Opinion Favourite season supporting Port Adelaide

[Magpiespowaz]

1986... WAY TO GO!!!

Hailey's Comet, Chernobyl, Space Shuttle disaster, Wa Wa Nee, the GOAT Aussie band all over the radio, and absolutely, positively, most definitely 100% my fave footy year of all-time.

Went to so many games that year. Mainly coz the old man had retired from Moomba, where he became mates with Bruce Weber. Before then, he was two weeks on/two weeks off. So yeah, we'd only get to one game a month max. His other weekend had to be free to spend the day at the TAB. The Camel smoking, Guinness guzzling bastard was a mad punter.

But! There was a catch. We only went to games at Footy Park coz it had the Express bus. Dad hadn't driven since 1978 when he got into a pretty bad prang with a car-full of shitty Irish kids. (his fault!) He told me that all the other grounds were too hard to get to by public transport. Naturally, I believed him. I mean, I was an 11yo kid. Of course, I was gonna believe my old man.

He was full of sh!t.

A few years later, when I started going to the footy with my mates, I found out it was just as easy to catch the train to Alberton, tram to The Bay or bus to The Parade as it was to get to West Lakes - even easier in some cases.

Plot twist: Footy Park had a purpose-built TAB near the big scoreboard.

This meant he didn't have to get all his bets on at the TAB on the way into the game. He could duck out at every break to lose his retirement. The bastard did it, too. Quarter-time, half-time, lemon time, any chance he got, he was in there.

And he dragged me along because The Family, Beaumonts, Ratcliffe & Gordon and all that.

Scored some awesome merch out of it, tho. You could call it bribery, I guess. But there had to be something in it for me, too. Still got the flags, badges and this awesome enamel pin footballer from the pop-up SANFL official merch shop. Unfortunately, the clapper hat disappeared years ago. The never-ending quest to find another continues.

Eighty-six was an exciting year. It was the first year I became a member. Did it to help "save the club." The club was broke, suffering a then record $282k loss the previous year - '85 had been a disaster but it saw heaps of future premiership players get their first taste of league footy.

Greg Anderson was on a different level.

Quickly replaced Braddles as my fave player. Won just about every award except for the BnF - pipped by two votes by Martin Leslie, who polled the last votes of the night. It was amazing Ando was even there after Scott Salisbury tried to decapitate him in the Qualifying Final.

Also saw the retirement of Tim Evans. If Braddles is #1A my fave player of all-time, then Timmy is #1B.

Steven Knight got sacked early in the year after a punch-up with teammates at the pub. IIRC, he claimed one of em insulted his wife. So he defended her honour. Shame, coz I loved watching him play.

Exciting year. Lots of close games, and some thrilling comeback wins. Season ended with the now inevitable September disappointment. Not gonna lie, it was hard to be bitter about bowing out in straight sets in '86. It was a young, up and coming team. And we were knocked out by Woodville in a classic First Semi.

You couldn't be mad about getting rolled by Woodville. Not Woodville '86 - they were the Cinderella side that year. Everyone jumped on the Warriors bandwagon. Just wished they didn't kick 2.10 in the last quarter of the Prelim - would've been a BIG chance against North in the granny.

Now, looking back as an old fart myself, I realise I really didn’t give a rats about Port or footy or any of that, it was just classic father-son sh!t.

And all that interminable time at TABs across metro Adelaide made me hate gambling with a passion, so I guess some good came out of that, too.

Farken painful lesson at the time tho, lmao…

 

[Willsy10]

Apart from the obvious 2004:

Not much love for 1997 on here, what a year that was, so much fight and determination in that inaugural squad led by the great jack Cahill. A few brilliant wins, the 4 in a row rounds 3 - 6 were amazing (first win, showdown, nail biter against Brisbane and clinical smashing of Richmond), big home wins Friday and Saturday night against Carlton and Collingwood, knocking off the ladder leading dogs at princes park after being 40 points down, and smashing the bombers on a Friday night at the mcg to go 10 and 7 and actually be equal second on the ladder at the time (5th on percentage I think). Ran out of steam in the last 5 rounds but it was one hell of a ride that we were still in until the last quarter fade out in round 22 against the minor premiers.

