FOLKLORE - actually, it is fact - has Port Adelaide players walking into the clubhouse at Alberton after SANFL grand final success at Football Park during the 1990s with the theme: "Celebrate tonight - and tomorrow get back to work winning the next flag."
It was the era when Port Adelaide had to constantly driven prove itself; despite unrivalled success in the State league it still had to earn - by winning on the field - the right to hold an AFL licence.
And so a tradition is made and defines the Port Adelaide Football Club.
A week ago, Lauren Arnell's Port Adelaide team came into the clubhouse with their boisterous rendition of "Power to Win" still echoing across Alberton Oval after their first AFLW triumph - the 66-point thumping of Sydney for the club's first W in W.
And now, as tradition demands at Alberton, they have to back up this win eight days later against Gold Coast at Bond University in south-east Queensland on Sunday afternoon.
It is the Port Adelaide way. Expectation should inspire rather than inhibit. Pressure lifts standards. Ambition fuels performance. The inspirational themes could fill the newly painted walls in the Fos Williams Stand with slogans, mantras and catchphrases.
And Arnell and her captain Erin Phillips would not expect it to be any other way.
So far, Port Adelaide has proven to be sound on the road. It led West Coast leading into the last term of the season-opener at Mineral Resources Park in Perth and drew with Carlton on the first trip to Melbourne a fortnight ago. The long-haul trip to south-east Queensland brings the challenge to back up the first W in W with consistency in performances to drive repetitive wins.
"Four points is one thing, but the way you go about your footy is another," says Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell. "And when you talk about belief, the way we performed defensively and offensively (against Sydney) is the platform for where we want to be."
Tradition, folklore and the memories of how a team rose to national acclaim demands Port Adelaide teams live with the expectation of winning - again and again and again. As the club song says, "It's the true Port Adelaide tradition. We'll never stop, stop, stop 'til we're top, top top."
No-one should doubt how Port Adelaide tradition has soaked into the bones of Arnell's "Inaugurals".
"It gives you goosebumps to be honest. It's crazy… you walk through the museum (at the club) and you see what it was like 150 years ago. But then to know that we'll go up there, that there will be photos of us in that museum as the first ever (Port Adelaide AFLW team). It's pretty awesome to know that when people walk through they'll see us and hopefully get that same feeling.”
Port Adelaide midfielder Jacqui Yorston
OPPO WATCH
ANY team that rebounds from a derby thrashing by winning a week later has spirit to admire. Gold Coast went from a 73-point trouncing in the derby against the imposing, high-scoring and undefeated Brisbane side to beating St Kilda by 14 points in Mackay.
Losing to Brisbane is no slur on any AFLW team today. Winning against St Kilda reaffirms to Gold Coast that it has the players and methods to succeed. Like Port Adelaide against Sydney, Gold Coast built its scoreboard opportunities early - but was not strong on conversion, putting 5.12 on the scoresheet.
"(By beating St Kilda) we know that when we play our way and to our strengths that we can take it to the opposition, no matter where they sit on the ladder," says Gold Coast key forward Jac Dupuy. "For us, it’s about knowing what we want to do. (Our coach Cameron Joyce) has been really clear to us about what our game plan is and the identity we want to play with.
"We’re very clear on being hard at the contest and I don’t think anyone would be surprised in me saying that we have players who love that competition."
Joyce is very clear on how his playbook is meant to read: "Most games start the same way – around the contest."
Gold Coast has a 2-2 win-loss record while working with a travelling caravan for home games. This match has been moved from Kombumerri Park (where the surface was graded unsuitable two weeks ago) to Bond University, giving Gold Coast its third "home" venue in five weeks. The critical point for this match is Bond University offers no noted advantage for any side - and, critically, no disadvantage for Port Adelaide.
The promise of the Gold Coast squad is highlighted in the AFLW "Team of the Week" from round four - it includes three Gold Coast players, All-Australian junior and recent No. 1 draftee Charlie Rowbottom, Courtney Jones and Kalinda Howarth.
Gold Coast returned from Mackay with no new concern to add to its injury list that already had claimed three players for the season - Alana Gee (back), Jade Pregelj (knee) and Jamie Stanton (knee).
