Club History AFL plan to kill off Port in 2012

[Doctor Feel]

Have never been more deflated than learning the outcome of that so-called marathon meeting. Never was it more plainly obvious a coach had run his race at the club he was at.

Paying him out then replacing him with freaking Matthew Primus was like burying the club alive.

My heart sank when they appointed Primus. How gutless it was.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

"We have the business licence from 1951, those are the facts".

Such a knob.

Attempting to make the PAMFC stronger by further poisoning the identity well. And now he works for Port. Classic.

The old, inside the tent pissing out rather than the other way round theory. For me he has done too much good work even since 2008 to hold a big grudge against him.

 

[tribey]

My heart sank when they appointed Primus. How gutless it was.

I honestly had never even considered him as a serious prospect going forward. Just assumed he was another Mark Bickley/Ben Allan/Todd Viney 'favourite son' caretaker-type. At absolute best. Especially after we outderped the wooden spoon Westco Steggles in one of those infernal AAMI Stadium monsoons.

Ken Hinkley had to have been presenting on a fractured etch-a-sketch back then given some of the utter turkeys that landed senior roles.

 

[Portia]

The big * up the board made during that period was thinking that Port Adelaide was built on people and not on their actions.

 

[Marmozet]

Maybe winning those 5 out of the last 7 in 2010 was a curse in disguise. Two of those wins, against Adelaide and Hawthorn, were very emotional, passionate 'Port Adelaide' wins, but in the end the rest of them just gave us false belief in Primus to think we could have appointed Chris Scott!

 

[Janus]

I honestly had never even considered him as a serious prospect going forward. Just assumed he was another Mark Bickley/Ben Allan/Todd Viney 'favourite son' caretaker-type. At absolute best. Especially after we outderped the wooden spoon Westco Steggles in one of those infernal AAMI Stadium monsoons.

Ken Hinkley had to have been presenting on a fractured etch-a-sketch back then given some of the utter turkeys that landed senior roles.

The board at the time was beholden to this notion that when people wanted a return to the roots of Port Adelaide - the Creed, Est 1870 etc - that we meant we wanted to be placated with symbolism and romantic notions of club champions coming back to lead the club from the wilderness. When the reality is, Port Adelaide was never about theater and romance. It was about winning. And if we couldn't win, the fans wanted to be sure that the club had done everything in its power to make sure that next time, we would.

With the appointment of Primus, a former player that had moved into an assistant role and never expressed any desire to be a head coach, the board pissed on everything that Port Adelaide was about just so they could sell a feel good story to a vocal minority of sentimental fools without having a plan in place to return the club to it's storied position.

 

[Andre]

Maybe winning those 5 out of the last 7 in 2010 was a curse in disguise. Two of those wins, against Adelaide and Hawthorn, were very emotional, passionate 'Port Adelaide' wins, but in the end the rest of them just gave us false belief in Primus to think we could have appointed Chris Scott!

It all turned out for the best on and off field and likely we'd be in a worse situation for both if they'd done the right things back then. That doesn't absolve almost everyone at the club during that period from being spineless, stupid and/or a lickspittle.

 

[Marmozet]

It all turned out for the best on and off field and likely we'd be in a worse situation for both if they'd done the right things back then. That doesn't absolve almost everyone at the club during that period from being spineless, stupid and/or a lickspittle.

Yeah I thought that if we did the right things back then, would we have ended up with Hinkley, Koch and Burgess? Happy to go through a few years of pain to get us to the position we are in today, with the right people in charge.

 

[Visenfest]

Maybe winning those 5 out of the last 7 in 2010 was a curse in disguise. Two of those wins, against Adelaide and Hawthorn, were very emotional, passionate 'Port Adelaide' wins, but in the end the rest of them just gave us false belief in Primus to think we could have appointed Chris Scott!

Not sure if Chris Scott would have been preferable. I get the feeling we would've been just average for a long period under him. At least the failure and then end of the Primus coaching reign partially contributed to where we are now by providing the impetus for change at the club.

 

[Marmozet]

Not sure if Chris Scott would have been preferable. I get the feeling we would've been just average for a long period under him. At least the failure and then end of the Primus coaching reign partially contributed to where we are now by providing the impetus for change at the club.

He may not have been the best option long term wise, but given that he got a premiership in 2011 (albeit with a list 100x better than ours) I wonder how we could have performed that year under him coming off a fine end to the year in 2010.