As a couple others have mentioned 2007 was a crazy ride, everyone thought we were finished and no chance that year. But we played awesome footy and had so many memorable wins, it just ended in the worst possible way.


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[tangolikelama]

2014. The tide had turned and there was hope. Robbie played the best season I had witnessed.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

1986... WAY TO GO!!!

Hailey's Comet, Chernobyl, Space Shuttle disaster, Wa Wa Nee, the GOAT Aussie band all over the radio and absolutely, positively, most definitely 100% my fave footy year of all-time.

Went to so many games that year. Mainly coz the old man had retired from Moomba, where he became mates with Bruce Weber. Before then, he was two weeks on/two weeks off. So yeah, we'd only get to one game a month max. His other weekend had to be free to spend the day at the TAB. The Camel smoking, Guinness swigging bastard was a mad punter.

But! There was a catch. We only went to games at Footy Park coz it had the Express bus. Dad hadn't driven since 1978 when he got into a pretty bad prang with a car-full of shitty Irish kids. (his fault!) He told me that all the other grounds were too hard to get to by public transport. Naturally, I believed him. I mean, I was an 11yo kid. Of course, I was gonna believe my old man.

He was full of sh!t.

A few years later, when I started going to the footy with my mates, I found out it was just as easy to catch the train to Alberton, tram to The Bay or bus to The Parade as it was to get to West Lakes - even easier in some cases.

Plot twist: Footy Park had a purpose-built TAB near the big scoreboard.

This meant he didn't have to get all his bets on at the TAB on the way into the game. He could duck out at every break to put some bets on. And the bastard did it, too. Quarter-time, half-time, lemon time, any chance he got. He dragged me along, too (because The Family, Beaumonts, Ratcliffe & Gordon and all that.)

Scored some awesome merch out of it, tho. You could call it bribery, I guess. But there had to be something in it for me, too. Still got the flags, badges and this awesome enamel pin footballer from the pop-up SANFL official merch shop. Unfortunately, the clapper hat disappeared years ago. The never-ending qust to find another continues.

Eighty-six was an exciting year. It was the first year I became a member. Did it to help "save the club." The club was broke, suffering a then record $282k loss the previous year - '85 had been a disaster but it saw heaps of future premiership players get their first taste of league footy.

Greg Anderson was on a different level that year.

Quickly replaced Braddles as my fave player. Won every award that year except for the BnF - pipped by two votes by Martin Leslie, who polled the last votes of the night. It was amazing Ando was even there after Scott Salisbury tried to decapitate him in the Qualifying Final.

Also saw the retirement of Tim Evans. If Braddles is #1A my fave player of all-time, then Timmy is #1B.

Steven Knight got sacked early in the year after a punch-up with teammates at the pub. IIRC, he claimed one of em insulted his wife. So he defended her honour. Shame, coz I loved watching him play.

Exciting year. Lots of close games, and some thrilling comeback wins. Season ended with the now inevitable September disappointment. Not gonna lie, it was hard to be bitter about bowing out in straight sets in '86. It was a young, up and coming team. And we were knocked out by Woodville in a classic First Semi.

You couldn't be mad about getting rolled by Woodville. Not Woodville '86 - they were the Cinderella side that year. Everyone jumped on the Warriors bandwagon.

Just wished they didn't kick 2.10 in the last quarter of the Prelim - would've been a BIG chance against North in the granny...

View attachment 1886480

I will never forget Kevin Crease's classic line when Ando won the Magarey Medal hosted by Crease a couple of days after Salisbury tried to decapitate him, That medal looks a lot better around your neck than Scott Salisbury did.

