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- [Commentator] Adelaide,
one of Australia's most beautiful cities
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
is normally peaceful and orderly,
as life moves along in its pleasant easy way.
But there's an exception to every rule.
That exception to the normal way of living
comes on King Footy's Final Day.
By every available means, and from everywhere,
eager enthusiasts swarm into the city.
All ages are represented,
and there's only one place to go.
Adelaide Oval, venue for the clash
between Port Adelaide and North Adelaide.
Gaily dressed supporters add a
carnival atmosphere to a gala occasion.
(crowd cheering)
The big moment, Port, last years premiers,
led by Geof Motley, take the field.
- [Geof] You had to be proud to wear the jumper.
You had to. It was an honour to put it on.
- [Commentator] Motley's drop kick is on target
and he is driving his boys on.
- [Fos] And we played for the jumper,
we played for the club, we played for the coach.
More particularly, we played for the people
of Port Adelaide.
♪ Feeling good, in fact, I'm feeling mighty fine ♪
♪ Another year, another grind, another smile line ♪
♪ Dead star type of light shine, ♪
♪ why you taking up my time ♪
♪ If you ain't of a like mind ♪
♪ Forget what you and who say ♪
♪ It's the future that moves my mood today ♪
♪ I could be toothless and grey, lose my toupee ♪
♪ And still feel bullet-proof like Luke Cage ♪
♪ I've never been concerned with a beef ♪
♪ Just learning to be the best version of me ♪
♪ They say that we can learn from defeat ♪
♪ Why are they looking for adversity permanently ♪
♪ They're missing the mark, still in a rut ♪
♪ Need a little bit of dip in their strut, ♪
♪ Living it up ♪
♪ The enlightening feeling of not giving a fuck ♪
♪ While they're putting me down I've been picking it up so ♪
♪ Don't let no one tell you who you are ♪
♪ Be yourself ♪
♪ Don't let no one tell you who you are ♪
♪ Be yourself ♪
♪ Cause they fill you with rage ♪
♪ You're like, why are you breaking my heart ♪
♪ It's like they build you to break you ♪
♪ Just wanted to take you apart, apart, apart ♪
♪ Let's go ♪
(crowd cheering)
- [Ross] You've got to go back into history
to really understand what Australian football's all about.
When people used to work their hearts out
in factories all week,
their great outlet was to go to the football on Saturday.
And that's when we played football, Saturday.
And uh, that gave them a chance to support something,
and to actually experience some success.
- The one thing I realised very early on that,
you know, Port Adelaide were the number one team
in the state. They had an incredible history.
So in the first 16 years of my life,
Port Adelaide played in 14 grand finals,
and won nine of them.
So they're the first 16 years of my life.
- [Commentator] There's the siren,
and Port win their eighth premiership in 10 years.
Port have now been top team on 20 occasions,
nine more than their nearest competitor.
Their club spirit and style of play
have captured the imagination
of all the game's followers.
- And to this day, six consecutive premierships,
it is still the benchmark.
- The evolution of something like that is unstoppable.
I mean, Port has been an organisation
that has been supported by and supported
so many individuals and their families
and an army of supporters, over generations.
- [crowd] Come on.
(crowd chanting)
- [Russell] Many other clubs have relocated,
they've moved out of their areas.
We've stayed in the Port of Adelaide.
People move away, but they're still connected
to the Port Adelaide Football Club.
- [Fan] I've been a member of Port for 50 years now.
And so there's no intention of going anywhere else.
They're in my blood, so that's it.
The train's usually crowded, which is really good.
All the Port supporters, they're all enthusiastic,
when going into town.
Actually coming home, depends on the result.
Not necessarily as enthusiastic.
- [Fan] Being a Port supporter
carries you through everything.
It's everything we grew up with,
our mum took us to the footy every Saturday,
come rain or shine.
If Port lost, we probably didn't get dinner.
So it was life or death,
and it's still life or death.
- [Fan] When we were children,
and I was born in the '50s,
very, very lucky, because Port was successful.
If Port lost, mum was sitting in the corner
on the rocking chair,
the house is in darkness.
It was like Whistler's Mother.
Thank Christ we won six back to back grand finals.
You can see the anticipation here.
The preparedness, to fight and die for the cause.
- My name's Merle Biggs,
and uh, 73 years ago
I was born a Russell Ebert drop kick
in that direction from the Oval.
Port Adelaide is as much family
as my sons and grandchildren are.
- [Fan] I believe it's a passion
that you don't see with other teams.
It wouldn't be an option
to barrack for another team.
(laughs)
- I suppose everyone's got a passion in life,
you know I like sport, I like any type of sport,
but if you ask me what's the one
I couldn't do without, it's football.
- As I say every week guys, it starts here with us.
We know it's a really, really important game.
- Makes me feel pretty happy,
and almost loved and appreciative like, wow.
All these thousands of people are connected
through just one thing, like you're pumped
up to cheer your team on,
you're ready to be behind their back.
(crowd cheers)
- [Fan] You don't make a club in the boardrooms.
You make it with history, with people.
You make it on the field.
- [Fan] We've been around since 1870,
winning premierships.
That spirit has been there since, since day one.
- [Fan] You get these football clubs
and they represent community,
because it gives people a place to go to.
A place to rise and fall
with the success or failure of the team they love
Adulation of players, heroes, anti-heroes.
So it's life, isn't it?
♪ I'll tell you something great ♪
♪ It'll make you feel so proud ♪
♪ About football in South Australia ♪
♪ You can shout out real loud ♪
♪ When we looking for supporters ♪
♪ If we need a helping hand ♪
♪ We'll pack them in the outer ♪
♪ And we'll pack them in the stand ♪
♪ We'll stand up and be counted ♪
♪ We'll stand up for our team ♪
♪ We'll stand up and be counted ♪
♪ It's our game ♪
♪ Oh it's magic when you're really there ♪
♪ There's nothing quite the same ♪
♪ As being in the centre square ♪
♪ When you're at your favourite game ♪
♪ We'll stand up and be counted ♪
♪ We'll stand up for our team ♪
♪ We'll stand up and be counted ♪
♪ It's our game. ♪
- [Tim] Follow me, I'll tell you a lot more
as we go in underneath the old grandstand.
Fos started in 1950,
and we won our first flag in '51,
and then went on to win the famous
six in a row of '54 to '59, which is legendary.
Back along here, Geof Motley,
you'll probably see Geof,
pops into the club still now and again.
He's on our race at Adelaide Oval.
That's named after him, which is a fantastic gesture.
The suburban clubs, I'm gonna let you know,
for those that are not of an age,
SANFL was king.
You grew up wanting to play for your SANFL club,
and that was everybody's desire.
If you're born in Melbourne,
you want to play in the VFL.
If you were born in Perth, you want play WAFL.
That's what it was like.
So you've come down on this ground,
and this ground would be packed.
You're playing Norwood or Sturt
or Glenelg, it'd be packed with people,
and they, you know, the opposition,
wanna eat you alive.
Your supporters want you to win.
If you don't, they wanna eat you alive.
(laughs)
That's the way it is at Port Adelaide.
(people laughing)
- It's got an amazing smell about it.
Can you smell that? That's success.
(people laughing)
And it's absolutely riddled through this place,
because it is amazing when you walk in,
and it's just fed from era to era to era.
I'm going all the way down,
the mentality of Port Adelaide
just doesn't change.
It does not change.
