AFL Premiership Coach and four-time Premiership player Mark Williams has been inducted into the Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame.
Made a life member of the club in 2002, Williams played in SANFL Premierships in 1979, 1980, 1990 and 1992 before embarking on his coaching career.
The club’s longest-serving AFL Coach with 274 games at the helm, Williams guided the Power to three minor premierships before claiming the 2004 flag.
The 59-year-old joins his brother Stephen and father Fos in the Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame and is the 39th inductee.
“To be with Fos, who was my coach when I first started at West Adelaide, and to be with Steve - as the youngest son of a legend it’s pretty hard to deliver and he delivered in spades,” said an emotional Mark Williams
“It’s still in my heart, Port Adelaide.”
Williams spoke to the current playing group, and urged them to never forget where they come from and who they represent.
“I haven’t been back to Port Adelaide for a long time but there used to be a spare space (on the wall) next to the last Premiership of 2004,” he said.
“It should drive you to think, why not me?
“There’s no reason you can’t be there, and if you’re there, I can guarantee I’ll be there as well.”
Teammate and former club Chief Executive Brian Cunningham inducted Williams at Port Adelaide’s dual Season Launch and Hall of Fame gala at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Cunningham described Williams as a highly-skilled and hardworking player, and a remarkable coach and teacher.
“What Mark might have lacked in style he made up for in so many other ways – he had a massive work ethic and a high level of fitness, he was extremely determined and really highly skilled as well,” Cunningham said.
“I remember Mark kicking a ball around Alberton Oval as a kid with his brothers and sister when his dad was coaching and he was always destined to do something in football.
“With a father who was an icon of the club we always thought he would end up at Port Adelaide.”
After starting his senior career at West Adelaide, Williams moved to Port Adelaide in 1979, winning consecutive Premierships before moving to Collingwood where he was twice Best and Fairest and captained the club for four years.
A move north to the Brisbane Bears followed, but he returned to his Alberton heartland midway through the 1990 season, going on to win another two SANFL Premierships with the Magpies.
A coaching career followed, and after stints at Glenelg and Essendon, Williams again returned home to be at the side of inaugural Senior Coach John Cahill as Port Adelaide entered the AFL.
He took the senior position in his own right in 1999, guiding the club to a period of sustained success including the 2004 premiership.
Cunningham was Port Adelaide’s CEO at the time and recalled Williams wanting input in all decisions, such was his desire for success.
“As a coach he was vocal and he was demanding, all the things his dad was as well,” he said.
“But with his education background, he saw that coaching was not just the shouting, it was also about teaching people.
“It was massively significant that he won our first Premiership in 2004 - he was Port Adelaide born and bred, obviously with his father’s and his family’s legacy.
“He is highly driven as a student of the game but he also taught so many players.
“If you look at that period of 2000-2004 and how many players have come out into senior coaching positions at other AFL clubs, I’d say there were probably 12 to 15 at a guess, and I think that says something about the power of his coaching.”
Williams’ recognition comes after he was inducted into the South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
Mark Williams:
Games: 380 (64 West Adelaide, 115 Port Adelaide, 135 Collingwood, 66 Brisbane)
Goals: 377 (37 West Adelaide, 104 Port Adelaide, 178 Collingwood, 58 Brisbane)
4x SANFL Premiership player (1979, 1980, 1990, 1992)
AFL Premiership Coach (2004)
Captain of Collingwood (1983 - 1986)
Brisbane vice-Captain (1987 – 1990)
Port Adelaide life member (2002)
South Australian Football Hall of Fame (2003)
2x Best and Fairest winner Copeland Trophy (1981, 1985)
Collingwood leading goal kicker (1984)
All-Australian (1980)
Coaching:
Coach of Glenelg (1993, 1994)
Assistant Coach Essendon (1995, 1996)
Assistant Coach of Port Adelaide AFL (1997, 1998)
Coach of Port Adelaide AFL (1999 - 2010)
Club AFL records:
Most games coached (274)
