Port Adelaide legend and first VFL/AFL draft pick Martin Leslie says that the culture of responsibility and the ‘ghosts’ of past players at Alberton drove his football career in the 1980s and 1990s.

Leslie debuted in Port Adelaide’s league side in 1981.

He would go on to become the first ever number one draft pick at the inaugural VFL (now AFL) National Draft when he was signed by the Brisbane Bears.

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Born and bred just minutes from the hallowed turf of Alberton Oval, Leslie revealed to the portcast, the Official Podcast of the Port Adelaide Football Club, that his exposure to the ultra-successful years of the Magpies in the SANFL led to his understanding of the way the club worked in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“I started watching Port with my family, I used to go to every game from when I was five years old,” Leslie told the portcast.

“I watched a lot of games, I was here in 1977 when there was 22 and a half thousand people here [at Alberton] watching Port and Norwood.

“It was a really good experience to watch Port Adelaide play in those days, the crowds were big - everything was robust about the club.”

Leslie trained with the Magpies’ League side in 1980 and finally debuted in the famous prison bars in 1981.

Culture was everything at Port Adelaide during the 80s - something that helped the Magpies win four premierships during the decade. However the kicks didn’t come easy back then.

“I started playing in 1981 in League footy [but] I can honestly say that I was training with the league guys for a bit of 1980 and it was very hard to get a kick … in those days,” said Leslie.

“The League team without needing to be, were probably arrogant in the way that they were fairly successful at the time.

“So for a young lad to come out and get a kick at training was a big ask [and] it wasn’t until I probably played five or six games of A-grade footy that I felt like I was part of that team.”

The notion that Port Adelaide expected to win every time it played was still part of the psyche at Alberton in those days and for Leslie, there was no greater motivation to play hard than the culture of success that had been bred over a century of football at Alberton.

“I liked the culture,” he said.

“It taught me a lot about life and a lot about responsibilities as well.

“I was pretty responsible I thought when I played for Port Adelaide - I felt as though there was the ghosts of the past, the players of the past always looking over you making sure you did the right thing.

“I held that fairly strong.”

Whilst the club would use the tagline “The Magpies expect to win” as their motivation for the 1988 premiership - Leslie’s first flag with the club - he said it had always been the prevailing mentality at Alberton.

“The culture here was that people expected you to win, they expected you to be pretty full on at the ball.”

“If you weren’t I don’t think you lasted very long … if you were lacking in the hardness department you didn’t last very long at the club in those days.

“You were told by the supporters after the game if there was even one moment of the game … you would be told about it.”

You can listen to Martin Leslie in episode 5 of the portcast on PTV above.

Alternatively you can download and subscribe to all episodes of the portcast on iTunes by clicking here.