Ford Fairlane
Moderator
- Feb 21, 2002
- 77,608
- 184,439
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
- Other Teams
- Port Adelaide Magpies
- Moderator
- #1
No longer play for Port.
A 100 game Port premiership player pointed that out to me this week and it is true. Soon the prophesy will be complete as this generation of players moves on and rezoning sends Port boys to other SANFL clubs.
It saddens me that Port Adelaide in the SANFL is no longer the Port Adelaide I grew up with. No longer can kids who barrack for Port come through the Port Adelaide system and play in the traditional guernsey. Sure a few will get through but the day of the good ordinary footballer who is a great club man are done at Port in the SANFL.
It's not a judgement, it's just the way it is. I like to see the Magpies win but I feel almost no attachment to the team. In the old days when it came to the reserves it was much the same. It was good if the reserves won during the season and made a great grand final day if we won the reserves premiership. But at the end of the day it was instantly forgettable and the important thing was the reserves produced good footballers for the league side.
We still try to treat the Magpies like the old Port Adelaide but they are not that any more. The old Port Adelaide was about winning every game and destroying teams in the finals. The old Port Adelaide would not have played Daniel Flynn or Campbell Heath in the finals. That's not a slur against these guys, those are the rules. We want them to play and we have to play them in the league side.
I know many people who treat the Magpies as the old Port Adelaide but to me they're not that anymore. For all the benefits the side is accused of accruing there are drawbacks and we've seen them these past few weeks. A lot of kids are played who are physically cooked. Players coming back from injury and that most curious of beasts the international rookie are handed games.
That is because this is now the Power reserves. It's a camel in a horse race. We can't pick a SANFL side as such, we pick a side made up of the scraps of the AFL side. The lack of a ruckman has told a story there ... although just one ruckman as a contracted SANFL player would not have gone astray. Even a tall plodder like Angus Graham who at SANFL level gets his hand to the ball and collects a few stats would have done.
Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in a Power reserves side, but I think we need to readjust our thinking about what that means in the SANFL. It's been fun this year but in a way it has been a distraction.
A 100 game Port premiership player pointed that out to me this week and it is true. Soon the prophesy will be complete as this generation of players moves on and rezoning sends Port boys to other SANFL clubs.
It saddens me that Port Adelaide in the SANFL is no longer the Port Adelaide I grew up with. No longer can kids who barrack for Port come through the Port Adelaide system and play in the traditional guernsey. Sure a few will get through but the day of the good ordinary footballer who is a great club man are done at Port in the SANFL.
It's not a judgement, it's just the way it is. I like to see the Magpies win but I feel almost no attachment to the team. In the old days when it came to the reserves it was much the same. It was good if the reserves won during the season and made a great grand final day if we won the reserves premiership. But at the end of the day it was instantly forgettable and the important thing was the reserves produced good footballers for the league side.
We still try to treat the Magpies like the old Port Adelaide but they are not that any more. The old Port Adelaide was about winning every game and destroying teams in the finals. The old Port Adelaide would not have played Daniel Flynn or Campbell Heath in the finals. That's not a slur against these guys, those are the rules. We want them to play and we have to play them in the league side.
I know many people who treat the Magpies as the old Port Adelaide but to me they're not that anymore. For all the benefits the side is accused of accruing there are drawbacks and we've seen them these past few weeks. A lot of kids are played who are physically cooked. Players coming back from injury and that most curious of beasts the international rookie are handed games.
That is because this is now the Power reserves. It's a camel in a horse race. We can't pick a SANFL side as such, we pick a side made up of the scraps of the AFL side. The lack of a ruckman has told a story there ... although just one ruckman as a contracted SANFL player would not have gone astray. Even a tall plodder like Angus Graham who at SANFL level gets his hand to the ball and collects a few stats would have done.
Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in a Power reserves side, but I think we need to readjust our thinking about what that means in the SANFL. It's been fun this year but in a way it has been a distraction.