MATE v OLD MATE
AT some stage on Sunday afternoon there will be players on both sides of the Port Adelaide-Gold Coast divide who will feel they are reliving a pre-season match simulation session or in-season competitive training run.
Port Adelaide has five former Gold Coast players among its 30-strong inaugural list - Hannah Dunn, Jacqui Yorston, Kate Surman, Cheyenne Hammond and Britt Perry.
All five will be on the team sheet to play their former mates.
Dunn probably faces the most emotions. She was Gold Coast co-captain in 2021 and captain in AFLW season six, the most-recent season. As Dunn said on leaving Gold Coast to be part of Port Adelaide: "This club and its people will always hold a special place in my heart, it has been my home away from home and the people have become my family." Today, the storyline has Dunn look at her old friends as rivals ... a theme that is becoming quite common amid expansion in the AFLW.
"I have been in that position - playing for Carlton and then Brisbane - where you play against your old mates," says Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell. "But you approach every game consistently. I know our group will do that."
MIDFIELD MADNESS
ERIN Phillips will stay in attack - and not just by the needs presented while key forward Gemma Houghton strives to find her way back from ankle surgery for the finish of season seven. The captain's power in setting up plays - and her rising ranking with goal assists and score involvements - will ensure Phillips remains inside the forward-50 arc to maximise Port Adelaide's scoring chances.
Two Rising Star nominees - teenagers Abbey Dowrick and Hannah Ewings - will continue to make their mark in the midfield vacated by Phillips.
While so many Australian football games are based on the midfield setting the agenda of the play, this match-up of the Port Adelaide-Gold Coast engines will be comparable to a speed and power race the auto tracks at the Gold Coast. The key point for Port Adelaide might be the spanner it can put in the Gold Coast works with its manic pressure game built on strong tackling.
"We are still the No. 1 tackling team in the competition," says Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell. "Teams that have that ranking in tackling you might assume they don't win their fair share of the footy. But we do both. The Port Adelaide way of being really hard to play against - and the competitive nature that we bring in every game - is something that is the bedrock of what we do."
DEFENCE RULES
PORT ADELAIDE has the "book-end" leaders on the AFLW charts with the statistics that highlight team players.
Captain Erin Phillips leads the league for goal assists.
Defender Indy Tahau is best in the AFLW for "one percenters".
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I feel like a broken record now - but I am very happy to keep doing it - the contested part of our game is something we are really proud of. We are still the No. 1 tackling team in the competition. Teams that have that ranking in tackling you might assume they don't win their fair share of the footy. But we do both. The Port Adelaide way of being really hard to play against - and the competitive nature that we bring in every game - is something that is the bed rock of what we do."
Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell
BIRD SEED
(little stuff that means most)
GOLD COAST v PORT ADELAIDE
When: Sunday, September 25, 2022
Time: 12.40pm
Where: Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland
First meeting of the teams
On the ladder - Port Adelaide 1-1-2, ranked 14th. Gold Coast, 2-2, ranked 12th.
Gold Coast gained its AFLW licence in September 2017 with entry to the national women's league in 2020 for Season 4.
Gold Coast qualified for the AFLW finals as the fourth-ranked team - with a 2-1-3 win-draw-record in the seven-club conference - and was quickly eliminated with a 70-point loss to Fremantle in the semi-finals. With the return of a league system, Gold Coast ranked 14th of 14 with no win from nine games in Season 5; and rose to 10th with a 3-1-6 win-draw-loss record in Season 6.
Last weekend: Port Adelaide scored its first AFLW win with a 66-point hammering of Sydney at Alberton Oval, registering the team's highest score and conceding its lowest score. Gold Coast had its second win of the season, rebounding from the horror of the women's Q Clash, with a 42-28 triumph against St Kilda.
Form lines - Port Adelaide, LLDW (losing to West Coast by 12 points, losing to the Western Bulldogs by 19 points, tie with Carlton and beating Sydney by 66 points); Gold Coast, LLWW (losing to North Melbourne by 26 points, beat West Coast by 14 points, derby loss to Brisbane by 73 points and win against St Kilda by 14 points).