It was all about, you know,
success is number one,
and you do anything and sacrifice anything to win.
- [Fos Williams] Well, we've got two reserves,
let me know when you've just had it,
and you can go right off.
But don't lay there unless you're gonna do your job.
Now lets get down and move.
- Well, I suppose I was obsessed with the idea
that you had to win in football,
and I reckon that by the time we got the '54
that obsession has gone from me right through the team.
And I think everybody worked
with the same sort of energy and determination
- And I loved it, the mentality,
and the demand upon everybody through that.
And that's our supporters and our members,
they're exactly the same.
They demand success.
(crowd cheering)
- [Bruce] The Port Adelaide football club being here,
and being a strong successful club,
it was very much recognised,
that it was a working class football club,
which is the people in the area,
were working class people,
and growing up in this area,
the sport was football, and that's what we played.
We would go to the parks and play,
we'd come to Alberton Oval
and jump the fence and play.
Make out we were John Cahill or Ron Elleway.
It gave you a tribe to belong to,
a successful tribe, and a tribe that
was seen as tough, hard, non-compromising.
And that gave people, you know, hope.
(uplifting music)
- [Claire] I'm not very good
at following the rules sometimes,
it's not my cup of tea,
some of the
robes and chains.
And it's the sort of thing
that I've probably found the hardest
about this job, is how to retain the um...
prestige and the history of that.
You know when you hear some of the old stories
of the fellows who did work full time,
and they were in tough physical jobs,
really, that was their training
for getting out on the field and playing the game.
But that was their camaraderie.
That was the club.
And that was their place of being together, I guess,
and bringing it home.
One of the guys that played back in the day
lives on my street,
and every time I'm kicking the footy
out in the Oval and he's out there with his dog,
I'm like, oh God I'm going to put
this football away.
(laughs)
How embarrassing having him watch me kick.
- [Bob] You know, there was 3,500 wharfies
And they all..
- [Bartender] That's a lot of wharfies
- They always used to drink here, didn't they?
- [Bartender] All drank pints, all drank individually.
- Yeah.
My dad used to have to listen to the radio every night
at quarter to six on ABC, to see if he got a job.
His number was 1778.
And his gang was 29 gang,
and they'd say "required for 28 berth,
tomorrow morn, eight o'clock start"
- [Bartender] Every wharf was full of ships, every berth.
- [Bob] And then out the breakwater,
there'd be 10 or 15
- [Bartender] Anchored, waiting to come in.
- [Bob] Waiting to come in, at the anchorage.
- [David] They're good reading,
they're good reading.
I'm trying to get the 2004,
And I haven't, where's all the grand final?
I don't know, who's the picture for this one?
Oh, have a look at that.
It's Russell Ebert.
So, greatest footballer, well,
one of the greatest footballers in my opinion,
with Bob Quinn and John Cahill,
to have ever played for the club.
There's a lot of tears in that,
there's a lot of crying when I was holding that
throughout the game.
I love that.
It says, "It's hell being a Port supporter."
Port Adelaide, you either loved us or you hate us.
And people loved us.
They were passionate.
It was everything, Port Adelaide,
but then you had,
and you gotta have competition.
There was the Norwoods, the Sturts, the Glenelgs.
And if they didn't like Port, they told you about it.
So it was hell being a Port supporter.
But the upside was how much we got out of it.
Every one of these photos has a memory,
just about our club and our history of our club.
You know, where I was with me and
and growing up and what, honestly,
what Port Adelaide made me as a person.
Alberton Oval is my happy place, okay.
To understand that,
whenever I pull into the car park,
it's like you're home.
You feel safe. You feel wanted, you feel loved.
And I love going there.
So it's always been my happy place since 1973.
I'm getting a bit emotional.
I owe the club everything,
for what they've given me.
The players, what they've done on the field,
and the premierships, and happiness, and success
they've given me.
I'm just repaying back now where I can at my age.
So yeah.
- [Reporter] The Half Case Supermarket Port Adelaide,
the problem, well, the manager is a
One Eyed Magpie supporter and insisted
all staff members wear Port's black and white
to work during grand final week.
However, two employees are faithful Redleg fans
and refused to.
- As you can see, most of them are wearing
these Port Adelaide guernseys,
but I've got a few here that are going
against my decision, which won't get paid this week.
- [Commentator] That's a good pass.
The dying moments of the '79 football season,
Port Adelaide by 31 points.
The big buck booms a high one,
in towards full forward.
The back of the pack, they running towards...
(whistle blows)
(crowd cheering)
It's Port Adelaide's year.
A great disciplined team effort
has seen the Magpies win their 20th premiership.
- Peter, it was a magnificent day
for Port Adelaide, yet again.
Their 20th premiership from 40 grand finals.
That's a remarkable record, isn't it?
- Oh, we keep saying it, Michael.
That they've got that tradition and background.
And I really think it must lift
the players of Port Adelaide,
because every time they hear that,
they must start to get the feeling
that they're invincible.
- Right.
- And it was evident today.
- You know, people have said that it was
meaningless, the tradition, but I mean,
Port Adelaide and Collingwood and some
of the other great clubs,
you only have to look at it,
it still means so much.
- I think the Port Adelaide supporters
have always believed that their club is
something special.
And I think the results in the SANFL,
have shown that that's the case.
- [David] I can't think of any other institution
in Australian football has had a stronger
impact on our game, and where it currently is today.
- [Commentator] And there's the hooter.
Port take their 10th premiership
in 15 years, 12 eight 80 to 12 five 77,
in a cliffhanger finish.
Port and state coach Foster Williams...
- Port's history, I think it was probably
as rich as any football club in the country.
Number of flags that they've won,
and just that sort of grudging respect
that people have for them.
It comes with being successful,
and being proud, and almost being arrogant.
You know, the premierships almost belong to us.
- [Graham] We might begrudgingly respect success,
but we also resent it,
particularly if it's been at our expense, you know.
So your success alienates the rest of us.
And we can't think of anything better,
but to beat you,
which we have done on occasions.
Not as often as you've beaten us.
(laughs)
♪ Well lets go, lets go ♪
♪ We're living in the days when everybody's saying ♪
♪ What a time to be alive ♪
♪ But I'm feeling out of place like ♪
♪ I live in outer space ♪
♪ Cause it seems I'm stuck in time ♪
♪ It's like we ride through life ♪
♪ Right in the shadow of the Cold War ♪
♪ It gets so quiet at night ♪
♪ Like martial law took a hold y'all, '55 ♪
♪ Time moves a little slower here ♪
♪ A day feels like a week ♪
♪ A weekend feels like it could go a year ♪
♪ And we're nowhere near nothing, man it's so true ♪
♪ I don't tell 'em where I'm from, ♪
♪ I tell 'em where I'm close to. ♪
♪ And I can go through an atlas ♪
♪ And show you on a map ♪
♪ And you'd still look me sideways ♪
♪ And treat me like I'm backwards ♪
♪ But that's just fine, ♪
♪ It so happens I'm ♪
♪ Happy living in a city that is trapped in time ♪
♪ While you're lined up in traffic ♪
♪ I'm not... ♪
- We had to have a fierce desire for the ball,
a will to win, and most times we expect to win.
We've never given up.
There was an aura Port Adelaide's always had.
People take it for granted.
It is so hard. Winning as a coach,
I can look around in the rooms
and I could see the players,
how much they loved it.
The tears and their happiness.
- Three in a row, is there more to come?
