGM - to be held on Friday 6th December 2024, 1 director to be elected by members. Nominations called for.

[El_Scorcho]

It bleeds into all areas when you just don't take the hard line, Dixon staying well past his use by date and Boak trundling around again signify weak decision makers as much as anything else. This crew would've kept Che Cockatoo Collins on the list for another three years after 2003.

Not to mention stuff like Ollie Wines doing his shoulder waterskiing a few weeks out from the season, Ken Hinkley taking an extended break this offseason, Cos Cardone being allowed to remain on the board for a decade despite throwing the club under the bus in 1990 and being employed by Eddie McGuire.

We're a fundamentally unserious organisation. We'd love a flag but not if we'd have to make even the smallest sacrifice to achieve it.

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

The players have a senior coach that is legitimately scared of supporters and he also hides from most public events. They also get constantly told just making the finals is an incredible achievement and that our win/loss record since 2013 is fantastic. In addition, they are also told finals losses are an anomaly and Sydney only won because they didn't play like they did in the Granny.

Like no ****ing shit the players are mentally cooked in the finals.

 

[Duck Farmer]

I've always been under the impression it was 3 across the 3 teams as well, I was only debating the 3 AFL flags thing because everyone else was. But really, the 3 across 3 teams thing actually makes it look like even worse a failure. And although I accept the AFLW team is a startup team and the SANFL team is a development team operating with two hands tied behind its back, I wasn't the one who set the goal, they were.

2021 AFL
2021 SANFL

2022 AFL
2022 SANFL
2022 AFLW

2023 AFL
2023 SANFL
2023 AFLW

2024 AFL
2024 SANFL
2024 AFLW

2025 AFL
2025 SANFL
2025 AFLW

So we've burned through 11 of the 14 opportunities in the Chasing Greatness window. All 3 teams would have to win the premiership next year to achieve par on the Chasing Greatness strategy. And given no Port Adelaide team has won a premiership in over 20 years, that feels a little unlikely.

The wooden spoon in 2024 means we need to win 4 flags in 2025 to compensate.

 

[El_Scorcho]

The wooden spoon in 2024 means we need to win 4 flags in 2025 to compensate.

lmao that's correct, if they want to try to claim that SANFL and AFLW flags count in chasing greatness then they've also won a spoon in that time.

Current count:

Spoons: 1
Flags: 0

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

lmao that's correct, if they want to try to claim that SANFL and AFLW flags count in chasing greatness then they've also won a spoon in that time.

Current count:

Spoons: 1
Flags: 0

AFL Ports: It's not the SANFL anymore

SANFL Ports: Win SANFL spoon.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Being "close" by reaching a prelim doesn't mean achieving a flag is actually possible under our current setup.

If I have a 9L bucket i'm "close" to being able to carry 10L of water.

For Port to win a flag we need a fundamental change in philosophy at every level of the club. We can have the best list in the league but a great list will never overcome the fact that eventually we'll come up against a team who are better drilled, mentally tougher, with higher standards, a better gameplan, who have sacrificed more and believe more than we do.

Some people wont like hearing this but there is no question in my mind that Hawthorn were closer to a flag than us in 2024.

If they got through us they would have thrown everything at the last two games. Meanwhile we were celebrating a job well done and patting ourselves on the back - no intention to win the prelim whatsoever.

 

[rogerjames]

The players have a senior coach that is legitimately scared of supporters and he also hides from most public events. They also get constantly told just making the finals is an incredible achievement and that our win/loss record since 2013 is fantastic. In addition, they are also told finals losses are an anomaly and Sydney only won because they didn't play like they did in the Granny.

Like no ****ing shit the players are mentally cooked in the finals.

It's all conditioning to make them appear more successful. It may be working inhouse but supporters aren't buying it & they know it.

 

[Stryke]

The absolute own goal of Koch bringing up Sydneys GF performance when their coach fell on his sword afterwards. Can he be any more out of touch?

 

[Duck Farmer]

The absolute own goal of Koch bringing up Sydneys GF performance when their coach fell on his sword afterwards. Can he be any more out of touch?

lol - Sydney spanks us in prelim, loses GF, coach steps down.

Koch - how unfair is it to Ken that they waited a week.

 

[Janey]

lol - Sydney spanks us in prelim, loses GF, coach steps down.

Koch - how unfair is it to Ken that they waited a week.

That was such a rubbish thing for him to say. Surely the whole idea of winning a GF is to show that you can beat any other team at their best. And even if we did get there, if we couldn’t beat Sydney when they played well, we would have got annihilated in the GF.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

We're a fundamentally unserious organisation. We'd love a flag but not if we'd have to make even the smallest sacrifice to achieve it.