But...a couple of bad years under Primus, Duncanson and Falloon = brilliant future under Hinkley, Koch and Burgess

 

[Portia]

Chris Scott would've tanked at Port, I am certain. He would've been fighting that he wasn't Port Adelaide against an organisation that thought being around during success was the same thing as having created that success.

 

[Adam Marrett23]

Reading all the posts rather then quote one to sum up that 08-12 period from my point of view living in WA the last 12 months of Choco up until Primus getting the sack was absolute hell as it was for all of us as everything I told my mates over here Port Adelaide were we became the exact opposite and the s**t I copped from mates I still remember now we are the club I said we always would become and I won't forget that feeling of being the joke of the footy fans amongst mates.

The day Primus was hired my heart sank, he never struck me as a real senior coach before he was hired, even winning 5 of the last 7 in 2010 I never wanted him to take over. The writing was on the wall then we needed to break free of the Choco era. When the Choco resigning debacle occured then we went and hired a foot soldier of his 12 odd months later. Hindsight is worth nought and I doubt we'd be here now where we are without those 4 years.

I still paid my membership during that period, got as excited and as worked up for our games as I do now but we had the stentch of death as a clun at that time.

As much as I didn't like Primus the day he was sacked that presser when, I may have the name wrong Duncanson stepped aside I think it was but I could be wrong there. I watched that presser at home as I had the week off work from being injured playing footy and I cried like a little child as I thought we were gone as a club at that point and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Then after another tragedy which was a real tragedy in life terms which needs no mentioning, the Hinkley appointment happened, Burgo was there, Kochie came in, KT had already started his work before then. A change had occurred you could feel the pre season leading into 2013 and it gave birth to the real Port Adelaide which we are now.

Anyway those were my thoughts from that time the article spoke of, I do apologize for the incorrect grammar as I've had a few on this Good Friday and all else I can say is bring on Sunday

 

[tribey]

The old, inside the tent pissing out rather than the other way round theory. For me he has done too much good work even since 2008 to hold a big grudge against him.

Maybe, but given the assorted identity crises and supporter base fractures both real and imagined, he could not have concocted a more divisive or destructive strategy in a puzzling attempt to strengthen the Magpies at the direct expense of the PAFC.

 

[Andre]

Reading all the posts rather then quote one to sum up that 08-12 period from my point of view living in WA the last 12 months of Choco up until Primus getting the sack was absolute hell as it was for all of us as everything I told my mates over here Port Adelaide were we became the exact opposite and the s**t I copped from mates I still remember now we are the club I said we always would become and I won't forget that feeling of being the joke of the footy fans amongst mates.

That's what really made it suck. Being beaten down whilst retaining your dignity is one thing, but being beaten down and pissing away your dignity to try and stop it, only making it worse, made the despair of that time 10 times worse.

The irony is living in Melbourne 2000-2007, from 90%+ of opposition supporters talked to at games or just in general, we got a lot more respect then the likes of Adelaide or West Coast as we were considered a real club. That the Vics. could see our strengths and those close to home couldn't, was not seeing the forest for the trees writ large.

 

[bacharach]

Reading all the posts rather then quote one to sum up that 08-12 period from my point of view living in WA the last 12 months of Choco up until Primus getting the sack was absolute hell as it was for all of us as everything I told my mates over here Port Adelaide were we became the exact opposite and the s**t I copped from mates I still remember now we are the club I said we always would become and I won't forget that feeling of being the joke of the footy fans amongst mates.

The day Primus was hired my heart sank, he never struck me as a real senior coach before he was hired, even winning 5 of the last 7 in 2010 I never wanted him to take over. The writing was on the wall then we needed to break free of the Choco era. When the Choco resigning debacle occured then we went and hired a foot soldier of his 12 odd months later. Hindsight is worth nought and I doubt we'd be here now where we are without those 4 years.

I still paid my membership during that period, got as excited and as worked up for our games as I do now but we had the stentch of death as a clun at that time.

As much as I didn't like Primus the day he was sacked that presser when, I may have the name wrong Duncanson stepped aside I think it was but I could be wrong there. I watched that presser at home as I had the week off work from being injured playing footy and I cried like a little child as I thought we were gone as a club at that point and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Then after another tragedy which was a real tragedy in life terms which needs no mentioning, the Hinkley appointment happened, Burgo was there, Kochie came in, KT had already started his work before then. A change had occurred you could feel the pre season leading into 2013 and it gave birth to the real Port Adelaide which we are now.