- Oh yeah, yeah, no reason to stop now.
- Four? Five?
- Why stop now?
- Great to be a Magpie?
- Fantastic, wouldn't play for anyone else.
♪ Well Montaigne, lets go ♪
♪ We're living in the days when everybody's saying ♪
♪ What a time to be alive ♪
♪ But I'm feeling out of place ♪
♪ Like I live in outer space ♪
♪ Cause it seems I'm stuck in time ♪
♪ It's like we ride through life ♪
♪ Right in the shadow of the Cold War ♪
♪ It gets so quiet at night ♪
♪ Like martial law took a hold y'all, '55 ♪
(players cheering)
(crowd cheering)
- [Reporter] Ever since Port Adelaide played Geelong
in a trial game earlier this year,
before a huge crowd at Football Park,
there's been talk that the Magpies
would one day join the AFL,
without the backing of the local league.
It's believed Port Adelaide is sick and tired
of having to carry other clubs within the SANFL.
A source within the club told me today
that Port Adelaide's main aim
is to succeed in football,
and it's already progressed as far as it can
within the ranks of the SANFL.
- The VFL was in desperate trouble.
It had debt, it was losing it's support base.
It had demands from the players for higher salaries.
There are all sorts of issues.
And so the solution to all of this was seen to be
why don't we go to a national competition?
- [Reporter] The 1980s was the decade of change
in Australian Rules Football.
The VFL spread its wings.
Firstly, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney
to become the Swans.
Followed by the establishment of
the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears.
The move to nationalise the competition had begun,
and history shows it hasn't been a smooth road.
The only state not willing to travel that road
was South Australia.
- We looked at reversing our strategy,
of having a generic team first,
and a well followed team second.
We were keen to get Port Adelaide
in the competition because they were such
a strong local side, and they'd been so
successful in the SANFL over many many years.
- [Reporter] The best kept football secret
was now ready to rock the foundations
of a proud football state.
Port Adelaide President, Bruce Weber,
confirmed the accuracy of all the speculation.
- The board of directors of the
Port Adelaide Football Club
have signed a heads of an agreement
with the Australian Football League,
for Port Adelaide to participate
in an AFL competition in 1991.
- Once the lid blew on all of that,
the SANFL became very interested.
- [Reporter] The directors of the SANFL
met at an emergency meeting this morning
as Port Adelaide's proposal to play
next season's AFL competition
seemed destined to succeed.
In the last minute effort to stop
the AFL directors voting in Port's favour,
South Australia launched its own bid.
All 11 league directors were present
at this morning's meeting.
The vote was not unanimous.
- The voting was 10 in favour
and Port Adelaide against.
- It absolutely divided the state
in a way that very few things have,
in my lifetime in football.
- [Reporter] So after several months of meetings
and arguments between the SANFL and AFL,
South Australia is in.
And all legal proceedings involving
Port Adelaide currently before the courts
are expected to be dropped this week.
- So with Adelaide, it's a generic club,
that a North Adelaide, a Norwood, a Glenelg,
a Sturt; they gravitate towards,
- [Bruce] Port Adelaide are one. On their own.
- [Commentator] They've won the 1990 title
as the best team in South Australia.
Thoroughly deserved. Bruce Weber,
the Port Adelaide chairman has come under
enormous flack and pressure in recent months,
as the team to win the last grand final
in the South Australia National Football League
as we've known it.
They had every obstacle in the world
thrown in front of them,
but once again, they came up trumps,
remarkable performance.
- [Ross] They've always still held on to Port Adelaide
as the supporter based team that
we wanted to get into the competition.
- [Reporter] It was the day we'd waited
a long time for, and an announcement
every Port Adelaide fan had
been dreaming of for years.
- The second AFL licenced subcommittee
unanimously resolved
that the
Port Adelaide Football Club tender
be recommended to the
South Australian Independent Commission,
as the successful tenderer.
- [Fan] From coming to a club,
a local club in Queen Street, Alberton,
to where we are now positioned,
where we've, you know, part of the AFL
and the success that the club has had.
It's fantastic.
- [Fan] The VFL was becoming, you know,
the centre point of Australian football.
We want to play them.
We want to compete with them.
We want to show that our ambition
is as big, if not bigger,
than those Victorian clubs.
And so just getting our foot
in the door like that.
- [Fan] People put literally their houses
on the line and everything to make sure
that Port made it to the AFL.
That passion and absolute dedication,
you do it from the bottom of your heart,
rather than going through the motions.
- It gives us that fire in the belly of,
you look at where we came from,
and it still does feel sometimes
like Port against the world.
- [Commentator] He's 49 metres out
(crowd cheers)
- We will be part of the 1997
AFL premiership season.
To all our supporters,
and everyone in South Australia,
a very very exciting day.
I think the next exciting day will be
that first game, and then I think the
exciting days will continue, until we
ultimately are in the AFL, winning a grand final.
- [Russell] I guess the build up
2000, 2001, two, three. We're minor premiers,
and we're saying,
hey, we've got to win one of these.
- [Reporter] It was a case of the power
and the passion before the game even started.
(crowd chanting)
- It's going to be a good hard game,
but I reckon we will win.
- [Reporter] There was a nervous wait
before the match, as many supporters
held their breath until they were
black, white, and teal in the face.
- There was a risk going into that game
that we
could go away from our AFL careers,
and not have got anything out of it
in terms of premierships.
- [Commentator] It's on the break
and it's in the arms of Byron Pickett.
A couple of bounces, Byron winds up
He is running a muck at the MCG
- A success, a feeling, not just for ourselves,
but everyone involved.
The supporters, the coaches, players,
the wives, the family,
the Port family deserved it and we won it.
- We told you that we're successful.
You called us arrogant.
Well, there it is.
The old look at the score board.
To get it on that day, everyone enjoyed it.
Everyone was a part of it.
Whether you're a past player,
whether you're a supporter.
It was final recognition
of just how successful this organisation,
this Port Adelaide Football Club is.
And now we've done it on the number one stage,
Take note.
(crowd cheering)
- Seeing those, those Port supporters
that I'd seen when I was young there
with the teal, black and white on them,
and knowing that Port Adelaide have now
reached number one in the biggest
competition in Australia,
it was just brilliant by the players.
They kept believing, all the staff believed,
all the members, the sponsors,
everyone kept believing.
- [Commentator] Here he comes.
Look at that.
An outpouring of emotion
from Mark Williams, he's the proudest man
in the land tonight.
(crowd cheering)
- There it is. It's all over!
Port Adelaide, they have the power to win,
and it was very much history in the making today.
- We're building, there's no doubt that
this footy team is really building.
And you know, we're building towards
a premiership and we don't hide from that.
And we know that we've got the list now
that's really really capable.
Should be if you're a Port Adelaide person,
you should want to get out on Friday night
and have a look because I can guarantee you,
if you're a Port Adelaide person,
and you're supporting us strongly,
you want to get down here on Friday night
and have a look, because there's a
fair bit to look at. We gotta go hard,
and that's how Port Adelaide play, full stop.
They go hard, and we see Ollie hurt,
because we go hard. We accept that.
I love this club and I love
the history of this club
and this club's history, it's premierships.
So that's what we starting out
to try and do, we're starting with premierships.
We're starting this year wanting to win the
premiership in our 150th year.
We're gonna do everything we can to do that.
And to do that you have to qualify for the finals.
So look out, we're coming.
- [Ian] I have got different rooms with different themes.
