Matthew Primus and Damien Monkhorst battle it out in Port Adelaide's first AFL game against Collingwood at the MCG. Image: AFL Photos.

JOHN Cahill courageously took a detour from Glenelg in the SANFL at the end of the 1982 season to accept a much bigger challenge at VFL club Collingwood. He was going from trying to fold into the cultural extreme with the South Australian Tigers to maintaining a kindred spirit with the Victorian Magpies.

Or so "Jack" thought.

"We were the same," says Cahill of the impression that struck him on entering Victoria Park on leaving Alberton after guiding Port Adelaide to a hat-trick of SANFL premierships from 1979-1981 and an intense preliminary final against his other suitor, Glenelg, in 1982.

"We were 'generational' clubs - Dad barracked for Port Adelaide, so did his son. Same at Collingwood.

"We were working class. So was Collingwood.

"We expected to win. So did Collingwood.

"We were supported by loyal fans ... who kept you honest if you failed. I was okay with that at Port Adelaide. Same at Collingwood.

"We had players who demanded success of themselves at Port Adelaide. So did Collingwood ... 

"We had devoted support staff in the back rooms at Port Adelaide. So did Collingwood. My football manager at Collingwood, John Birt, was one of the many good people I found by my side at Collingwood.

"Both clubs were built on the spirit and hard work of good people. And you either liked us or you hated us. There was no middle ground. No one barracked for Port Adelaide as their 'second club' in the SANFL. Same with Collingwood in the VFL."

John Cahill addresses the Collingwood players at the break during a 1983 VFL match. Image: AFL Photos.

Black and white - one with bars (Port Adelaide), the other with stripes. Magpies. Kindred spirits.

And there the similarities ended.

"At Port Adelaide," recalls Cahill, "we had structure; strong structures in place. We had a committee of eight. We had a club leader who was respected across Australia, Bob McLean. And we had one coach - and no-one interfered with the coach. We had no hassles, on or off the field."

TICKETS | PORT ADELAIDE V COLLINGWOOD

Collingwood at the end of 1982 was a stark contrast. It was a divided club being torn apart by fierce factions. Media leader Ranald Macdonald took charge as club president with the "New Magpies" regime that appointed John Cahill as coach. The "old guard" of Old Magpies signed Hawthorn legend John Kennedy, who with great dignity stepped aside seeking no compensation and no controversy.

"Collingwood struggled to get it right; they needed strong leadership as they had with Leigh Matthews (the 1990 premiership coach) and later with Eddie McGuire (as president from 1999 when the club was at rock bottom on and off the field)," Cahill recalls.

"To be quite blunt, Collingwood was a rabble when I arrived. There was no clear chain of command as we had at Port Adelaide. People were going across Australia spending money - and sending the club broke - while recruiting players without ever consulting me as coach. It was all foreign to me.

William Picken of Collingwood takes a kick during the 1980's VFL match. Image: AFL Photos.

"It was a big decision to go to Collingwood. It was tough, particularly when the club lacked stability. But I enjoyed that challenge. It made me better, not just as a coach, for all those experiences."

Despite the political fall-outs around him at Victoria Park, Cahill lifted Collingwood from a four-win count and 10th position in 1982 to sixth spot (in a final-five era when the VFL was a 12-team competition) with a 12-10 win-loss record in 1983. The lessons on keeping a team focused on football while the club was surrounded in controversy served Cahill well in guiding Port Adelaide to the 1990 SANFL premiership while president Bruce Weber and his board were under siege for daring to show ambition in seeking an AFL licence.

Cahill advanced Collingwood to a preliminary final in 1984 and quit to return to South Australia - to West Adelaide - while the VFL club had hoped he would stay to go a step further in 1985.

The next time Collingwood would see Cahill was from the opposition bench at the MCG on March 29, 1997 when Port Adelaide opened its AFL story on the field.

Port Adelaide run through the banner for the first time in its AFL history, beginning the journey against Collingwood at the MCG. Image: AFL Photos.

"That was emotional - I had always held a soft spot for Collingwood and I wanted Port Adelaide to put on a fierce competitive game," Cahill said. "We were smashed by 79 points ...

"Yet again, I learned plenty from a moment at Collingwood. When I was coaching Collingwood, I learned the need to be really strong - and to never complain. I took on the role - and I needed to stand up and be strong against all the challenges that came. 

"It was the same in getting Port Adelaide to the AFL during the 1990s and then making sure we were competitive - and winning - from the start. When it became tough, I thought of my father - he signed up for two world wars, had lung cancer and never complained. He just kept saying he had lived a good life ... What did I have to complain about?"

Cahill is the only man to have sat in the hot seat of senior coach at both Collingwood and Port Adelaide. He led the two clubs when Port Adelaide and Collingwood were doing each other grand favours at the SANFL-VFL transfer desk during the 1970s and 1980s.

John Cahill heads up to the coaches boxes following his half time address in Round 1, 1997. Image: AFL Photos.

Gary Tredrea, father of Port Adelaide AFL premiership captain Warren, arrived at Alberton from Collingwood in 1973 after 19 VFL games in three seasons ... and after contemplating a move to Queensland.

Ruckman Murray Batt followed from Collingwood five years later. Then the powerhouse Stephen Clifford, ruckman Russell Johnston and Paul Rizonico who remains at Port Adelaide today as the marshall of the troops at the interchange gate at each AFL game.

"Russell Johnston was the best," says Cahill of his premiership captain. "Followed by 'Bomber' (Clifford, the three-time club champion)."

The traffic to Collingwood from Alberton was significant - Mark Williams, who became a Collingwood captain; Greg Phillips, Bruce Abernethy, Magarey Medallist Nathan Buckley, Alan Didak, Brett Chalmers, Shane Wakelin, Matthew Lokan, Levi Greenwood ...

Port Adelaide and Collingwood were good for each other for a long time.

Nathan Buckley was one of many that has a history and connection with both Collingwood and Alberton. Image: AFL Photos.

And then it all changed in the stormy winter of 1990. SANFL president Max Basheer strategically asked Collingwood president Allan McAlister one question: "Do you really want another club in the AFL wearing black and white?" Immediately, friend became foe.

In following McAlister, Eddie McGuire was even more emphatic in his objections, as has been well noted during the debate on Port Adelaide's right to wear black-and-white bars to celebrate its heritage ... that includes beating Collingwood for national honour as Champions of Australia in 1910 when the clubs were champions of their State leagues.

Remarkably, Port Adelaide and Collingwood have not been so active with each other at the AFL trade table. This is well noted with the impasse in 2003 when Port Adelaide let wingman Nick Stevens walk to Carlton with no compensation rather than trade the midfielder to Collingwood.

"We should still be mates, even if we are now rivals on the field," Cahill notes. "Our traditions are built on the same colours, the same philosophies in life and football.

"We should respect each other rather than be fighting. We should be helping each other to be the best football clubs we can be.

"And we might just be at that point again."

Port Adelaide certainly has stood up to the on-field challenge against Collingwood by holding an 18-17 count in the head-to-head battles for AFL premiership points.

Port Adelaide faces Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday. The Port Adelaide Cheersquad is offering bus packages to get supporters to the club’s first away game of the season, while there will be pre-game and post-game supporter functions in Melbourne.