LIVE THE CREED, PORT! [Pre-Season]

I know I should have written last week, but I am suffering from Footy Holiday Blues. If there is nothing good about which to write, should I write at all? I don’t know. Here, it follows an effort to tell you all how I am feeling about our club at this moment.


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What to expect while you are expecting? Last season, at this point, I was full of hope. Port had been bold in the off-season after a strong, even if disappointing, season. We had identified our issues, and we sought the pieces that would fill up those blanks. 2018 was promising! And I was feeling good. Twelve months later and here we are, having trouble writing about footy and the Port Adelaide Football Club.

It is not that there is a shortage of materials about which to write: the club has made moves again [there are new assistant coaches, new players, and a new Board member]; Boak has stepped out the captaincy; supporters started the #BringBackTheBars movement; the fixtures for both Power and Magpies have been released; China; Jack Watts; AFL’s new rules; etc.

Still, my feeling is that a dark cloud is upon Alberton with no forecast of when the sun will be seen again. Perhaps, I am being contaminated by BigFooty’s intensity. People care too much about Port, and the feelings there go from heavenly joy to hellish despair in matter of minutes. Well, I miss those moments of heavenly joy. It has been “doom and gloom” for quite a while.

That’s what an 11-4 record to missing Finals entirely does to people. I concur with the public feeling that the accountability wasn’t enough. I wasn’t expecting Hinkley to be fired or Koch to resign, but I was expecting a fully soul-searching from the club that seems not have happened. The feeling got worse when a now-former member of Port’s China Advisory Group publicly criticized the club’s approach towards China. He was tired after five years of deaf ears from the club and threw up everything that was bothering him. It was not a fun reading. Worse, instead of acknowledging our shortcomings, the club has cut ties with the messenger.

The truth is Port seems to lack boldness. We are willing to take risks, I can recognize that, but not to go all-in. Last season, we were afraid of leaving our defense unprotected. However, we ended up losing anyway. We are afraid to go deep into China, and we might fail there because of it. We seem afraid to take criticism and to change approaches on and off the field.

Koch is using his vanity wrong. The greater the club becomes, the greater president he will be. He doesn't need to be the person who DID everything, but the one who LED everything. Nobody can possibly take the spotlight away from him. He is the person who represents the club. He is already a successful public figure. The only person that can harm Koch's image is Koch himself.

If we are a small suburban blue-collar club, as Koch likes to say, then, we cannot afford being risk-averse. That's a luxury we don't have. Life won't give us anything and protect us from nothing. We need to work harder, better, and smarter than everyone else to succeed. That is the Port’s Way, right? That is how the club has managed to win its 37 premierships.

It is past time we stop being afraid. We need to be humble enough to accept criticism and bold enough to change and to take deeper risks. We won’t be able to compete against the bigger fishes in the AFL pond, otherwise. “To be successful, each and every one of us must be active, aggressive and devoted to this cause” – on and off the field. LIVE THE CREED!

CARN THE PORT!

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