 

[NoddyHolder]

Apart from the obvious 2004:

Not much love for 1997 on here, what a year that was, so much fight and determination in that inaugural squad led by the great jack Cahill. A few brilliant wins, the 4 in a row rounds 3 - 6 were amazing (first win, showdown, nail biter against Brisbane and clinical smashing of Richmond), big home wins Friday and Saturday night against Carlton and Collingwood, knocking off the ladder leading dogs at princes park after being 40 points down, and smashing the bombers on a Friday night at the mcg to go 10 and 7 and actually be equal second on the ladder at the time (5th on percentage I think). Ran out of steam in the last 5 rounds but it was one hell of a ride that we were still in until the last quarter fade out in round 22 against the minor premiers.

As a couple others have mentioned 2007 was a crazy ride, everyone thought we were finished and no chance that year. But we played awesome footy and had so many memorable wins, it just ended in the worst possible way.


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97 was probably my favourite AFL year. I travelled to every game in Melbourne - the bulldogs comeback win being the absolute highlight - Nigel Fiegert put on a centre half forward clinic. The upset showdown win after their arrogance leading up to it was monumental. The most exciting year to be a Port supporter. 2004 was more relief than joy after the hiccups of 01-03

1990 was the favourite of the sanfl years for the reasons detailed by others in the thread - closely followed by 1980 (brilliantly summarised by Ford)

 

[afl2004]

2001 because that was my 1st full supporting port plus dew and fabin Francis bombing goals from 50 plus out was beautiful

 

[Willsy10]

2001 because that was my 1st full supporting port plus dew and fabin Francis bombing goals from 50 plus out was beautiful

If only Fabian kicked right through that one late in the semi instead of dribbling along the ground. We seemed to match up well against Essendon too and could’ve done them in the prelim, they were vulnerable.

I was completely shell shocked after that semi final loss, I couldn’t believe we lost that, I was over confident back then. And then got a major reality check the following year against the pies in the QF.


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[Macca_1870]

Whilst littered with capitulations and being the beginning of the list of underachievement's that have underwritten the Hinkley era, I really enjoyed 2014. The move to AO, the scintillating brand of footy that we played for the first half of the season, the EF and SF wins. In the moment, the last time I properly enjoyed the ride during the season.

As has been mentioned, I found it hard to enjoy 2004 until about Kingsley's goal in the GF. The entire minor round was spent waiting for the finals series to begin, and that bloody preliminary final was the sickest I have felt at a game of footy.

 

[philreich]

I will never forget Kevin Crease's classic line when Ando won the Magarey Medal hosted by Crease a couple of days after Salisbury tried to decapitate him, That medal looks a lot better around your neck than Scott Salisbury did.

I still like Kym Hodgeman's Magarey Medal speech (can't remember which year he won it), "I'd like to thank my parents - especially Mum and Dad." Someone yelled out, "How many have you got?"

 

[Mr39]

2004 was fun, that round 1 game to start the year smashing Essendon, the players looked mean, tanned and driven. Tredders was a force, Byron had a impactful season, Chad was the Chad. Wangas kicking that miracle goal from the boundary in the prelim against the saints.. The premiership was the icing on the cake.
2014 was exciting, really felt like a rebirth of the club.

 

[Andre]

Favourite seasons during, would be 2014 and 2002. Both felt like we’d had a young team announce themselves the previous season and were now ready to make our mark. 2014 would shade 2002, as getting to play at AO, after decades at the soulless, comfortless, windswept Football Park, branded with Crows, was a revelation.

The team was flying, we played the most exciting brand of football in the AFL, the Gameday village was rocking, NTUA was building organically (no Koch/Farris co-opting of the fans anthem for their ends yet). There were some concerns as we dropped from top, as Ken’s ‘too tall for me’ policy, when injuries hit first choice players started to raise its ugly head, but the Semi-final comeback and narrow Prelim loss put that to the back of mind. The team was young, unlike our 2004 side, this looked like we werr on the cusp of years of success.

