PORT ADELAIDE went further - to the preliminary finals - than many external pundits (including AFL club captains) imagined was possible ....

But not as far as everyone at Alberton hoped.

So what is to be made of Season 2024, an AFL campaign that began - as all do at Port Adelaide with grand ambition - but yet again fell agonisingly short on the summit? 

To rank outright second at the end of the home-and-away campaign with 16 wins from 23 matches was an extraordinary achievement, particularly after gloom was cast over Port Adelaide with the 79-point loss to eventual grand finalist Brisbane at Adelaide Oval on June 22.

Port Adelaide responded with eight wins from the next nine games, including a 112-point thrashing of the other eventual grand finalist and minor premier Sydney at Adelaide Oval on August 3.

Ken Hinkley's crew did - as they should - built up expectation that exceeded the experts' predictions. Port Adelaide was considered by many - including the AFL captains - to have a list capable of achieving a 6-8 finish .. play an elimination final, perhaps advance to the semi-finals. But that was the limit to their vision.

Port Adelaide played in its third preliminary final in five years ... with a list that one expert says "has holes all over it". This speaks volumes for the strength of the football program at Alberton and why players want to be part of this ambitious environment that relentlessly chases success.

But it is not perfect. 

In 2023, Port Adelaide entered the top-eight finals series with severe limitations created by a hefty injury toll on key players and those holes in the list that were exposed by crafty rivals.

In 2024, the script was significantly darkened by the late loss of playmaking defenders Dan Houston (by suspension) and Kane Farrell (hamstring strain) -  and a repeatedly makeshift attack that was critically denied Sam Powell-Pepper by a knee injury early in the campaign.

Injuries are an inevitable curse in any football season. But there is the reality of when this annoying curse strikes - and which players a team is denied. The lack of a consistent crew in the Port Adelaide attack was a damaging reality and limitation in September.

In 2023, Port Adelaide reacted to the indisputable needs in defence and ruck with an aggressive approach at the trade table. The theme continues ... as does the need and ambition to work harder and with a stronger mentality to cross that final threshold in September.

BY THE NUMBERS 

Played 26 (including three finals)

Won 17 (16 home-and-away)

Lost 9 (seven home-and-away)

Ranking, second in home-and-away; third after finals

Scored 2199 (average 85 points)

Conceded 2057 (average 79 points)

BY comparison to 2023, Port Adelaide scored a goal less on average - and conceded a goal less on average. The significant note remains on goalscoring conversion - from 330.314 in 2023 to 310.339 this season.

The most-significant adjustment in the statistical counters during 2024 was the highly regarded ground-ball figures after Port Adelaide was well behind league pace early in the season. The key indicator finished at 103.8 on average for Port Adelaide - above the league marker of 99.6. 

The AFL statistics reaffirm a team that plays to command the corridor and load up its attack with front-half dominance and pressure. Putting this aggressive theme on the scoreboard is very much the challenge in 2025.

GAME TO REMEMBER 

OF the 17 wins, none defined Port Adelaide more than the semi-final triumph at home against the highly fancied Hawthorn. With their backs to the wall, after a horror qualifying final against Geelong at Adelaide Oval, Port Adelaide responded with a dramatic three-point win against a team that was considered by the analysts as capable of winning the flag. The move of Jase Burgoyne to half-back to counter the loss of Dan Houston and Kane Farrell was decisive - and a pointer to the future prospects of a novice who stood out on a wing this season.

PLAY TO REMEMBER 

IN 2023, it was Dan Houston from outside 50 at the MCG for the after-the-siren goal that sunk Essendon by five points.

In 2024, it is the Darcy Byrne-Jones' goal off the ground in the 34th - and final - minute on May 19 at Adelaide Oval that completed a stunning comeback after Hawthorn led by 41 points during the time-on period of the third term.

COACH 

SENIOR coach Ken Hinkley reached significant milestones in 2024. He finished the year having managed Port Adelaide in more AFL games than any other senior coach at Alberton (superseding Mark Williams' count of 273). He started the season passing the 250th milestone as a coach (and gladly stepped out of the limelight to give full acknowledgment of former captain Travis Boak reaching his 350-game milestone). Mid-season, Hinkley reached 400 games as a coach and player (recognising his VFL-AFL career at Fitzroy and Geelong).

Hinkley closes 2024 with a 165-109 win-loss record, a 60.22 per cent winning rate. He has taken Port Adelaide to seven final series, ensuring throughout his tenure at Alberton that Port Adelaide is always relevant as a contender for September.

There is, as has been repeatedly stated, no grand final appearance after four preliminary finals (2014, 2020, 2021 and this season). As Hinkley says, it is a fact he cannot deny - but, for all the external criticism, Hinkley lives his "never, ever give up" mantra by seeking to change this script. The reality of modern, elite Australian football - in stark comparison to the game from two generations ago - is no one man can define an AFL team. It is, as Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott defined a decade ago, about a program and the people in that program working to a common goal. At Alberton the football program has stood up against significant challenges and has repeatedly adapted to meet new challenges. 

THE LIST 

IN a year of torment by injury in establishing a stable attacking unit, Port Adelaide ultimately used 34 players in 26 matches. The league average was 37.

