FOR this week’s WATN we track down a Port Adelaide fan who lived his dream by playing one game for the club and is now helping other young people get closer to their own ambitions.

Paul Stewart is still only 30-years-old and is still playing with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL, where he was drafted from by the Power in 2006.

He went on to play 101 games in the black, white and teal, booting 33 goals during a career that spanned nine seasons.

“I was a Crows supporter until Port Adelaide came into the AFL competition and then my old man bought us memberships in 1997 and then I was on the Power bandwagon,” he remembered.

“I think he just got sick of the Crows and that was it, he bought us all Power memberships.

“I did grow up in Woodville so I wasn’t far from Alberton.”

Stewart was taken at pick 23 in the 2006 national draft, the same draft that saw Port land Travis Boak (pick 5), Nathan Krakouer (pick 39), Robbie Gray (pick 55), Justin Westhoff (pick 71) and David Rodan (pick 86).

“Draft day was on Saturday and then that afternoon Choco (coach Mark Williams) rang and said ‘meet me at the club’ and I think Westy was there too.

“Tredders (Warren Tredrea) walked in while we were having a chat and that was when it sank in that it was real.

“It was such a whirlwind, and by the Monday I was running laps with Peter Burgoyne, it all happened pretty quickly.”

The group remain good friends to this day.

Stewart remarked that even Nathan Krakouer, who left to join the Gold Coast, came back and it was as though he had been there the whole time.

Making his debut

While Boak, Gray, Krakouer and Westhoff made their debuts in 2007, Stewart was made to wait until the first round of the 2018 season to get his turn.

After the 2007 AFL Grand Final loss to Geelong, it would be a rematch against the Cats in that game.

“I still remember it, it was a Thursday night game, first game of the year and I remember getting the call up and not being able to sleep for a few nights,” Stewart recalled.

“Coming up against Geelong, who had just won the Premiership, lining up on Paul Chapman was pretty exciting and really we could have won it but just missed out.

“It was a good game, though.”

For much of his career Stewart played as a defender.

He struggled for consistent game-time, though, due to a combination of form and injuries.

2012 was his best year with 21 games.

It was also the year he spent more time in the forward line kicking bags of four in a Showdown and five against Melbourne two weeks later.

That year he booted a match-winner late against North Melbourne after the Power had come back from 32-points down in the last quarter.

“I played forward in my draft year but Adam Kingsley who was the defensive coach wanted me down back,” Steward said.

“As the years went on, form and injuries kept me out of the team, so I was just eager to take what ever opportunity would see me in the side.

“I pretty much took the spot that was available whether that was up forward or down back.”

Getting to 100

In 2015 Stewart managed just six games and by 2016, with 87 games under his belt he knew he didn’t have long left at AFL level.

“The great thing about Ken was that he was really honest with me throughout my last few years really,” Stewart said.

“We touched base regularly about where I was at and coming towards the end of the year he said it would depend on how trade week went as to whether there was a spot left, or I might have ended up as a rookie.

“But I had come to terms with the fact it was going to be my last year.”

So when at the end of 2016 he was delisted by the club it came as no surprise.

Despite his limited opportunities, Stewart considers himself one of the lucky ones.

“If I got drafted to another team a pick later, things might have gone well or I might not have even debuted,” Stewart said.

“To play one game was great.

“To play 100 games is unbelievable and I am extremely proud to say I have played 100 games for Port Adelaide.

“Going into my last season I was stuck on 87 games so it wasn’t even close for me and it never even crossed my mind.

“When I started getting into the 90s, Kenny said to me ’you might miss a game here or there but I’ll do my best to get you to 100’ and I’ll never forget that he gave me that opportunity.

“It’s never good getting that phone call at the end of the year but I half expected it, especially watching trade week pan out.

“There’s definitely no hard feelings, I still keep in contact with everyone down at the club, even Kenny, and I had a kid on the way at the end of that year so I had other things on my mind anyway.”

A return to his boyhood club at Woodville-West Torrens was on the cards and he continues to play there to this day, trying to be a leader and mentor for younger players.

This year Stewart married his wife Kirra-Jae and together they have daughter Arlo, 21 months, and another baby on the way.

Working with young people

While playing football and family takes up much of his time, he has taken to a new work role recently helping young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through the AFL Players’ Association’s official charity partner Ladder.

“Development and welfare was always my passion while I was at Port,” Stewart said.

“Not being in the side every week, Kenny suggested I take a leadership role with the Magpies, which I naturally wanted to do anyway.

“That care for people’s development and welfare came on then so when I left footy I intended to get into player management but that didn’t come about.

“I got a job managing a community development program up in the APY lands.

“It was a good opportunity to get into work life, develop management and admin skills and it was a chance to live out my passion of being able to give back.

“And then earlier this year a role came up at Ladder, which I was always keen to get into, so when a regional coordinator role came up here I jumped at it.”

It’s a job that offers Stewart a chance to work on his passion of helping people, especially those with limited opportunities.

Earlier this year he welcomed Power players Paddy Ryder and Lindsay Thomas to a session involving some of the residents of the Ladder facility at Port Adelaide.

“The role suits me to a tee,” Stewart said.

“Working with young people and giving them opportunities is not a job for me.

“Some of the young people are incredible and they just haven’t had the opportunities in life so if I can do something, even something small, for them, I get a kick out of it, I love it.”

Stewart finds himself returning to his days of barracking for Port Adelaide, getting to as many games as possible to support his 2006 draft crop and the friends and teammates he made along the way.

“I’ll get to games whenever they don’t clash with mine,” he said.

“If I don’t go to the games I definitely watch it on tv and I stay in touch with the boys and hope they do well.

“I think I barrack hard, and I suppose being disconnected you don’t take the losses as hard but I still get up when they have a good win.”

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