DESPITE an underwhelming 2016 campaign, Port Adelaide’s chairman David Koch says Port Adelaide is well positioned for on and off-field success next year.
That, he says, relies on full ‘buy-in’ from the Power’s playing group, as well as the club’s off-field team working towards maximising the opportunity to play a game in Shanghai.
It was a sentiment driven home at the end of his keynote address to a room filled by the club’s players, coaches, staff, volunteers and supporters at the club’s annual best and fairest count at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday.
“Our club remains in a strong position to bounce back quickly on the back of a loyal community, strong corporate backing and the vast potential that a game in China provides,” he said.
“It is now time for all of us in this room to start thinking about what we are going to do from this moment to make a positive difference to the Port Adelaide Football Club and create our own legacy moving forward.”
While the Power’s push into the Chinese market has bubbled throughout the 2016 season with a telecast partnership for the AFL forged by the club with CCTV, Koch says 2017 will be the year its significant off-field investment in the world’s largest economy will begin to fruit.
“Soon, we expect the AFL to ratify our historic game in Shanghai,” he said.
“In preparation for that, players and coaches will travel to Shanghai in December to promote our club throughout the biggest economy in the world, and we anticipate to have some very positive commercial partnerships to also announce across the off-season.”
Mr Koch also highlighted a number of achievements among the disappointed of the Power’s 2016 campaign, particularly the club’s strong off-field support through another 60,000-membership total and the fourth-highest home crowd on average for the third consecutive year.
