AMONG the greatest gathering of Australian football's most eminent achievers - men who changed the game for the better - are 15 Port Adelaide heroes.

Some, such as Bob Quinn, left their indelible mark on the game from start to finish at Alberton.

Some, most notably Fos Williams and Bob McLean, came to Port Adelaide from SANFL rivals with a vision that not only changed the club but South Australian football - as noted during the past week with the 60th anniversary of the drought-breaking State team's triumph against Victoria at the MCG.

Some, such as Craig Bradley, Nathan Buckley and Andrew McLeod, started their extraordinary journeys in Australian football wearing the black-and-white bars at Alberton before graduating from the SANFL as Port Adelaide premiership players to greatness in the AFL.

And there is the "Legend" - Haydn Bunton senior - who completed his remarkable career that rewrote the record books in the VFL and WAFL at Port Adelaide in 1945.

Of the 15 Port Adelaide men to be honoured in the Australian Football Hall of Fame there are,

TWO "Legends" - Bunton senior and four-time Magarey Medallist Russell Ebert.

TEN are recognised for their playing achievements - John Abley, Bradley, Buckley, Bunton, Ebert, Geof Motley, Quinn, Gavin Wanganeen, Warren Tredrea and Greg Phillips.

TWO for their phenomenal coaching records, even though their playing days are enough for Hall of Fame honour - Williams, with his nine flags, and Cahill with his 10.

ONE administrator - McLean.

On Tuesday (June 27), the Hall of Fame - too often erroneously referred to as the "AFL" Hall of Fame rather than as "Australian Football" - will introduce its latest inductees, the 28th new constellation added to the galaxy of stars assembled for the inaugural black-tie event in Melbourne in 1996 during the VFL-AFL's centenary season.

The selection criteria emphasises "outstanding service and overall contribution to the game of Australian football" - and demands of a "Legend" that the candidate "caused the game to change significantly for the better". The charter handed to the national selectors requires record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship and character to be considered, but tenure is to be measured as appropriate rather than serve as a determining factor to eligibility.

Too often, the Hall of Fame is criticised for having left behind too many of the game's pioneers from its colonial roots of the 1880s and early achievers of the 20th century - or for undervaluing the records built in competitions outside the VFL-AFL.

This year's inductions should prove - or at least reaffirm - the vow of former AFL Commission and Hall of Fame chairman Ron Evans: "If you belong in the Hall of Fame, you will (in time) be inducted."

So who from the Port Adelaide Football Club merits induction to the Australian Football Hall of Fame?

Legend status befits Quinn and Williams.

QUINN was appropriately among the inaugural 136 inductees in 1996. His glittering record as a Port Adelaide and South Australian State rover is of Hall of Fame status, particularly his achievements - such as being the first All-Australian captain in 1947 after returning from war service with serious wounds. 

But the stories of his leadership, particularly of the State team that drew with Victoria at Princes Park in 1946, and his inspiration to those who watched Quinn courageously defy the physical and mental scars from war are of "Legend" status. His name is perpetually honoured by the SANFL with the medal awarded to the best player in the Anzac Day grand final rematch.

WILLIAMS also was among the inaugural inductees in 1996. There is no question that in moving from West Adelaide - where he was a premiership winner in 1947 - Williams significantly changed the Port Adelaide Football Club for the better. In doing so, he also created - while Port Adelaide dominated SANFL football during the 1950s and 1960s - a dominant football empire that commanded the attention of many new Australians who arrived from a war-torn Europe knowing football as a game played with a round ball.

If this was not legendary enough, certainly Williams' contribution to the heritage of the South Australian State team - and not just by the 1963 odds-defying triumph at the MCG - merits the highest pedestal in the Hall of Fame.

No other man served the State team as often as Williams. His name is honoured by the SANFL with the medal to be best South Australian player in senior interstate contests.

The case for Williams' elevation - perhaps in 2024 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the start of the Six in a Row (1954-1959) premiership run at Port Adelaide - would seem most compelling.

Who still merits Hall of Fame selection from the Port Adelaide Football Club?

From Port Adelaide's Hall of Fame there are six names that stand out.

BRIAN CUNNINGHAM. On his playing record alone - which is recognised by both his club and state's football halls of fame - Cunningham can stand alongside any player in the national pantheon. His proven success as a player, three-time premiership captain and in baffling so many as to which foot served as his "natural" kicking tool establishes Cunningham as one of the finest footballers of any era, generation or league. And then there is the administrative achievements in giving Port Adelaide renewed credibility after the failed bid for AFL status in 1990 and in establishing the club's national status on achieving an AFL licence in 1994 and on entering the national competition at the end of 1996. The man's pristine style and unblemished reputation stands every test on Hall of Fame selection.