Correctamundo.

 

[TeeKray]

That comment sits nicely with his overall mantra of 'you just have to hang around long enough to get lucky one day'.

Good clubs think more along the lines of 'what do we need to do to bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be'.

 

[tribey]

Not to mention stuff like Ollie Wines doing his shoulder waterskiing a few weeks out from the season, Ken Hinkley taking an extended break this offseason, Cos Cardone being allowed to remain on the board for a decade despite throwing the club under the bus in 1990 and being employed by Eddie McGuire.

We're a fundamentally unserious organisation. We'd love a flag but not if we'd have to make even the smallest sacrifice to achieve it.

It’s the largely unspoken preconception that Ken Hinkley, Chris Davies, Jason Cripps, and the gaggle of tenured board members (Restas, Osborn, Cardone, Ransom, et al) are the absolute best possible people in those positions over any possible alternatives, let alone Koch and Richardson, that gets me.

Like, are they?

Where’s the proof of that?

The handle to the trophy cabinet’s coated in dust, and we’re all sporting some rather momentous September scars to pair with the likes of the ‘Dream Final’ and ‘119’.

Even the conciliatory angle of “well, admittedly the financials are strong” isn’t that compelling.

You inherited a now 154 year old football club that had previously ascended to a national competition collectively worth billions, had recently reunited not unlike the two Germanies, was already in the process of emancipating itself from a dud joint-venturer, and was about to become co-tenant at a brand new CBD stadium courtesy of the South Australian taxpayer.

Wow. Thanks for all your hard work in taking that situation and converting it into “almost debt-free 13 years later”.

But nah, remain patient.

That sustainable dynasty is right around the corner, we just need ThE LiSt to reach the same infallible level of perfection that we long since achieved in the Chairman, CEO, Head Coach, List Manager, GM and various appointed Board roles.

 

[Duck Farmer]

That comment sits nicely with his overall mantra of 'you just have to hang around long enough to get lucky one day'.

Yeah, we're paying Hinkley to lead a professional sports team not buy scratchies at the newsagent, even if the latter sits much better in his wheelhouse.

 

[TeeKray]

It’s the largely unspoken preconception that Ken Hinkley, Chris Davies, Jason Cripps, and the gaggle of tenured board members (Restas, Osborn, Cardone, Ransom, et al) are the absolute best possible people in those positions over any possible alternatives, let alone Koch and Richardson, that gets me.

Like, are they?

Where’s the proof of that?

The handle to the trophy cabinet’s coated in dust, and we’re all sporting some rather momentous September scars to pair with the likes of the ‘Dream Final’ and ‘119’.

Even the conciliatory angle of “well, admittedly the financials are strong” isn’t that compelling.

You inherited a now 154 year old football club that had previously ascended to a national competition collectively worth billions, had recently reunited not unlike the two Germanies, was already in the process of emancipating itself from a dud joint-venturer, and was about to become co-tenant at a brand new CBD stadium courtesy of the South Australian taxpayer.

Wow. Thanks for all your hard work in taking that situation and converting it into “almost debt-free 13 years later”.

But nah, remain patient.

That sustainable dynasty is right around the corner, we just need ThE LiSt to reach the same infallible level of perfection that we long since achieved in the Chairman, CEO, Head Coach, List Manager, GM and various appointed Board roles.

Were you in a coma in 2012 or something? Go support the Tingles

 

[Expat power]

They don't give a **** about the fact that they haven't won a flag. They aren't hurting like we are.

Srsly? Do you know any AFL players? To suggest they don’t hurt is moronic. I’ll agree they make a lot of money and they’re treated like kings when it comes to Physio, training and care but if you think you can dedicate that sort of time and effort and just walk off the ground without a care suggests you’ve not had a lot of player interaction. Shaking hands and smiling with a bloke from your home town or someone you played representative footy with doesn’t mean you don’t walk into the rooms feeling like you’ve let everyone down. And “hurting like we are”, mate, I’ve left plenty of games feeling like I can’t do it anymore - unable to listen or watch anything footy related - I can usually pull myself together for the next game but I don’t have to get jabbed up, ice something hourly or nurse a cracked rib before I’m back at AO.

