THE Port Adelaide Football Club congratulates past player Che Cockatoo-Collins on his induction into the Queensland Football Hall of Fame.
Cockatoo-Collins, who played 75 games and booted 106 goals for Port Adelaide in the AFL after 85 games and 109 goals at Essendon, was given the honour this week.
The first Indigenous player from Queensland to play in the AFL, Cockatoo-Collins started his football career at Port Adelaide in the SANFL, after his mother and siblings moved to Adelaide.
Initially starting in the under 17s, the supremely skilled wingman and forward played 25 SANFL games for Port Adelaide before the Bombers drafted him ahead of the 1994 season.
He returned to Alberton in 1999, going on to become a fan favourite for his mercurial talent.
Despite retiring in 2005 after two more seasons in the SANFL, Cockatoo-Collins’ Port Adelaide connection remains through his son Preston, who is part of the club’s SANFL list in 2023, and his nieces Litonya and Laquoiya Cockatoo-Motlap, who are part of the club’s AFLW side.