I've got two rooms dedicated to
Port Adelaide in the SANFL,
and a moment I've got one room dedicated
to Port Adelaide in the AFL.
So, if you'd like to come in.
So, favourite collectors piece would be,
as would any Port supporter,
would want a Port Adelaide lace up.
So I've worn that to all Port grand finals
since 1988.
So it's been pretty good to me.
That's just an old dressing table mirror
that belonged to my mother.
And when I got rid of the dressing table,
I'm not gonna throw away the mirror.
It's got all the members stickers and that on it.
So, as you can see, it goes back to 1979.
Belonged to Ma Wilson, everyone at the
football club knows Ma Wilson,
so they all knew her.
And then we got a carpet from the club down there.
Removed when they did the renovations in 1997.
This room.
A lot of people come over and go, wow.
And they want to take photos.
And I'm like, take photos, that's all right,
and they talk about it to their friends.
And "when can we come over and see it?"
It's still a work in progress.
So it's getting there, but,
again,
it inspires people as well.
So they say you're a great supporter.
That's all right.
And that's what I'm doing.
I'm doing it for the football club, so.
- You go out there and show them why (indistinct)
(players cheer)
- [Crowd] Lets go Magpies lets go,
lets go Magpies lets go
- They're going alright, they're going alright,
they've got the breeze,
they better kick some goals.
There's another one now. There you go.
We're going alright. Good kick.
Went through the big sticks,
that's the main thing.
- [Fan] It's always an amazing feeling
coming back to Alberton.
When you walk through the Port club,
and you see the big We Are Port Adelaide sign,
you see that 2004 premiership cup
in the display cabinet.
I've got people with me who have been supporters
of other clubs, and they've come into Alberton,
And their first comment is
what a wonderful space it is.
You actually get to be a part of the club.
You know, you're not just visiting.
You're actually in the home of Port Adelaide.
- It looks really good was when we were able to
find out mark out of the back line, okay.
We were able to find the kick
and then we were able to play off that.
Create some run and overlap through
that middle third of the ground,
and then got them out the back.
- Well, you hear it said that, you know
it's not life and death.
It's more important than that.
I've tried to teach my two boys that,
you know, this is what coming to the
footy's all about. This is the grassroots
sort of level, you know, they've played
local club footy and these sorts of things,
so they understand what it's about.
- My whole family follows it,
so I'm a true believer with them.
Whether it's hailing, stormy, windy, rainy,
You come to the game and barrack for your team.
(crowd cheering)
(football players chanting)
- [Team] We'll come out and win overall
While our players keep on fighting
Onward to victory
- [Alex] Dad's Army is just like a
volunteer sort of group that picks up cans,
takes them back, and puts all the money you get
from the cans back into the club.
I've always been helpful in every way I could be.
All the old boys said
I'm not a true Dad's Army man till I'm over 60,
and so I'm on a 50 year apprenticeship
- If you're brought up in this area
then you tend to have a community
should I say following to a particular purpose,
which is a football club more often than not.
I mean, I was here just after I was born,
because my dad played here, you see, so.
And these people are the same.
They follow this football club and once they do,
and they get in the grip of the footy club, well,
I'm afraid, it's a sect all of its own.
(laughs)
This football club, that's for sure.
- This club has given me a lot of joy.
Why wouldn't I support Port Adelaide?
I don't think anything of it.
You come here because you associate
with people who you get on with.
- Well, they're all good, all Port supporters,
What more could you ask?
(laughs)
What more could you ask?
We never have an argument.
Except with him.
Can talk about games 30 years ago,
and just remember.
- The companionship will keep you alive.
That's what we're here for.
- [Kevin] This band of blokes has
no intention of disbanding.
- The enemy is a virus,
and now we have to do our utmost
to protect our people
and to protect our economies.
- [Reporter] With the emergency now spreading
well beyond China, the global panic begins.
- [Reporter] Whether underground or above it,
life in London has changed.
- [Reporter] Vibrant countries on earth,
shut down.
- Those developments are of concern to us.
- [Reporter] This is Europe with closed borders
- [Reporter] Travel is allowed only for
work or emergencies.
- What a pandemic might look like,
anything from the cancellation of big events,
even the shutdown of some schools.
- Good evening, everyone.
On Monday, I talked about the priorities
of the AFL.
Health and wellbeing,
the people in our industry, role modelling
for our community, and being leaders
in this crisis for our country.
I said on Monday that we're moving to
a 17 round season.
I also said we had to be agile.
Tonight, our 17 round season
becomes a 153 game journey.
- What we've got to deal with?
What we've got to deal with?
We know what we've got to deal with.
We know there's a fair bit going on,
and we know there's some challenges going on for us.
We know there's a lot of people
in the world that are probably right now
not sure what's going to happen next.
We're no different, I don't think.
But we have an obligation, we have an obligation.
Now we know, if there's one thing I know is
about footy and fans.
It's really, really important to them.
And it's really important for us
to play in front of them.
What's happening now is that's
going to be stopped clearly.
Now, our obligation is to make sure
that we're here today preparing, knowing.
Just a little bit of knowledge, our people,
the Port people, are all on board, big time.
You know, talking to people this morning,
financially they're trying to support us
as best they possibly can.
We get an obligation here now today to
make sure that there's something coming
up for them to look forward to.
They have been desperate to see footy.
We've all been desperate to play footy,
and they're desperate to see footy.
Well, we're gonna get an opportunity
on the weekend to show them our footy.
The one obligation for us is to make sure
Saturday night when, the Port people turn
their tellies on, they're proud of their team.
- [Commentator] Now season 2020 continues in
empty stadiums. Nationally, more than
one million people tuned in.
Social distancing, but together in
lounge rooms across the country.
(players chanting)
- The AFL has moved to immediately suspend
the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership season,
as a result of the continuing spread
of the COVID-19 virus.
The decision by various state governments
to close their borders, and travel bans,
and other measures, meant it was time
for the AFL to immediately stop the AFLW
and AFL competitions.
But our key priority is to do everything
possible to keep players, staff, and supporters
healthy and well through this pandemic.
To say that this is the most serious threat
to our game in 100 years is an understatement.
- Good evening.
For the first time in SANFL history,
the Port Magpies will not field a team.
In a devastating blow, the edict was handed
down on the club's 150th birthday.
- Well, right now, of course we're not allowed
in the oval at all.
We are reduced
in a major way.
- Honestly, the way things are now,
you do go home feeling probably
a little bit guilty, you haven't done enough.
You know, we're all pretty proud of what we do.
And you know, the place has to look
like a show piece.
It's something no other club in
South Australia's got, and all our history's here.
And we're very, very proud of it.
- The kids use the oval, when it's not being used,
for kicking around and that,
of course, they can't go on the oval
till it opens up again.
So that's a bit of a shame for the
kids in the local area here.
Can't go the oval on a Saturday or
a Sunday and have a kick.
So it's affected us that way, which,
course, it's the way it is.
- It's a place of refuge.
And when things go wrong, I've found
that it's comforting to come to a group.
And you just talk football, with the
greatest club, because you got so many stories.
Oh, I'm lucky, I've been to so many grand finals.
And I feel sorry for these other people
who barrack for another club,
because they haven't got this community we've got.
- I was born into the Port Adelaide Football Club
through my mum.
She was a very big, passionate fan about it.
And unfortunately she passed away
nearly five years ago, but I feel like
I'm still connected to her by watching footy.