Vice-captain Zak Butters, master midfielder Willem Drew, versatile defender Miles Bergman, midfielder Jackson Mead, new defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and forward Darcy Byrne-Jones played in all 26 matches. 

DEPTH CHART

WHILE Port Adelaide used less players than the league average (34 against 37), the question of development in the second-tier competition is more and more relevant - and subject to more talks with the SANFL.

Clearly, there is an uneven playing field across Australia as teams benefit in the development agenda depending on access to talent in academies and productive recruiting rules for reserves teams in the VFL.

Port Adelaide remains committed to the SANFL competition, but the debate on establishing equality with development opportunities - particularly with eastern AFL rivals - is more relevant than ever.

NEW 

FOUR players answered critical needs for Port Adelaide during the October trade period - needs in ruck and key defensive roles.

In ruck, the No.1 role began with Richmond recruit Ivan Soldo and ended with Western Bulldogs apprentice Jordon Sweet. The ruck depth chart is also boosted by the continuing progress of Dante Visentini.

Port Adelaide's key defensive pillars were strengthened by the arrival of Brandon Zerk-Thatcher from Essendon and Esava Ratugolea from Geelong (forcing the injury cursed Trent McKenzie and Tom Clurey out of the AFL circle). There are fewer questions about Port Adelaide's ability to deal with tall threats in opposition attacks.

LEADING GOALKICKER

MITCH GEORGIADES started the season on the comeback from a serious knee injury - and carrying the hangover question on his goalkicking conversion. He finished the year as Port Adelaide's leading goalkicker with 44.27 in 20 games, a vastly improved result on his 23.24 in 2022.

Often labelled as a "tall forward", the 191-centimetre Georgiades has emerged from the goalsquare to be a challenge to defenders when he is on the lead to the upper edge of the 50-metre arc. Of the specialist "tall" forwards, Georgiades played the most games of the 26 - Charlie Dixon played 18, Todd Marshall 19, Jeremy Finlayson 12 and Ollie Lord six.

Through much of the early stages of the season, the debate was: Can Port Adelaide play four talls in attack? By the end of the campaign, Finlayson was sidelined by a ruptured spleen; Dixon was willing but not always able; Marshall was in concussion protocols and defender Esava Ratugolea was needing to play as a key forward.

ALL-AUSTRALIANS 

AS in 2023, midfielder Zak Butters and half-back Dan Houston were recognised for their stellar seasons with All-Australian honours. 

The All-Australian selectors are bombarded with statistics - and the numbers were impressive with Butters during the home-and-away series: average of 28.7 disposals of which 11 were contested and 5.1 from clearances. His resilience was emphasised by his playing finals with a cracked rib.

RISING STAR 

LOGAN EVANS is one of the great stories of all AFL tales in 2024. Overlooked in the 2023 AFL national draft, the Norwood defender arrived at Alberton during the pre-season - and by his dedication and hard work proved he was worthy of a place on an AFL list.

Evans was claimed by Port Adelaide as its only pick in the mid-season rookie draft, made his AFL debut against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval in late June to stand out amid a bleak team performance - and never fell out of the side to complete the season with 13 games packed with invaluable experiences.

Evans was finally recognised with a Rising Star nomination - "the young fellas award," as Ken Hinkley famously called it - in round 24.

His attitude and appetite to learn fast suggest Evans will be a continually improving player.

NEXT ON AGENDA

CLUB CHAMPION

FRIDAY, October 4 marks the close of the 2024 AFL campaign with the presentation of the club champion award, the John Cahill Medal.

Vice-captain Zak Butters will be the pre-count favourite and most-likely winner, collecting the John Cahill Medal in consecutive years - as Robbie Gray did from 2014-2016; Kane Cornes in 2007-2008 and Warren Tredrea 2004-2005.

Butters was Port Adelaide's leading votegetter (29) in the Brownlow Medal count, the AFL coaches' choice as Port Adelaide's best player this season and the players' call as the most-courageous with the Robert Rose award.

TRADE WINDS 

PORT ADELAIDE continues to be seen as a "destination club" - and not just a "come home" option for South Australians drafted away from South Australia.

The October trade period already has contracted and versatile Gold Coast forward Jack Lukosius, the No.2 draftee in 2018, seeking a move to Alberton. The 24-year-old South Australian has played 116 AFL games, kicked 79.72 and stands at 195cm - with instant prospects as a strong fit to the Port Adelaide attack.

Port Adelaide is again primed to maximise its options in the free agency market next month.

FORECAST 

PORT ADELAIDE has immense upside with the midfield battery it has assembled - captain Connor Rozee, vice-captain Zak Butters, the No.1 draftee Jason Horne-Francis and the disciplined Willem Drew are the basis for a game-winning unit. There also is a young ruck partnership with Jordon Sweet and Dante Visentini to engage this engine for many seasons.

Around this impressive midfield unit - that has a long lifespan - is a sounder defence and the prospect of a new-look attack.

Again, Port Adelaide will start the season without garnering favouritism in the pundits' predictions and forecast. Indeed, some are already prepared to write off Port Adelaide as an also-ran in 2025.

But the track record of the solid football program at Alberton would suggest a top-eight finish is well within reach. And then it is all about capitalising to get beyond that challenging threshold on the second-last weekend in September.