KEN TIERNEY was as Port Adelaide as they came during Fos Williams' "Golden Era" of the 1950s and 1960s. He was the local boy, from Rosewater - just east of the railway tracks alongside Alberton Oval.

He was loyal. Steadfastly loyal. While others trapped in the revolving door at selection between the all-conquering SANFL league side and talent-stacked "seconds" contemplated testing club boss Bob McLean's reluctance to even look at clearance forms, Tierney stayed true to Port Adelaide.

Tierney finished his SANFL league career with 160 games, well short of the milestones that were certain to have been celebrated at any other club such as West Torrens and later West Adelaide - the western suburbs rivals that did occasionally draw a Port Adelaide player out of Alberton.

At Port Adelaide, Tierney celebrated premierships - starting from his league debut season in 1954 when he finished the year on a wing in the epic three-point win against West Adelaide in the grand final that opened the Williams-Geof Motley run of six consecutive premierships.

Tierney was in the 1954, 1956, 1958 and 1959 grand final line-ups that created South Australian football history, changed the image of the Port Adelaide Football Club - to come out of the shadow of being second to Norwood on the SANFL premiership ledger. They ensured even more change, as noted at Alberton today when Port Adelaide is a growing national AFL club rather than a suburban powerhouse in a State league.

Tierney was part of the Port Adelaide teams that set up that dream - and not just by commanding the SANFL premiership race from 1954 until his retirement in 1963. He and his club mates made a statement during this Golden Era by pushing VFL clubs Melbourne, Geelong and Footscray at the Norwood and Adelaide Ovals in matches that were far from "exhibition" games to Port Adelaide.

Tierney carried the label of being "creative" as a half-forward or wingman. His talent was definitely with his blessed feet that delivered pin-point passes, generally with the short game while Williams demanded a long-kicking approach in the territory battle that was Australian football during the 1950s. He was a decade before his time, as Tierney's foot skills would have been a treat in combatting the Sturt playbook written by Jack Oatey after the extraordinary 1965 SANFL grand final won by Port Adelaide before a record crowd at Adelaide Oval (62,543).

In that year Tierney was again alongside Williams, as coach of the seconds after returning to Rosewater in 1964 as coach of its senior amateur side.

Tierney had closed his league career in 1963, having achieved life membership at the Port Adelaide Football Club on passing two qualifying milestones - 150 league games and 10 years' service at Alberton. In Tierney's case it was unquestionable loyal service.

Tierney earned State call-ups - clear proof of his status as a top-class player in South Australian league football - four times. There also was selection in the State team that went to Melbourne for the 1958 national carnival that celebrated the centenary of Australian football at its Victorian cradle.

The curse of injury hit Tierney twice with broken legs that hurt his prospects of joining many of his Port Adelaide team-mates in the SANFL 200 Club.

Born in 1935, Tierney was farewelled on Tuesday - and as he joins Williams again in the Elysian Fields of football's paradise there is again the reminder of how football and Port Adelaide has changed by the legacy left by Tierney and his compatriots at Alberton.

Tierney was from that era when Port Adelaide's elite men were "local heroes". From Rosewater by push bike to Alberton Oval for training during the 1950s is as true as Bob Quinn from Birkenhead by row boat across across the Port River in the 1930s.

Their ambition - their badge of honour - was to make Port Adelaide the best football club in South Australia ... and respected nationally. Those games against the VFL's finest were to prove - as Melbourne legend Ron Barassi would note - that Port Adelaide could stand up (and proudly so) against the standard bearers of Victorian football.

Today, this legacy lives on with Port Adelaide underlining this vision in the national league. It has moved beyond the SANFL to be an AFL club. Just as the script of local boy from the 5014 and 5015 postcodes riding his bike from Rosewater, across the railway tracks at Durham Terrace to train at Alberton Oval has significantly changed. Now it is Jordon Sweet growing up as a Port Adelaide fan, playing in an SANFL premiership with North Adelaide with a Port Adelaide great (Josh Carr) as his coach, working an apprenticeship at the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne and ultimately fulfilling his dream at Port Adelaide this season.

Tierney was one of the loyal, dedicated men who captured all of Fos Williams' desire to change Port Adelaide during the 1950s - and ensure more change half a century later. They built a club philosophy to be the best among the best - just as Port Adelaide seeks today as an AFL club.

Vale Ken Tierney.