ELEVEN new players have been welcomed to the Port Adelaide Football Club and reminded of the rare privilege they have to add to the legacy of past champions, at the club’s Season Launch and Hall of Fame gala.
A capacity crowd of 900 was on hand at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Thursday night as five new recruits and six draftees were presented with their guernseys by members of the club’s Hall of Fame.
Tom Rockliff described being presented with his Guernsey by club legend Stephen Williams as humbling.
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“It’s an amazing feeling when you’re standing up there (on stage) on a night like tonight when there’s so much history in the room and so many war stories or stories to be told, it’s a pretty special night for the footy club and it’s a bit humbling standing up there with some of the greats who’ve come before us,” he said.
It was the first time the Port Adelaide Football Club had come together for a dual Season Launch and Hall of Fame event and Chairman David Koch said the new players would get a strong sense of what it meant to be great, after
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He urged the current players, coaches, staff
“Here at Port Adelaide, we measure greatness differently to other clubs,” Koch said.
“Greatness is not achieved by fleeting success, a premiership here and there, greatness here at Port Adelaide is only achieved by sustained premiership success.
“Unrealistic? Greedy? Improbable? It’s not how we think here at Port Adelaide. We think differently.”
The night saw the induction of four new members of the club’s Hall of Fame, with eight-time Premiership player Paul Northeast, Premiership Captain Warren Tredrea, legendary player and administrator Bob Clayton and Premiership player and Coach Mark Williams
For the first
Koch described the night as a unique opportunity to highlight why the Port Adelaide Football Club stands above all as the most successful football club in Australia.
“I ask you all to listen to the stories of our past champions. I encourage you to learn about our great club. Ask questions, introduce yourselves and savor this rare privilege,” he said.
“Just like our past heroes, we are all custodians of the greatest football club in the land.
With that comes great responsibility to maintain the standards that have been set since 1870. We are all representing a very proud history and a very loyal community.
“Let’s not be burdened by that but embrace it and use it as inspiration moving forward.”
Port Adelaide will host the Adelaide Crows at Alberton Oval on Saturday in its second and final JLT Community Series match, ahead of its 2018 AFL Season opener against Fremantle at