And I always talk about with Dad,
"Oh Mum would have loved that moment,"
or, "Mum was definitely watching that game,
she would be proud of her boys,"
And yeah, it just feels like she's still with me,
and that connection is very strong,
and I don't think it will ever die down.
- I was born very ill, chronic heart disease.
I had a transplant when I was early twenties.
There was two things that got me through that.
And that was my Port Adelaide Football Club,
and also of course my lovely wife.
Who was girlfriend at the time.
But one of the first things I asked
after transplant was "Did Port win?"
It gave me hope, which was really good,
and it sounds silly, but if you don't have those
those little things, I wouldn't have made it.
- So one of my brothers was killed in a car accident.
My mum, you know, our family was broken,
but she found like a new family
and she started to heal.
And that turned into every week,
we were at the football.
She could be who she wanted to be at the football,
and nobody was looking at her.
It means like everything at certain times
in their life, when something's difficult,
you've got your footy, you've got your footy team.
You know, you've got Port Adelaide,
and it gets you through.
- Thank you for coming everyone today,
in this brave new world.
Nice to see you all and to be here with you
for some better news than last time
I did a media conference.
Our 2020 AFL premiership season will
resume on Thursday, June 11.
- Good evening.
It'll be history in the making at Adelaide Oval
on Saturday night as showdown fans become the first
in the country allowed back to the footy.
More than 2000 tickets will be up for grabs,
with a members ballot to decide who gets them.
- You know, we've been in a good spot.
We've worked really hard to obviously
stay connected together with the boys,
and the whole football staff.
It's been a challenging time
for everyone in the whole community,
but as soon as you heard the news of
"We're coming back!", you've certainly got
some energy back for the, you know, for the job,
and wanting to get back in amongst it.
- If you know Port Adelaide, you know
the prison bar jumper is massive.
Our supporters who are going to be watching
on the television, the ones who can't
be at the ground, I can just sense the pride
that they'll have when they see the team run out,
wearing that jumper.
It's so significant to our footy club.
- [Commentator] And look at the Port fans.
It's a beautiful image,
fans back at the footy.
Still a few tricks in the trick bag.
It's been a long 12 weeks for
the power of fans, it's their home game,
and they've got about 1500 of the
2000 strong crowd.
Young guns doing what they do best.
It's a happy night.
- [Commentator] Celebration time for Port Adelaide fans!
- I grew up in Belair in Adelaide Hills and
Hills Face, and started barracking for
Port Adelaide in the late '80s.
That respect from their foes and adversaries,
and the rest of the competition is something
that I always gravitated towards.
I get pretty excited when I'm sitting
in the stands of the football,
sometimes I think the people sitting next
to me are cringing about what I'm
going to yell next.
(laughs)
It's never anything bad, it's just loud.
I'm loud by nature.
It's a strange camaraderie when you're at a game,
and someone's wearing the same colours as you,
and you've never seen them before in your life,
and you're instantly best friends.
There's a lot of best friends made
at a game of football.
To be able to have a club of such a success,
not just a successful football club,
but a club that welcomes everyone into its doors,
makes everyone feel part of it,
and lets the fans know that they are the club.
This year was incredibly exciting to watch,
it was aggressive, it was relentless,
and it was confident as well.
The players backing themselves,
the coach backing the players, and again,
it's that top down faith in each other
that creates the brand of
football we'll be playing this year.
- [Commentator] The siren will sound.
He is the man in the arena.
And all eyes are on Robbie Grey.
When the moment came, he seized it
like no one else! Robbie Great!
(crowds cheering)
- [Ross A] This beach here brings back a lot of the memories,
I mean I used to come along here, as a youngster.
I grew up here, just down the road,
about a kilometre down.
And me and my friends, we spent most of
our time along this beach.
But I was a passionate One Eye Port Adelaide man
all over, since I was a kid.
I grew up with my grandma, and she inspired me
to go on and do what I wanted to do.
She put me in boots and socks and that
sort of stuff. I thanked her very much for that.
Ended up playing league footy in 1979.
I did work hard for it, and it took a lot.
But, in the end, it's rewarding,
and playing the premiership in 1980
was a remarkable, remarkable thing.
I was a nobody when I was a kid.
You put your mind on where you want to
go in life, and then when you get to that
achievement, the people that respect and hug you,
embrace you, especially after the game,
and you get to the boys, and the club,
and the culture, and everything else,
the supporters. It was just unbelievable.
A lot has changed since we played,
but we copped a hell of a lot,
us Indigenous players, you know, back then.
Supporters outside the club, not our club.
You'd turn around, and just play your footy,
and that's what we're there for.
To play footy.
- Ross Agius, three goals today. Magnificent effort.
Some of those snapshots were just truly great, Ross.
- They're all bloody flukes, but still count though!
- You get there, and all they talked about was
the culture, the club, how much pride they had
in the club. Doesn't matter what background you
come from, and I got told that when I got there.
That's the way it was across the board,
all Indigenous players at the club.
We had the Indigenous round, played Hawthorn
at Adelaide Oval, and
before the game, we had a
get together with past players, and had a bit of
a feed. And then we got presented with these
guernseys, and it's got all our past players on there,
and at the moment I got that guernsey framed
now and it's hanging in my games room.
So I'm proud of it, you know.
My premiership guernsey.
- And welcome to my house, anyway.
This is my daughter, Khyleesha,
and, as you can see, she's a proud
Port Adelaide Football Club supporter.
One of Khyleesha's favourite players was
Hammer, he was her idol and favourite player
and stuff, and in the end, one of the Outer Army
actually got Hammer to autograph the photo for her.
- I have no idea why, but I think he was just
really good looking at the time.
And I was just really
into him, and I think I was also, I was so
shocked when he signed a piece of paper with
my name and everything. I thought I was just it.
That was really good.
- [Vicky] So cute, yeah.
So the players, they do really be part of your
every day life, don't they?
- Yeah, they really enjoy the fans,
and I think they do really look after them.
- [Vicky] I wear a number of hats, besides being
a proud Port Adelaide Football Club supporter.
But I also do a lot of advocacy work around
domestic violence and women's rights.
Just three flags that I just think that are
so special and close to my heart,
because it's who I stand for,
and what I believe in.
Port Adelaide Football Club is just built
on history and culture. They're all about,
you know, uniting people.
That's what I like about it,
and that's how I feel that's how it
presents to me as a club.
- [Paul] This is an opportunity for us to take
in our culture, It's really, really important.
It's one of the most significant and special places
for Aboriginal people in Australia, you know.
So it's really important that you guys are here.
You deserve to be here, and having an opportunity
like this as a reward for your efforts throughout
the year, and we hope that some of these
opportunities that come your way can be passed on
or you can utilise some of it as a driving force
for you guys going forward into the future.
I think the relationship that Aboriginal
communities particularly in South Australia
have with Aussie Rules, we've been able to
use it as a club in our community programmes
to engage young Aboriginal people.
It's amazing, the work that we do in remote
communities, there's sometimes just a community
that would just be Port Adelaide, and even seeing
some of the names of kids in the remote communities.
We've met a Wanganeen before,
his first name was Wanganeen.
We've met a Cornes, his first name was
Cornes after Chad and Kane, obviously.
So I think a lot of the past players of our club
have had a real impact on a lot of the communities.
So what we're going to do first is,
they have reading, they start the day off reading.
So get you guys to spread out amongst the group.
Success is not just about premierships.
