"I SAW the future of the Port Adelaide Football Club today ..."

The speaker was a man of great service to Port Adelaide, as a player, a coach and an administrator. He was exiting Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon after the critical win against Sydney with his shoulders up, along with his optimism. His smile finished the sentence.

"I saw the future of the Port Adelaide Football Club today ..."

Port Adelaide's current promotional theme is "The Future Is Ours".

It is a bold statement. As bold as the one plastered on billboards during the summer of 2013 - before a game had been played to start a new era at Alberton - with new senior coach Ken Hinkley declaring his team would "Never, Ever Give Up!"

Promotional slogans have a way of embarrassing football clubs. Ask Carlton of its famous "They Know We're Coming" for its 2009 membership campaign. Carlton did play AFL finals in 2009, ending a seven-year drought ... but it did seem a hollow threat in the middle of the 2009 AFL season when Carlton was at 6-7 after a 69-point loss to Essendon at the MCG in round 13.

And the merit of Essendon's "Whatever It Takes" campaign in 2012 was more questionable when the club was put under investigation for its contentious supplements program.

"The Future Is Ours" has not drawn as much commentary as the "Chasing Greatness" aspirational theme developed at Alberton with the mission statement for the Port Adelaide Football Club headlined by the ambitious target of three premierships by the end of 2025.  

If ever "The Future Is Ours" was to be tested on the field, it was against the much-admired Sydney Football Club at the weekend.

In round 13 - against Richmond at the MCG on Thursday night - Port Adelaide fielded a team with an average age of 26 years and 189 days and with a combined AFL experience of 2739 games.

For round 14 - against Sydney - senior coach Ken Hinkley estimated he had lost around 900 senior games of experience at match committee by injury, form and those challenging COVID protocols (defined as "health and safety").

Out were -

Former captain TRAVIS BOAK: 318 AFL games. Age: 33.

Genuine superstar ROBBIE GRAY: 264 AFL games. Age: 34.

Seasoned half-forward/midfielder STEVEN MOTLOP: 215 AFL games. Age: 31.

North Melbourne recruit TRENT DUMONT: 121 AFL games. Age: 26.

TOTAL: 918 AFL senior games.

In came -

Father-son draftee JACKSON MEAD: 5 AFL games (before Saturday's win). Age: 20.

First-round draftee MITCH GEORGIADES: 38 AFL games. Age: 20.

Mid-season rookie draftee BRYNN TEAKLE: 0 AFL games. Age: 22.

Versatile defender MARTIN FREDERICK: 12 AFL games: Age: 22.

TOTAL: 55 AFL senior games.

BALANCE: Minus 863 senior games.

For deeper analysis, the average age of the team fell from 26 years and six months in the clash with Richmond to 24 years and 10 months against Sydney.

And the head-to-head comparison with Sydney that still defines itself as a "young team"?

Sydney had an average player age of 25 years and five months (seven months more than Port Adelaide) and average game-day experience of 108 AFL matches (Port Adelaide was 84 - a difference of 24 games, virtually a season).

Sydney had 11 players who had passed their 100-game milestone. Port Adelaide had nine.

The football program at Alberton certainly is sound. And the players given opportunity on Saturday to put their mark on Port Adelaide's future - and define their own - left these scouting notes:

Mead won many fans for his tenacious approach to the contest - and his sharp delivery to the Port Adelaide forwards.

Teakle was extremely unlucky to be taken to hospital with a fractured collarbone before he had savoured half a game of AFL football. But the East Fremantle recruit has left the perfect "first impression" by his tough approach to the game.

Frederick, out of contract at the end of this season, might have been asked - based on form and opportunities before Saturday - to measure interest outside of Alberton. He could become much more than "another half-back" at Port Adelaide now.

Georgiades is a certain prospect of that future that is Port Adelaide's ... Question is: Does he remain a forward or does he emerge in another role on the team grid, particularly as a strong-bodied midfielder (all the rage these days)? If he is to continue inside-50, the goalkicking yips will need to conquered by a player who just three months ago was being praised for having the perfect routine in his goalkicking. Since that lavish statement, Georgiades' scoring numbers have become 10.15 this season (40 per cent accuracy, ignoring the shots that went wide of the goalfront) compared with 32.17 last season (65 per cent).

And there is Todd Marshall - still 32 games short of his 100-game milestone, but finally living up to all the promise and unwavering faith carried by Hinkley and fellow forwards Charlie Dixon and Robbie Gray who in recent years have steadfastly backed the latent talent in Port Adelaide's No. 16 call in the 2016 AFL national draft.

This season - when Marshall has been exposed to more pressure by the absence of Dixon (by ankle surgery) - the 23-year-old key forward has rewritten his personal best with two five-goal returns (in the Showdown and against West Coast in round 6) and shown extraordinary goalkicking accuracy with his 27.7 (a superb 79 per cent conversion rate). The future is certainly of Todd Marshall's making now.

Port Adelaide list manager Jason Cripps' commitment to build the AFL's best under-24 list has more credibility today.

One win is an incredibly small sample size.

But the 23-point victory against Sydney did answer the challenge posed by Hinkley to his younger playing group on Friday.

"(Senior coach) Ken Hinkley mentioned that to us (on Friday morning); we are losing some great players," All-Australian defender Aliir Aliir said in the pre-game. "We are very excited with the young guys who are coming in. Having young boys there brings energy. We feed off that. Those young guys will be keen to play well."

And they did - to answer a longer-standing challenge set to the 21-24-year-olds to start taking ownership of this Port Adelaide team that has tested the shoulders of Boak, Gray and captain Tom Jonas for a long time.

It is a theme carried today by ultra-consistent defender, 25-year-old Ryan Burton: "I want to develop myself as a leader. I am doing some work on that with some other boys who are a similar age to me. I want to keep helping the young guys - and I want to step up in big games just as leaders do."

And fellow defender, 25-year-old Dan Houston: "The weight of expectation - and the need to improve - always has been there. But we have a hungry group with a lot of young guys wanting to take their game to the next level."

Both Burton and Houston passed their 100-game milestones this season. They are the poster boys of "The Future Is Ours" at Port Adelaide.

For one of the old guard at the Port Adelaide Football Club to leave Adelaide Oval with greater confidence of what is to unfold in the future makes that promotional slogan appear as more than a marketing gimmick.

But - at 6-7 and with a tightrope journey to September's top-eight AFL finals - it is best to keep the focus on the present - "living in the now" - as Hinkley demands at Alberton today.