A club great, a long-serving volunteer and a drought breaking premiership team have been inducted into the Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame at a special event on Friday night.
One of the club’s most decorated players, Robbie Gray, was elevated into the Hall of Fame during the club’s annual Season Launch and Hall of Fame event at Adelaide Oval.
Long time volunteer Alf Trebilcock was also recognised after 58 seasons at the club.
The 1977 premiership side was inducted in the team's category – the fourth such team to be elevated.
Gray retired at the end of the 2022 season after a glittering 16-year career, which included booting 367 goals in his 271 AFL games.
Gray overcame a serious knee injury and a cancer diagnosis, going on to win three John Cahill Medals as the club Best and Fairest player, two club leading goalkicker awards and a host of other accolades including four All-Australian blazers, a record five Showdown medals and the AFL Coaches’ Association’s Champion Player of the Year award in 2014.
Having initially combined his volunteer work with a demanding job running his own butcher’s store in the Adelaide Central Market, Trebilcock has carefully looked after the boots of hundreds of players over the past six decades, witnessing the transition from ankle-high boots with knock-in timber studs to today’s multi-coloured ultra-light models.
Starting as a boot studder in 1968, he was involved in 11 SANFL premierships before shifting into the AFL program in 1997 and playing his part in the 2004 AFL premiership.
Trebilcock’s induction into the club’s Hall of Fame follows his awarding of Life Membership of Port Adelaide in 1979 and the AFL’s prestigious Jack Titus Award for conspicuous service for the game in 2013.
1977 SANFL coach John Cahill and two players – Brian Cunningham and Ivan Eckermann accepted the Hall of Fame honour on behalf of the wider premiership team. They made special mention of the four players who had passed away since the iconic victory – captain Russell Ebert, David Granger, Randall Gerlach and Bruce Light.
The 1977 success in the SANFL’s centenary season ended a 12-year premiership drought and set the club on course for eleven premierships over the next 20 years.
Chairman David Koch congratulated the latest inductees and thanked them for their service to the club.
“The Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame is about honouring incredible feats and celebrating unmatched dedication, passion and service,” Mr Koch said.
“If you look through the list of inductees over the years it is clear they are icons of our club, and more than that are icons of our game. Each has contributed to Port Adelaide standing above all others in the record books.
“Tonight’s inductions are proof that great clubs are made up of great people, and it is fitting that we celebrate Robbie, Alf and the 1977 premiership heroes on a night that we introduce the 2025 playing group, a side that we hope will follow in their footsteps and inspire generations to come.
“To Robbie, Alf and our 1977 inductees, congratulations and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for the Port Adelaide Football Club.”
The latest inductions mean the Port Adelaide Football Club’s Hall of Fame is now made up of 50 individuals and five teams or groups.
2025 Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame inductees
Alf Trebilcock
Club volunteer / boot studder
1968 – present day.
1979 Port Adelaide Life Member
2013 Jack Titus Award for conspicuous service to Australian Rules Football
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Robbie Gray
Games: 271 (2007-2022)
Goals: 367
AFL Honours
- All Australian selection (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
- AFLCA Player of the Year (2014)
- AFL Player Ratings Team of the Decade (2010s)
- International Rules (2011, 2014, 2015)
- Rising Star nominee (Round 12, 2007)
Club Honours
- John Cahill Medal (2014, 2015, 2016)
- Leading goalkicker (2011, 2018)
- Showdown Medal (2010, 2015, 2018 x2, 2019)
- Life Member (2016)
- Coaches’ Award (2009)
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1977 SANFL Premiership Team
Senior Coach
John Cahill
Captain
Russell Ebert
Port Adelaide 17.11 (113) defeated Glenelg 16.9 (105)
Football Park, Sept 24. Crowd: 56,717
Umpires: P Mead, R Bennett
Best: B Cunningham, R Ebert, B Light, M James, T Evans
Goals: T Evans 7, I Eckermann 3, D Granger, B Cunningham 2, G Blethyn, T Sorrell, M James 1
Port Adelaide team
FB: T Hannan, G Phillips, R Gerlach
HB: L Warren, P Woite, I Eckermann
C: B Light, R Ebert (C), K Kinnear
HF: T Sorrell, D Granger, A Porplycia
FF: P Belton, T Evans, D Cahill
Ruck: J Spry, M James, B Cunningham
Reserves: T Giles, G Blethyn