It's breaking down barriers and not quitting,
and allowing a no to stop in the way
of the bigger picture, you know?
So for me, I've always felt like it's been
successful on and off the field,
and being inclusive of all people.
- Oh yeah, he's waving!
- Go the Power!
Good on ya mate! Good on ya buddy!
We just have a bit of fun, gets us in the mood.
(crowd cheering)
- [Reporter] Kochie just congratulating you,
acknowledging it's the first time that a team
apparently from outside the eights finished
on top of the ladder, which was an
incredible achievement.
- Tonight is a moment to sit back and enjoy
what an incredible season it has been.
All the things that have gone on in this season,
for lots of clubs, not just us, but to be the
team that's been able to come out on top of
the ladder is a significant achievement for us.
We've just got our opportunity now to reset and
go again, and it doesn't matter what's happened
five weeks ago, eight weeks ago,
or 30 weeks ago, it matters now
what happens from here on.
- Well, we've been colouring in the home mural,
and then we decided to put a bit of a Port spin
on it and add some teal, and obviously the logo
and everything, because obviously we've got the
finals tonight, and we hope they're going to win.
- Hopefully we win the grand final
- We've got our number one for Tommy Jonas,
and for Theodore James, so they've got the same
initials. Hey, number one.
- So we've been here for 24 years.
I'm part of the Port Adelaide community.
I've been supporting port Adelaide all of that time.
Yeah, they're doing us proud this year for sure.
The buzz really has started just early this week.
People have been talking about the finals
for a little while, but now it's real.
So we're into finals week, but also it's just
generating bit by bit, so it's going to build up
and like all afternoon, people are talking
about it, a customer talking about it.
You're seeing the colour, so it's all part of it now.
- Exciting. It's exciting that everyone's
getting on board with it, you know,
not just local businesses, but the whole community.
You walk in the pub, there's people rooting for it,
So yeah, it's good.
The whole Port's behind it
- Clean up I guess
- He's getting trimmed to look good for Port
winning, right? Right.
(laughs)
- We don't have any other teams walk in,
especially not a Geelong supporter.
(laughs)
There's a barbershop down the road,
you guys can go get your hair cut there!
- I can't imagine what the players
would be feeling, but it's a lot of pressure
for the community, knowing we're that close.
So yeah, hopefully we get it.
- [Barber] Port supporters get discounts today
So yeah, come and get a haircut!
- Go Port!
- You've got all these flags up surrounding
the Port area. People have been a bit flat,
haven't really known what's going to hit them next
with COVID.
This is something that we can look forward to,
and they've done an amazing job.
- Oh look at you.
- Which one are you gonna take?
- That's classy.
I'll probably go with the Shanghai.
Oh, that's good.
Took that up the top of the Great Wall of China.
I love talking to other people
at games and stuff.
And especially when we went to China,
because there was lots of people around and
they had no one to talk to, but yeah,
they're always, I feel like if I meet someone
and I like them, most of the time they turn out
to be a Port supporter. "I knew it!"
I knew you were a Port supporter!"
I'm someone who like, I don't know,
I want to make my mark on the world,
or something like that, or I want to, you know,
life is very special to me.
It's not just something that is like a chore.
And I think that's what Port feels like.
It's like, this is very special.
This is very important.
It's not just something that you take for granted.
And then the modern Port being very dynamic,
and kind of exciting and interesting.
And I think if you buy into that,
like you're attracted to that because you are
like that as a person.
Noticing all these kinds of sort of young,
very excited, passionate people, and really like
cared so much about Port, but are from
such a different place
- It also feels like our 150th year, of course,
and we weren't allowed to play in the SANFL,
which I don't know, I had, I just felt
that we would win the SANFL this year just
because it's 150 years. So I don't know.
It just feels like we should,
it's just fair that we do win that.
- I feel like, I'm in like The Mighty Ducks
or something, like, I feel like this is like
a sports movie, like, you know, like 150 years,
the, like, season's going to be cancelled.
No one's playing. It's like, okay,
we've rescued the season, and then, you know,
we're rising up above everyone else,
and all these kinds of things.
I don't know,
I'm just like sick thinking about it.
I think about it all the time as well.
Like I've pictured the game in my head,
like, alright, so maybe who would be the
Norm Smith
The fact that the seasons have been the way it is
and everything's been thrown out of whack,
and everyone's under a huge amount of duress,
that suits us because what I think Ken Hinkley
does really really well, is he has the players'
hearts and minds. And you've got this real sense
that they really want them to be like good people,
as well as being good players.
- [Ken] It's that time of the year
You should be excited.
And you should be really wanting to play
Got to control when the time is to play, and when
it's not.
Right now, it's time to get ready to play.
Just make sure to use it for the get ready time,
but I know one thing that's going to happen
out there tonight for you,
is you're gonna need each other like never before.
You're gonna need it at the start,
get away with a flyer,
make sure we're up and about.
We're going to need it at some stage
during the game, when they're coming after us,
and trying come at us.
We might even need that right at the very end.
Now the last time we played them,
their contest won them the game.
We put heat on the ball first.
And when we do that, we're ranked 1 in defence.
For a reason because we put heat on the ball quicker
and better than any team in the competition.
- [Michael] Everything's been building up to this.
It's the year we really stop and recognise like
what a big club this actually is
and what a rich history we've got.
I don't know, I think if it all came together,
it would just feel like the greatest
football thing you can possibly imagine.
- [Ken] It's a bit about us here.
It's a lot about Port Adelaide.
A lot about our opportunity.
A lot about our history, it's our 150th year.
It's remarkable that we're sitting here right now,
at that moment.
Be there for each other, that's all I'm asking.
Be there for each other, it is our time boys.
- [Kochie] Because of our success, there've been so many
occasions where outside forces, whether it be
governing bodies, um, other clubs, have tried to
tear us apart.
Going to a game
at Adelaide Oval
is like going to church.
There are elements and rituals in it,
which say to every single Port Adelaide member there
"We're part of this club. We are a big family,"
We're all very different people,
except in that game, we're one.
♪ We can live ♪
♪ For a thousand years ♪
(crowd chanting)
- [Commentator] AFL final series commences
(crowd cheers)
- [Commentator] GOAL! -Team goal!
(uplifting music)
- You know today's a solid training session
for them. I spend time terrorising myself
with who's in the opposition,
and just sit there and think.
And, you know, it's not very often in my world
at the moment, or at any moment in this game,
that you get quiet times, other than at home
in bed. And outside that, you're always
thinking footy.
You're never sure what's going on when the
day starts and stops, because there's too many
times to remember. I look at Friday,
I've gotta catch up with Tyson Goldsack at seven thirty.
Which I do regular one on one coach catch ups,
I've got some individual player meetings
That start at eight o'clock
Got training preparation meeting that goes at
quarter to nine. Got a team meeting
before training, and then we've got training,
and then we do stuff after training.
And somewhere in the middle,
I'll get a cup of tea.
And that's where I'm going now.
- [Brad] I respect the fact that you know, my
great grandfather played, and grandpa,
and uncle, and cousins, and dad, and so,
you know, I have got that history here.
And sometimes, you don't wanna over do it
in that sort of space, and you wanna just be
like "Oh whatever, I'll just do my own thing,"
but at the same time, in a year like this,
you go like "Oh yeah, it's pretty cool what this
club's been able to achieve and been able
to do in that time," so it's good to stop and
reflect, and then be able to write our own
history, I guess. Yeah.