In retrospect those issues were real, the success was driven by a new coach, not yet secure and arrogant enough to refuse advice. One with the assistants to paper over his many failings. That doesn’t change, that during that year, it felt like FINALLY Port had truly joined the AFL. Not just Port in name, but Port - a club that didn’t ever give up, a club that’s place was at the top, a club others didn’t want to play - in fact.

 

[LabaChampagne]

2004 Prelim. Was there live at Footy Park when Gav sold the deal in that game.. At that end. The noise was something you couldnt believe.
Unless see a grandfinal live I wouldnt think I'll see a gqme like it. We lived life on the edge. Choco.

 

[LabaChampagne]

I had a woman yelling in my ear all game. Saint Nick.......Saint Nick........Saint Nick. When that final siren went.

Saint Gav!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I still like Kym Hodgeman's Magarey Medal speech (can't remember which year he won it), "I'd like to thank my parents - especially Mum and Dad." Someone yelled out, "How many have you got?"

1978, remember that line.

 

[Janey]

Purely because of a change in circumstances, mine and others, 2004 was the first year I was able to start attending games. I had supported Port for a few years before, but not gone to games. I still remember the night of the PF walking up the ramp to the seats and looking out at the crowd. The atmosphere that night was something I'll never forget. I could barely talk the next day I was so hoarse from shouting.

2007 was a great year, right up until the last day. So many unexpected wins. It really was a rollercoaster ride. None of us expected to be playing in finals that year, let alone a GF, at the end of the PF a supporter in front of us turned to his mate and he just said "we're in a grand final" with a look of utter surprise. I've always felt that the players, and maybe the whole club, were like us and were totally unprepared for the next game.

I wasn't able to get to games in 2013, but I loved 2014. The football was great, the oval was great. We had excellent crowds, terrific atmosphere at games. I would often just stop and look around the whole stadium just taking it all in. After pleurisy park and after all that had gone in to getting us to Adelaide Oval, it was just the best.

Since then there have been plenty of games and patches in seasons that I've loved, but probably not seasons as a whole. Here's hoping that's about to change.

 

[DaTBird187]

Pretty much my High School years. Covered 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1992.

 

[El_Scorcho]

2004 was only enjoyable from about 3/4 time of the GF. But in retrospect it was a wonderful season all the way through. We were so dominant and we had Tredders at his absolute peak absolutely monstering defences. Nothing like the great man in full flight, and we were a proper Port Adelaide team that year. Ruthless.

I'm too young to properly remember full seasons of SANFL football well enough to judge. I can remember games here and there.

2007 was great. Hipster doofus forwardline. We took a lot of chances. It was a very fun year to go to the footy.

2014 was incredible while it was going and even in the immediate aftermath, but obviously it's been tarnished by the decade since. The second half of the year and the unwillingness to play a proper forward structure was the canary in the coal mine even if we didn't realise at the time.

 

[TeeKray]

2004 was only enjoyable from about 3/4 time of the GF. But in retrospect it was a wonderful season all the way through. We were so dominant and we had Tredders at his absolute peak absolutely monstering defences. Nothing like the great man in full flight, and we were a proper Port Adelaide team that year. Ruthless.

Cassisi was pretty good that year too, laid a couple of tackles IIRC.

 

[gbear]

2004 by a country mile. I was present when we lost to Collingwood in the prelim in 2003 and was shattered. 12 months later to be there at the G to see Port win it’s inaugural flag, sits just behind the days my girls were born.

 

[bomberclifford]

For sheer football domination, 1980.

Port was minor premiers with 19 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw in the minor round. Port’s average winning margin was 80 points.

