The Small Club from the Suburbs and its changes for 2019 [Pre-Season]
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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 can’t, 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 season’s 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 Hinkley’s guidelines
(pressure and possession), but it wouldn’t 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 won’t 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 line’s 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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