The Small Club from the Suburbs and its changes for 2019 [Pre-Season]

We are the greatest small club from the suburbs in the world, as you know. There are times that we should focus on the small; and others, on the greatest. Nowadays, we need to remember our greatness. To be successful, we have made changes to this season. Will they work? I dont know. I think they are good, but I have been wrong before. The offseason is too long. How do you guys handle the waiting?

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Koch loves calling Port a small club from the suburbs. I get it. It is partially true, and it has nice ring to it. It is also to be meant ironically after all, no ordinary small club from the suburbs does what Port has done. We are extraordinary. This week, our new defense coach, Brett Montgomery called us, out of the blue, a big club; which is also partially true. However, it is more fitting for the current situation of the Port Adelaide Football Club.

We are not in a position for being ironic. You can only call yourself small when you and everyone else know you are big. However, the presence of the Ghost-of-Recent-Pasts is still felt strongly in Alberton. There is a sense that the worst is behind us, but there is no guarantee that we are free from danger. People outside the club are also aware of this.

Whenever we finally establish strong roots in China; whenever we are finally full of go-f**k-yourselves money; whenever we have made a habit out of winning Finals; then, and only then, we will be able to call ourselves a small club from the suburbs. Indeed, it will be good for putting our own arrogance in check. Now, we cant, though.

These are times for us to remind ourselves of our greatness. Our history shows that no goal is great enough for us; that we belong among the best. Currently, there are doubts about this from inside and outside the club. To prove those doubts wrong, that is our current struggle. We must act accordingly. Montgomery is right. Port Adelaide is BIG, and we are going to show it to everyone who is watching. [Hopefully!]

We will never know for sure what has come out of the internal review on our past seasons failures. Still, there are some signs that can be read under such lights. On the coaching staff, Voss was promoted to Senior Assistant, and Montgomery, Jarred Schofield (midfield), and Dean Brogan (ruck) have come on board. On the players, we brought in, among others, Scott Lycett, a ruckman and defending premier champion. 
 
I still believe that the de facto head coach is our assistant coach. Hinkley would be responsible for the Football Department as a whole. This means that Voss would be in charge of defining how we are going to play. If we take the words coming from our coaches to be true, our style will be very different from what we saw last year. The gameplan would still fit into Hinkleys guidelines (pressure and possession), but it wouldnt look anything like that slow attack-less catenaccio we painfully followed past season.

Moreover, Darren Cahill has joined the board. He is an experienced and successful coach himself; although, in tennis. He has said that one of his roles is to be someone on which Hinkley can rely. In other words, Hinkley wont be alone, but will have someone with whom he can talk. Problems will emerge, there will be doubts, the entire Football Department must be on the same page, and Hinkley will have someone helping him to keep the ship steady.

All these changes seem to be related to the internal review. We saw our issues and acted to solve them. It is true that this also was done after 2017, and it failed. However, that was after a relatively successful campaign; and we probably outsmarted ourselves there. We have even given Nathan Bassett another chance, recognizing that our forward lines issues may have not been his fault.

I cannot say it is going to work, I was confident last year would be so different than it was, but there are signs that the club has reviewed the season and acted on the problems it has identified. The success now depends on being smart, confident, united, fit, and focused from the president to the doorman. From the outside and very far away, I can only trust that those in Alberton are capable of doing it.

Are we there yet? This waiting is too damn long!

CARN THE POWER!

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