Anyway those were my thoughts from that time the article spoke of, I do apologize for the incorrect grammar as I've had a few on this Good Friday and all else I can say is bring on Sunday

Great post. Let us not forget.

As a wise man once said....the sweet ain't as sweet without the sour*










*may or may not have been Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky

 

[Lockhart Road]

The last few posts have been on the theme of What Goes Around, Comes Around.
I was thinking along the same lines recently with regard to that beating by GWS in 2012, the one in which Chad Cornes played for the enemy, the one that saw the end of Primus on the eve of his contract extension. He only needed to win that game.
Last year at the Oval, versus GWS, the team played 'Port Adelaide football' on-field and, off-field, the Club hosted the gang of Chinese billionaires, of whom Kochie spoke at the AGM. Chad Cornes spoke, too, as Magpies coach.
What goes around, comes around.

 

[Visenfest]

He may not have been the best option long term wise, but given that he got a premiership in 2011 (albeit with a list 100x better than ours) I wonder how we could have performed that year under him coming off a fine end to the year in 2010.

But...a couple of bad years under Primus, Duncanson and Falloon = brilliant future under Hinkley, Koch and Burgess

You hit the nail on the head when you said that Geelong's list was a lot better than ours at the time. He took over a list of players still in their prime who were used to winning premierships. He's never built a premiership winning list himself. I really don't rate him as a coach.

 

[Schulzenfest]

The major positive of Primus' appointment is that it prevented us from having that whining, whingeing hypocrite flog Chris Scott as the coach of the PAFC. Primus was a dud coach but at least he's not a dud human being.

 

[Jonts]

I just want this "real" port adelaide to win a premiership

 

[Joelg]

"We have the business licence from 1951, those are the facts".

Such a knob.

Attempting to make the PAMFC stronger by further poisoning the identity well. And now he works for Port. Classic.

What does Matt Richardson say now he is at the Power..............#turn coat

 

[Far Kern]

Have never been more deflated than learning the outcome of that so-called marathon meeting. Never was it more plainly obvious a coach had run his race at the club he was at.

This, this and so much this. The decision was so patently wrong as to only be seen to be corrupt. I understand REH's realpolitik argument but this only underscores how toxic and poor leadership at the club had become. I was furious. At the time I wrote to the club and directly said all of this and did NOT renew my membership until KT came onboard so impressively that I signed up for Club 1870 despite living interstate. The Primus appointment and years was similarly flawed but sadden rather than anger me. That loss to GWS was the single most predictable and important day in our recent history. From that point on nothing could be denied. As others have said without everything from that day in 2007 we would not have what we have now.

 

[Far Kern]

Excellent posts REH. I love your thoroughness and insight.

 

[TeeKray]

I prefer to view the Primus years as the recession we had to have. Primus did a lot of dirty work that gave Hinkley a reasonable platform to launch from in 2013. Chad Cornes, Brogan and Motlop would have hung around forever and a day if they weren't pushed. Would Chris Scott have made those calls or would he have tried to trade into premiership contention as soon as possible and ended up like Terry Wallace at Richmond? Guys like O'Shea, Trengove, Pittard, Jonas, etc, were all given real opportunity under Primus and had 1-2 seasons under their belts by the time Hinkley came along. People forget how awful O'Shea and Pittard were in their early days. To have that as your defence marshaled by the finger pointer pretty much gave us zero chance. No doubt Primus wouldn't have taken us much further than he did but some of the dirty work he did was valuable in a sense.

 

[Marmozet]

I prefer to view the Primus years as the recession we had to have. Primus did a lot of dirty work that gave Hinkley a reasonable platform to launch from in 2013. Chad Cornes, Brogan and Motlop would have hung around forever and a day if they weren't pushed. Would Chris Scott have made those calls or would he have tried to trade into premiership contention as soon as possible and ended up like Terry Wallace at Richmond? Guys like O'Shea, Trengove, Pittard, Jonas, etc, were all given real opportunity under Primus and had 1-2 seasons under their belts by the time Hinkley came along. People forget how awful O'Shea and Pittard were in their early days. To have that as your defence marshaled by the finger pointer pretty much gave us zero chance. No doubt Primus wouldn't have taken us much further than he did but some of the dirty work he did was valuable in a sense.

Yes to Primus's credit, at least he would blood kids like Pittard, O'Shea, Broadbent, Jonas, Moore and Butcher, and we drafted Chad Wingard under him. We can thank him for some small things.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

We can thank Sheedy for Chad Wingard.