 

[rogerjames]

Srsly? Do you know any AFL players? To suggest they don’t hurt is moronic. I’ll agree they make a lot of money and they’re treated like kings when it comes to Physio, training and care but if you think you can dedicate that sort of time and effort and just walk off the ground without a care suggests you’ve not had a lot of player interaction. Shaking hands and smiling with a bloke from your home town or someone you played representative footy with doesn’t mean you don’t walk into the rooms feeling like you’ve let everyone down. And “hurting like we are”, mate, I’ve left plenty of games feeling like I can’t do it anymore - unable to listen or watch anything footy related - I can usually pull myself together for the next game but I don’t have to get jabbed up, ice something hourly or nurse a cracked rib before I’m back at AO.

All fair points but maybe if they stopped making excuses & showed some public accountability for poor finals performances like normal Afl clubs do we wouldn't have such a negative opinion.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Srsly? Do you know any AFL players? To suggest they don’t hurt is moronic. I’ll agree they make a lot of money and they’re treated like kings when it comes to Physio, training and care but if you think you can dedicate that sort of time and effort and just walk off the ground without a care suggests you’ve not had a lot of player interaction. Shaking hands and smiling with a bloke from your home town or someone you played representative footy with doesn’t mean you don’t walk into the rooms feeling like you’ve let everyone down. And “hurting like we are”, mate, I’ve left plenty of games feeling like I can’t do it anymore - unable to listen or watch anything footy related - I can usually pull myself together for the next game but I don’t have to get jabbed up, ice something hourly or nurse a cracked rib before I’m back at AO.

Yeah when they say stuff in the media like:

They are fine with losing games because they have lost less games than they "expected to"

They have proved everyone wrong by beating 7th at home in a semi final (with 2 finals still to come)

That the club has been successful (during our longest and most embarrassing drought, where our only notable moments are ruining the captaincy, losing a GF by 119, and setting the record for the least successful coach in VFL/AFL history)

And routinely going well above whats required to back in that failing coach despite it being clear he cant get them there.

Id say no, they dont hurt by missing out on flags. Not all of them, blokes like Ebert are big exceptions, but enough of them have been brainwashed in to believing a premiership is an impossible goal and you can celebrate things like making finals.

 

[TeeKray]

Srsly? Do you know any AFL players? To suggest they don’t hurt is moronic. I’ll agree they make a lot of money and they’re treated like kings when it comes to Physio, training and care but if you think you can dedicate that sort of time and effort and just walk off the ground without a care suggests you’ve not had a lot of player interaction. Shaking hands and smiling with a bloke from your home town or someone you played representative footy with doesn’t mean you don’t walk into the rooms feeling like you’ve let everyone down. And “hurting like we are”, mate, I’ve left plenty of games feeling like I can’t do it anymore - unable to listen or watch anything footy related - I can usually pull myself together for the next game but I don’t have to get jabbed up, ice something hourly or nurse a cracked rib before I’m back at AO.

There's hurting and then there's really hurting. Watch the press conference with Williams and Tredrea post the '03 prelim and you'll see two men that are hurting. Listen to current players and coaches and you'll hear disappointment. There's a difference. Most of it IMO is around expectation - the current players and coaches don't actually believe they can win the premiership so not winning doesn't hurt them as much because they think it's too hard and don't actually expect to, it's more of a hope or a wish.

And as far as administrators go (who I think were the people El Scorcho was actually referring to in his post), they aren't even disappointed, they actively celebrate stability and slightly above average results and are actually over the moon with the results of the past decade or so.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

There's hurting and then there's really hurting. Watch the press conference with Williams and Tredrea post the '03 prelim and you'll see two men that are hurting. Listen to current players and coaches and you'll hear disappointment. There's a difference. Most of it IMO is around expectation - the current players and coaches don't actually believe they can win the premiership so not winning doesn't hurt them as much because they think it's too hard and don't actually expect to, it's more of a hope or a wish.

And as far as administrators go (who I think were the people El Scorcho was actually referring to in his post), they aren't even disappointed, they actively celebrate stability and slightly above average results and are actually over the moon with the results of the past decade or so.

I mean he copped shit on here for it but just listen to Sam Mitchell after Hawthorn lost the prelim. That shows hurting more than any Port representative has sounded in decades.

 

[TeeKray]

I mean he copped shit on here for it but just listen to Sam Mitchell after Hawthorn lost the prelim. That shows hurting more than any Port representative has sounded in decades.

Yeah, he moved into sore loser territory by trying to take it out on us, but it showed he was hurting badly.

 

[Bump Bailey]

Yeah, he moved into sore loser territory by trying to take it out on us, but it showed he was hurting badly.

I might be in the minority, but I'd okay with sore loser territory (from our bloke).

I'd put (Prime) Clarkson, C. Scott and Hardwick in that category.

Turns out those boys have a fair few premiership reunions to attend.