TIM EVANS. For the national Hall of Fame to have not honoured - at the initial inductions in 1996 - South Australia's greatest goalkicker before Evans in North Adelaide legend Ken Farmer says something. There now seems an echo with Evans who rewrote Farmer's season-best record with his 146 goals in the 1980 season. His 1044 career goals - including 41 in 10 State games with South Australia - rank No.12 in all elite football across Australia and No.2 in SANFL records. He topped the SANFL goalkicking list six times during its most-attacking era of the 1970s and 1980s. The record itself is of Hall of Fame status, let alone the influence his strong marking and purposeful kicking had for inspiring young would-be league footballers.

SCOTT HODGES. After Evans, there was Hodges. The 1990 Magarey Medallist rewrote the SANFL season-best goalkicking record at 153 in that 1990 season of extraordinary demands and pressure on the Port Adelaide players while their club was caught in the political and legal storm of seeking admission to the expanding AFL national competition. Eight SANFL premierships, leading goalkicker at Port Adelaide five times, Ken Farmer Medallist as the SANFL's leading goalkicker three times, leading goalkicker at AFL club level once in 1992 ... and a phenomenal highlights clip of game-changing plays, particularly in finals at Football Park during the 1990s - be it that goal against Norwood in a preliminary final or that run-down tackle in a grand final against Woodville-West Torrens.

SAMSON "Shine" HOSKING. In the files at the SANFL History Centre is a document that stands as grand testament to Shine Hosking's depth of knowledge and care for Australian football. It might be the first coaching manual written for sport with notes - that have stood the test of time, according to Hall of Famer Malcolm Blight - on each position in the game. Hosking became an accomplished SANFL league coach (six premierships from 1921-1942) after being a four-time premiership player, twice a Magarey Medallist and the man who to this day remains the oldest to feature in an SANFL match - aged 48 years 154 days - in 1936, nine years after his second retirement in 1927 after he had first hung up the boots in 1921. A member of Port Adelaide's history making teams - including the 1914 Invincibles - Hosking was universally recognised as one of the most-influential figures in South Australian football in the first half of the 20th century.

HAROLD OLIVER. When any selection charter needs a road map, it is best to work the theme: "Did the player bring fans through the gate?" Oliver had them swinging the turnstiles at the start of the 20th century to be one of the early cult figures of South Australian football. His league record in the SANFL is deprived its full destiny by the outbreak of World War I that shut down the league competition for the 1916, 1917 and 1918 seasons. One of those top-notch players who was worthy of being dubbed as a Magarey Medallist - but without the SANFL's highest individual player award - Oliver stood out among the greats from the Port Adelaide team that was the "Invincibles" in 1914 and the South Australian State team that was the first and only South Australian team to win a national carnival (1911 in Adelaide) before the introduction of Origin rules. Oliver's record is loaded with team (club and State) success and individual brilliance. But it is the lasting memory of his influence on the fans and their appreciation of his talents that makes Oliver a Hall of Famer at Port Adelaide and in South Australia. National honour and recognition - even a century after his last league game - would be fitting.

MARK WILLIAMS. Never in the shadow of his famous father, Williams made his mark as a player and coach in four States - South Australia, Victoria where he became captain at Collingwood, Queensland as an inaugural member of the Brisbane Bears and New South Wales with the start of the Greater Western Sydney franchise. His coaching - with a strong emphasis on enhancing the prospect of young players and developing all players to find strengths where there are perceived weaknesses - remains an influence on Australian football today. His drive to deliver Port Adelaide's first AFL premiership in 2004 after mentoring a dominant team from 2001 (with 16, 18, 18 and 17 wins in each of the home-and-away series from 2001-2004) is of Hall of Fame merit.

And ERIN PHILLIPS seems a certainty to be Port Adelaide's first female inductee to the national Hall of Fame. The inaugural Port Adelaide AFLW captain gave the new women's league an instant standard-bearer and defining focus from its start in 2017. She would follow her father Greg to the Hall of Fame with an unprecedented induction of father-daughter pedigree.

A player must wait until at least five years after retirement for induction to the national Hall of Fame with the Australian football pantheon recognising men and women on an equal footing. Some are left to wait for much longer ….

Michelangelo Rucci is a former selector to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.