One of the club’s most decorated players, Robbie Gray, has been elevated into the Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame.
Gray was inducted during a ceremony at Adelaide Oval at the club’s annual Season Launch and Hall of Fame event on Friday night.
The softly spoken champion retired at the end of the 2022 season after a glittering 16-year career.
A classy forward or midfielder capable of the mercurial, Gray booted 367 goals in his 271 AFL games.
A three-time winner of the John Cahill Medal as the club Best and Fairest player and twice Port Adelaide’s leading goalkicker, Gray overcame a serious knee injury early in his career and a cancer diagnosis later to gather a host of club, AFL and media awards.
Among them were five Showdown Medals, the AFL Coaches’ Association’s Champion Player of the Year in 2014 and four All-Australian blazers.
He was also selected to represent Australia in International Rules on three occasions.
Having been awarded Port Adelaide Life Membership in 2016, he described his immense pride at his latest accolade - induction into the club’s Hall of Fame.
“It’s a pretty crazy feeling,” Gray smiled after receiving his honour.
“Growing up a Victorian boy you don’t know a whole lot about the Port Adelaide Football Club. You hear the stories on nights like tonight so to be mentioned amongst those now is incredibly humbling.
“There are so many great people at the club. I formed great relationships with players. It really made me feel welcome and helped me settle in.
“I’m so grateful to the Port Adelaide Football Club and particularly to the members and fans who have given me so much love and support for so many years.”
Drafted with pick 55 in the 2006 AFL National Draft, Gray fast became known for his uncanny skills and match-winning goalkicking.
Another club great, Travis Boak was drafted to the club in the same year and described his good friend as one of the most humble people he knows.
“Even to this day, he would never talk about himself,” Boak said. “You bring up moments in games, you bring up years that he's had, his achievements, what he's done, and he will quickly change the subject.
“And I feel like his humility has just grown as his stature in the AFL and his stature at Port Adelaide grew. He just became even more humble.
“That's just the person he was even right from the start, he was just about being a good friend, being a good teammate.
“It is rightly his night tonight, and we finally get to celebrate Robbie Gray, and hopefully, he understands what he's done for this footy club, for AFL footy in general and the amount of kids and people that he's impacted through his on-field and off-field personality.”
They were sentiments echoed by senior coach Ken Hinkley who coached Gray for ten seasons.
“He's just a humble champ,” Hinkley said. “That's Robbie, and that's why he was always easy to coach.
“I think he almost got embarrassed by his own greatness at times.
“He always knew his flaws in his game, but he'd never recognise his absolute talent. He was always a bit too critical on himself but when we needed him to win, he won for us.
“He had this amazing agility. He wasn't the best runner, wasn't the fastest runner but he had an incredible brain.
“The other thing that doesn't get said a lot about Robbie is that he's tough. He was not just a brilliant player, he was a tough player.”
Gray’s induction followed that of long-time club volunteer Alf Trebilcock earlier in the evening.
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)