You know, you get thrust in an AFL environment,
you're all brought in from different parts,
and whilst yes, you're a team, you don't understand
sometimes, you know, for me, what a Zak Butters is
going through, or a Connor Rozee is going through
to get to this point, so and whilst you're still
teammates and stuff, you don't get that
deeper understanding.
Breaking down the barriers, really then helps build up
the group, and really galvanises the group,
so I think that's been one of the key ones,
cause we're all footballers, yes, but we're people,
we're humans first and foremost, and we've all got
other stuff going on.
So I think that that then translates to stuff on
field as well.
- [Tom] I think having my first child, my daughter Matilda,
just gave me great perspective about what's
important in life, I think.
Kenny often says that footy is the most important
of the least important things.
I think family is the most important
of the most important things,
and I'm so lucky to be able to experience that.
Milly and I are very happy,
but I also love coming to work for these boys,
and building something with them.
It's proved a great distraction for the
last few weeks as well. It's obviously pretty
hands on, the first little while,
and trying to give Mill a chop out,
so I get home and just completely switch off
from footy and focus on that.
It's the way Kenny wraps his arms around
the boys that are going through some tough times,
and, you know, it's a bit of
a hobby for him, I reckon
getting people into the club that he
thinks he either can help, or can be better
footballers and better humans,
and I'm helping him to do that.
- [Ken] Yell out Vossy when you want
perfection, let me know.
Yep, turned 70 the other day.
Which means, Travis, you're 50.
Because you're getting old too mate, remember?
32. Here we go!
- I reckon it was probably five or six
years ago, Buddha was at the club,
and he said as you get older and you relax more,
you'll start to see faces in the crowd.
And that's the mentality and the mindset
you wanna have in the game, 'cause you're
very relaxed, you know what you've gotta do.
And when you can do that, you're in the zone.
You're in the flow. And I do.
Now I start seeing faces in the crowd,
I always look for my family, but you do see faces
in the crowd, and see how excited they are,
whether it's you know, the supporters up in the crowd,
waving to you, it's a bigger picture.
It's a bigger perspective of what you're out
there doing. It puts a smile on your face.
Yeah, I've definitely dreamt, visualised,
thought about holding the Premiership Cup,
and that's what we're chasing, and I don't
think there's, I don't want to hide away from that.
We all want that.
And then you just come back to the process,
but these dreams are what motivates you.
And that's what we're here for.
And that's our dream.
- I got a concussion earlier in the year,
and a couple of head knocks earlier before that,
and yeah, just talking through it with the doc and stuff
after those instances, he was just starting to
get to point where he was like,
"Well the risk has become greater than the reward
to keep playing." And I've come to terms with that,
I'm okay with that.
But at the same time, what we are building
is a club. I just felt that I still had something
to give this year.
- You come in through the entrance and the idea
is this is where the store is at the moment,
we're gonna open all of that out.
The pitch that we've given the builder was
this is one of the greatest football
clubs in the world,
so when you come here,
- [Kochie] Yeah
- [Matthew] The presence, and when you arrive,
that's what it has to scream.
So this is a hero piece, its in the front window,
will be two of these trophy cabinets.
The pylons on the side are actual original
Port Adelaide wharf pylons.
- [Kochie] They're not-
- A hundred and sixty years old.
- Where? Where do you get them from?
- He's had them sitting in a paddock out at
Mallala, and then in that, will be
all of our premiership trophies.
So you've got the AFL Premiership Cup,
36 SANFL replicas, so we're gonna get them
made real size.
And, of course, David will keep five spare
for the next
- [Kochie] For the next five years
- [Matthew] Exactly right
- [Kochie] Well these are all the, these are all the
players that aren't playing finals,
aren't picked for finals, aren't picked on
the interchange, and stuff like that.
So our high performance team
gets them together and gives them a hard run,
because some of them,
Kane Farrell,
Georgiades,
they could live their dream at a grand final.
One more game to go, and this is symbolic,
this is Big Bob McLean's chair that he used
to sit at the board table for Port Adelaide.
Big Bob, one of the great Port Adelaide presidents,
oversaw so many flags in the SANFL,
all because of him. And since I've been president,
I've vowed I will never sit in that chair
until we win a premiership.
So, hopefully it's not that far away.
(laughs)
Port Adelaide's success has always been
based on being a disruptor.
Even back in the '50s and the '60s,
they'd recruit from interstate,
before any other club did.
We're actually continuing that culture
of disrupting, testing ourselves,
benchmarking us against the best in Australia
and the best in the world.
COVID has obviously put the game in China on hold.
Like so many organisations who have had to
pause programmes, we will do it.
I reckon COVID has probably had the most
devastating financial impact that the club
has been through in 150 years.
We said right up front, if you're doing it tough,
if you want a refund, here's your money.
And very few people took us up on that.
That's what saved us.
Our members saved us, because this club means
so much to them.
So the grandkids live in Sydney.
Last game was the first time this year
that they've been able to see a game like us,
and so they were coming over for tonight's game.
It is nerve-wracking,
it is stressful for our families and partners,
cause they go through exactly the same.
Everyone feels it, not just the president.
Everyone does.
Oh there's Pauly!
(car horn beeps)
- Hey Pauly!
Long time no see!
- Paul Vandenberg runs our
Aboriginal programmes,
he's just phenomenal.
Pauly, how ya going?
- [Paul] Oh mate, how are you?
- How's the family?
- [Paul] Very good
- [Kochie] You excited about tonight?
- Oh mate, can't wait. Can't wait.
How are you going?
- [Kochie] Are you confident?
- I feel good. I feel really good.
- [Kochie] Who are all these kids?
- They're from Yalata, from our WillPOWER programme.
- [Kochie] Oh fantastic! And you're bringing
them to the game tonight?
- Yeah, they're gonna come along.
- [Kochie] How exciting is that?
That is so good.
Alright mate, see ya!
But we reckon we have a long way to come,
those people coming from the other side of
Ceduna by bus,
pretty amazing.
- [Fan] As a supporter of the Magpies all those years,
to go into the AFL and it's so much harder,
that's taken a bit of adjustment.
It's not gonna happen as often.
But then I've got all those memories to hold
onto anyway.
That can't ever disappear.
- I was there in 2004 at the grand final.
I was there at 2007 at the grand final.
But it's all part of this history,
that has, you know, led to where we are today.
And it's a history that we don't shy away from,
sort of own it and move on in pursuit
of the next victory.
- There's always room for improvement.
And that's what Port Adelaide's all about.
It's not about the bad bits,
it's "we can get better", and we will.
- You dream all year about that premiership.
You know, for the players that's what it's all about.
But it's also what it's all about for the
supporters as well.
- [Commentator] We're ready to go,
second half football here.
Doesn't get any tighter than this,
scores level, prelim final.
Winner's got a huge amount to play for,
an opportunity to win a premiership
is on the line right now.
(crowd cheering)
- Rockliff kicks the ball back to
about 48 metres, Dixon takes a good mark.
51 metres out. Good, strong, straight kick!
They're in front
They love this big fella!
So can Kane Lambert kick a second last
quarter goal?
Oh, he has!
Need a mark, need a handball, need a goal!
Haven't quite got it.
Off the ground
Richmond are on their way to the Gabba!
The champions are still standing!
