FOR those players who joined Port Adelaide for its first AFL season from outside of Alberton, any thought that winning was not an expectation at their new club was an idea quickly erased.
Winning was the expectation, and one drilled into the group that formed the inaugural 'Power' squad for the 1997 AFL season.
In a recall series detailing the early years of Port Adelaide in the AFL, inaugural Power coach John Cahill and players Michael Wilson and Shayne Breuer detail the build-up to the first game.
Victorian Breuer, who came to Alberton from Geelong, said the expectation of winning was present from the very start of Port Adelaide in the AFL.
“The first thing I probably noticed when I came in was how all the staff, coaching and that just believed that no matter what, they were going to win,” Breuer told portadelaidefc.com.au.
“People talking about Port Adelaide and how they believe they can win, but once you’re actually amongst it, yeah it is like that.
“Even though we had no expectations, they did - they expected us to win, expected us to be competitive and we accepted nothing less.
“That was entrenched from the moment you walk through the doors to the moment you get kicked out.”
Port Adelaide will wear a commemorative guernsey on Easter Sunday when it hosts St Kilda at the Adelaide Oval.
The match will mark the start of the club’s 20th AFL season, and 146th continuous year of football.
Port Adelaide hosts St Kilda in AFL Opening Round on Easter Sunday, March 27 at 2:50pm (ACDT).
Watch Part 2 below.
Round 1, 1997 recall - Part 2, the first goal"When I'm sleeping, I remember it as me taking four bounces, weaving around three or four blokes and then I snapped it from about 60m out" - Shayne Breuer on kicking our first AFL goalWatch Part 1 here: http://bit.ly/1WNvNzSGrab the guernsey: http://bit.ly/1Ob4mcR#weareportadelaide
Posted by Port Adelaide Football Club on Friday, 25 March 2016
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