Port Adelaide fans celebrate a goal in the club's inaugural AFL season. Image: AFL Photos.

"WE'VE got the Power to win ..."

Scott Cummings was certain of the opening line to the club song.

"And not much more," says the Port Adelaide Football Club's inaugural AFL leading goalkicker (70.50 in 21 matches). "I doubt anyone else knew much more of it either. If you find any recording of that first belting of the club song, I'd reckon there would be a lot of muffled singing."

The ninth line speaks of "history here in the making".

After 126 years in making history and rewriting the record books in South Australian football as a founding member of Australia's oldest State league (the SANFL of 1877), Port Adelaide had achieved another first - its breakthrough AFL premiership points in just its third game in the 16-team national league.

"It should have been the week before ... but I butchered so many chances," recalls Cummings of the club's first home game at Football Park, West Lakes.

Prolific forward Scott Cummings in action in Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL season. Image: AFL Photos.

Port Adelaide, responding to a poor showing in the season opener against Collingwood at the MCG, was true to senior coach John Cahill's belief that the 79-point to Collingwood was not reflective of what was building among his players. Many had been overwhelmed by the occasion and their first trip to the MCG. 

Eight days later, Cahill's feel was real with a fast start against Essendon. The 3.8 at quarter-time hurt, however. The 8.12 - with Cummings kicking (or miskicking) with 1.4 against his former club - hurt even more at the end when Essendon left West Lakes with a 33-point win.

The critics were standing by their pre-season predictions: Port Adelaide would not win a game in its inaugural AFL season. The pundits had seen Port Adelaide bundled out of the pre-season AFL Ansett Cup with a 36-point loss at Football Park to the league's 15th entry Fremantle. There also was a 10-goal loss to the more-established West Australian club, West Coast, at the now-lost Subiaco Oval in Perth during the practice matches. 

The pundits had engraved Port Adelaide's name on a wooden spoon - a dubious title not known at Alberton since 1900.

"A lot of people outside the club thought we would struggle to win an AFL game in 1997," recalls the club's inaugural president Greg Boulton. "But we never thought that way at the club."

As the new club song says, "With our tradition so strong, we can't go wrong."

Many pundits thought Port Adelaide would go winless in 1997 - a view that was certainly not echoed at Alberton. Image: AFL Photos.

The tale of the tape for the Round 3 clash with Geelong - a Saturday night game at Football Park - made it very clear for the bookmakers in setting favouritism in the pre-game market. Geelong was 1-1, having opened the season with a nine-point loss to Richmond at the MCG and a six-point win against West Coast at Kardinia Park. Port Adelaide was 0-2 and ranked 15th of 16, marginally ahead of St Kilda (an eventual grand finalist) by percentage.

Geelong had named a team with a combined count of 1444 AFL games - and six players who had passed the 100-game milestone, led by Paul Couch at 257 matches.

Port Adelaide had just 640 matches on its team sheet - and only two players who had 100 games to their name: Captain Gavin Wanganeen (129) and key defender Stephen Paxman (105).

Gavin Wanganeen leaves the field in Port Adelaide's Round 2 loss to Essendon, with its first AFL win to come the next round. Image: AFL Photos.

April 12, 1997 was to mark "history in the making" with one of the most significant moments in the Port Adelaide Football Club story.

"We've got the Power to win ... we'll never give in."

There was a strong start, albeit with 3.5 while holding Geelong to no goal. The 21-point lead at quarter-time became 39 at half-time and stayed at that margin at the final siren.

Cummings finished with 5.4.

"And I can't say I remember much of it," says Cummings, now a media commentator based in his home city of Perth.

"But I do remember the build-up. After that disaster with Collingwood in Round 1, we could have - we should have - won against Essendon in Round 2. We were hurt by our inaccuracy at goal and I am mostly to blame for that. I still don't feel great about that.

"But we felt we were close. We were playing some good footy. The build-up for the Geelong game was strong."

Cummings was Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL leading goalkicker, kicking 70 goals in 21 matches. Image: AFL Photos.

The win against Geelong - the historic first collection of four AFL premiership points - started to redefine Port Adelaide in the pundits' eyes. By the end of Round 6 - after five consecutive games at Football Park - Port Adelaide was 4-2 with successive wins against Geelong, Adelaide in the first Showdown, Brisbane and a 64-point belting of Richmond. By the end of July, Port Adelaide had a 10-7 win-loss record and was commanding fifth spot - equal second with Adelaide, St Kilda and Sydney.

"We were confident going into the 1997 season," says Boulton, "that our long-established club and our new senior team were capable of winning games. That first win defined our confidence and it kept building, particularly after that first win in the Showdown.

"What we saw after the first win was the strength of the Port Adelaide Football Club - and the reasons why the AFL took a club from a State league for its expansion plans; the only non-Victorian club that has ever risen from suburban games to the national stage.

"We were tight as a club. That applied in the boardroom; in the changerooms among our players; and with our supporters and sponsors."

The club song nails it again: 

"We're the Alberton crowd, Port Adelaide proud."

Boulton, who was well versed in Alberton traditions, and Cummings, who was learning his way as a new Port Adelaide player, have striking memories of the post-match celebrations that played out on a late Saturday night at Alberton.

"Elation, pure elation," says Boulton. "I was pleased for our coach John Cahill (who had marked his 50th VFL-AFL senior coach and 28th win after his earlier experiences at Collingwood).

"That win against Geelong announced, 'WE ARE HERE'.

"We announced we belonged in the AFL. We came with great history from the SANFL. That win reaffirmed our confidence that we could compete with - and beat - the best in the AFL. 

"Our history was strong. Our culture was tight. And we had deliberately picked a squad that would build long-term success from its potential. Externally, we were told we would not win a game in our first year. We missed finals by percentage. We won a premiership in our eighth season - and were dominant from our fifth.

"That first win was about saying we had made the right decisions - we were on our way."

Port Adelaide coach John Cahill addresses his side. Image: AFL Photos.

Cummings might have blurred memories of the game, serious doubts about the words he sang at the end of the match ... but he has a strong recall of how the victory was celebrated at Alberton. And what that triumph meant to him and his team-mates.

"That was massive at Alberton after the match," Cummings said. "People were ecstatic - the fans were manic. I learned that night how much football meant to the people who made up Port Adelaide. I had started to sense during the pre-season that this club was pretty special to its people. But that night after the first win really hammered it him what Port Adelaide is all about.

"As players, the win gave us an enormous boost. That was building even from that loss we had to Essendon in Round 2. We knew we had a team made up of decent players. But it is a win that does it for you ... "

The club song notes, 

"It's more than a sport, it's true Port Adelaide tradition."

Cummings adds: "I did not understand that part of Port Adelaide - the faith the club commands in the hearts of their fans - until I saw them celebrate that first win. If you want to talk about the belief that first win created, it was more in the special feeling the fans had ... a lot of them were wrecks in the way they celebrated the win. But that tells you what winning means at Port Adelaide."