After drawing with Centrals in round 1 Port defeated Norwood by 108 points, Woodville by 161, South Adelaide by 24 and West Adelaide by 117 before losing to Sturt at Unley by 4 points. Even in that game Port Adelaide supporters can still recall fondly that David Granger played one of the great centre half forward games on Sturt’s VFL star recruit Gary Hardeman. After that hiccup, the carnage continued with Port defeating Glenelg by 51 points, West Torrens by 90, North Adelaide by 122, Centrals by 4, Norwood by 90, Woodville by 51, South by 94, West by 91, Sturt by 63 before another hiccup, dropping a game to Glenelg at Glenelg Oval by 24 points. Following that setback Port finished off the minor round with wins over Torrens by 56 points, North 102, Centrals 91, Norwood 55, Woodville 75 and South 72.

Russell Ebert fresh back from his season with North Melbourne won his fourth Magarey Medal and introduced the God of Thunder overhead hammer handball.

Tim Evans broke the sanfl goalkicking record with 146 goals. The bearded wonder kicked a club record 16 goals in Port’s round 5 clash against West Adelaide. In round 17, as Ebert broke the Port Adelaide club record for league games played, Tim Evans brought up his hundredth goal for the season en route to piling on 14 goals for the match against West Torrens. Evans became the first player to kick 10 goals in a SANFL Second Semi Final as Port dispatched Sturt by 63 points during which he broke Fred Phillis’s single season SANFL goal kicking record of 137 goals set in 1969.

We also won the reserves premiership. This match should also be noted as an extraordinary result in an extraordinary year. Port played a Glenelg side that included budding young stars Stephen Kernahan and Chris McDermott. Port Adelaide was clear favourites having beaten the Bays by 91 points two weeks earlier in the Second Semi Final. However the Grand Final looked gone from the Magpies’ grasp as Glenelg established a 44 point three quarter time lead, 13.12 to 6.10. Coming home with the breeze, Port Adelaide kicked 9.6 to a solitary point by Glenelg in the last quarter to win the Reserves Premiership by 15 points, 15.16 (106) to 13.13 (91). David Granger kicked 5 goals for the Premiers and Mick Hamill was judged best afield.

1980 was the footballing annus miraculus.

My dad took me to my first live Grand Final in '79 which turned my passing interest in football to an obsession.
11/12yo me soaked up 1980 like a sponge. First season I can actually remember games from.

 

[bomberclifford]

And all that interminable tine at TABs across metro Adelaide made me hate gambling with a passion, so I guess some good came out of that, too.

You've just triggered some very similar memories for me.
I despise gambling for the exact same reason.

 

[bomberclifford]

Whilst littered with capitulations and being the beginning of the list of underachievement's that have underwritten the Hinkley era, I really enjoyed 2014. The move to AO, the scintillating brand of footy that we played for the first half of the season, the EF and SF wins. In the moment, the last time I properly enjoyed the ride during the season.

As has been mentioned, I found it hard to enjoy 2004 until about Kingsley's goal in the GF. The entire minor round was spent waiting for the finals series to begin, and that bloody preliminary final was the sickest I have felt at a game of footy.

2014 was a great season as a supporter. So much went right. Even off field we had some major wins and that imbued a positivity amongst the supporter base that had been missing for quite a while.

Ten years ago now. Sigh.

 

[Schulzenfest]

2014 was the most enjoyable at the time but in hindsight it set us back ten years and counting.

 

[VineValerian]

1990 - relief we won the GF against the entire State.
1994 - not expected to be premiers, but what a GF
1999 - riveting GF over arch rivals
2004 - relief we got over the chokers tag.

1980 - complete domination. Set records for points scored and fewest points conceded. Probs never be surpassed.
GF was a bit tight due to our bad goal kicking, but justice prevailed
The absolute BEST EVER season in totality!

 

[Willsy10]

2014 annoys me, we went from 10 and 1 and flying (2 games clear on top of the ladder) to 12 and 7 and then ultimately missing the top 4. Yeah we had a mini comeback in finals but ultimately s**t the bed again in the prelim despite having 7 more scoring shots. There were some fond memories that year but it was the all too familiar roller coaster ride of getting your hopes up and then losing it in an instance.