(upbeat music)
♪ Oh, we're from Tigerland ♪
♪ A fighting fury ♪
♪ We're from Tigerland ♪
♪ In any weather ♪
♪ You will see us with a grin ♪
(gentle, sad music)
- [Brad] I do then remember sitting on the bench,
and watching the play unfold,
knowing that we were down by that goal.
And I just, I keep remember thinking,
it can't end like this. Like it can't
end with us losing by a goal.
I just remember sitting there thinking,
oh man, like, after all this,
after everything that we've gone through,
after the year that we've had,
and my career, like, that's gonna be it.
- [Ken] In footy speak, it's devastation.
It's the end of our world in some way,
I mean, people might think you overdramatise that,
but you don't. That's how much it means.
You don't spend that much time trying
to get there, and then that noise of a siren
going is like a gun shooting you.
You know, it's like you're dead. It's all over.
It's just the way it makes you feel.
- [David] A lot of people don't understand what
this club means to us.
I just want one more before I knock
off this planet. I want one more premiership.
The whole Port Adelaide community was right
behind us, and I'm proud of our team.
It really hurts. It really hurts.
2014, we were that close.
And tonight we were that close.
And they don't come around very often.
We live to fight and we'll be there next year.
And we'll fight then as well.
- Disappointment, shock, some silence.
Some disbelief, but then Kenny brought it back
to what we achieved this year.
- We'll always be that team where we've
just gotta put everything on the line.
And we did that tonight. You did it tonight.
And unfortunately, we were just
a little bit short. And we all get that.
And we all understand it.
In a season that was so difficult,
in our 150th year, to get to that point.
We just had the confidence in the playing group,
the team, the supporters, it was real.
It wasn't something we were faking,
we believed in ourselves, and we had every
right to believe in ourselves with the way we
played all season, so.
I think initially, you've gotta get over
the first part. You've gotta get over the loss.
You know, people will think you're overdoing with how
much it hurts, but it's not.
So you've gotta get over that first,
but then it'll drive them a little bit.
There'll be a moment when we'll reflect, I reckon,
and we'll go "You know, what we did here,
was mighty brave. But we didn't do enough,"
And we can get on with getting on,
and make sure we get back there.
I think that's the attitude this group will have,
I just know what they're like.
- [Commentator] Good kick to the right side
of Jack, oh well played Ebert!
Got back against the flow.
Hit his head on the ground there.
So many problems with concussion,
particularly this year.
- [Crowd] EBO! EBO! EBO!
- There's a part of me that, like, I've always
just tried to play the game hard in that sense.
Like just trying to do the right thing at the
right time, and I guess for me at that point,
I was just watching and thinking,
what else do I do?
- He went back with the flight, and paid
a price again that he always paid for
Port Adelaide.
He's got a great surname for this footy club,
but he's forged his own name,
and I think that's really important.
- I remember walking around these change
rooms as a kid when Dad was sort of the
assistant coach, kicking the footy out the back,
and it's burning at the moment,
how it all ended, but I think we definitely
have the nucleus of a strong club.
I think the young guys coming through
are fantastic.
- I said to Brad straight after the
game the other night,
make sure you stay around.
These young boys still love seeing
Westy walk back into the club,
Brad walk back into the club,
and even over my time, Dom Cassisi
was around the club on Saturday, you know.
They're the sort of people you need to have
around your football club, always, you know.
Your history and your past of your great players
is something you should never lose.
- [Brad] You'll be seeing number seven again next year,
it's just gonna be on the back of Xavier Duursma,
and I think he's probably a player that plays
in a similar sort of manner,
I think he throws himself into every contest,
and a guy that I've really respected
and really liked as a person.
I think he's a ripping kid, yeah, I hope to see
number seven out there for plenty of years left.
I think all the boys, Leo and Henry, will keep their
number sevens on their back, cause he's a pretty
good player to have a number on the back.
Got a beautiful young family, and I'm just
excited about what's to come.
- [Radio DJ] You're wearing boardshorts.
You've got a day off today, and you've
been down the beach, or?
- No, no, I just don't have much fashion sense
(laughs)
- [Radio DJ] Well you'll fit in pretty
well around here!
- I look at Rowey and think I can't get
it too wrong!
(laughs)
- When it's so close, I'm sure you watch it back,
there's so many little things you see,
and you wish "oh, if only that went that way,
if only we did this,"
How do you reconcile that when you get
so close after working for 12 months?
- We reflect as a team, and we look to get better,
like every game we do, but this one's obviously
a prelim final.
You know, six points, its as close as you can get
without getting there nearly.
But you know, I couldn't be any more proud
of the team and the way they've gone about it
for the whole season.
I would have loved, and they deserved,
an opportunity to get there, but you have to beat
the best, and Richmond have proven for a
few years they've been the best.
- Ken, in Port's 150th year, in a COVID year,
it's been unprecedented, you were six points
away from the grand final,
a remarkable achievement, from the wholer club,
it's the wholer clubs that get to where you are,
there's no question about that.
Thanks for your time, you always give your time
to us, and onwards and upwards in 2021.
- With the support of the playing group
that I had, and have built up with them
over a long period of time,
if there was one thing I was
pretty confident about,
it was they were gonna give me what they had.
You know, 'cause its a two way thing, this thing we've
got going here.
When you care for them and they care for you,
it's not just, they don't just get it from
the coaches and the players give it,
it's both. We care for the players,
and they care back for us,
and that's when you get something real,
and that's what we've got.
- Down at Alberton, we love having our backs
against the wall, and cherish the opportunity to
fight our way out of any situation,
and help each other or pick each other up
or lean on others to get through that,
and I think that's the fabric of what
we're built on.
There was potentially a fairy tale waiting to
happen and I think a lot of us bought into that,
and makes it a little bit more disappointing.
But at the end of the day, if we win a
premiership in our 151st year,
they'll be just as happy.
- The fans I could tell were hurting as well.
Footy was probably their outlet,
and their way to celebrate and to join in
and to have that sense of belonging,
and this year, as much as ever,
I think
they really rode it with us.
- Oh look, they were amazing, in lots of ways.
I felt like, even after the siren,
that there was just so much love,
and support for their team.
In that moment, I thought they did their
absolute best to help the boys deal
with the emotion of that loss.
And I'm sure everyone who's a Port supporter,
you live and breathe the grand finals,
and that's what it's about.
They did an amazing job to hang in there
for the boys, I think, even though they
didn't get them where they wanted to go.
It's written at Port Adelaide that we exist
to win premierships, so we'll be starting out
to try and win a premiership.
There is absolutely no room for
"Oh, that was hard last year,"
Get on, get going, and do it again.
- [Tom] We've seen it for hundreds of years,
what it can do for an individual, a community,
a family, a whole country.
You wanna be able to do something special
to give something back to that community,
a legacy to leave behind.
- [Ken] In a city that's crazy about football,
and this team called Port Adelaide
used to kick the shit out of everyone,
and created a lot of hate,
and then the Port people started liking
them a lot, I reckon, and they defended
that title pretty well,
over a long, long period of time.
It's not just a game is it?
It's just not just a game,
it's our national game for a start,
it's Australian Rules football.
It's what Aussies do, we love our footy clubs.
It's tribal, it's all the things you expect
it to be, and that's why it brings so much
passion out of people.
Outside your family, that's your biggest love,
isn't it? It's your footy club.
It's my club, and that's why it is,
that's why it's so passionate for people
and so emotional for people
and so devastating for people,
it's because it is, it's close to family.
That's what it is.
(uplifting music)