New Leadership Plan For Port
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams says the club will spend more time developing its leaders this year
The Power overhauled their existing leadership program at the end of last year after a series of inconsistent and lacklustre performances.
Williams recruited former national basketball coach Jan Stirling to head up the new program and also employed the services of his sister Jenny, who recently completed her Masters of Psychology.
The Power's on-field leadership will also undergo change this year with Kane and Chad Cornes out of the leadership group and Travis Boak, Jacob Surjan and Troy Chaplin being touted as potential replacements.
Port's coaches voted on the new leadership group on Tuesday and an official announcement will be made in coming days, with onballer Dom Cassisi retaining the captaincy.
“We think leadership is an area that’s going to be a massive jump for us, whether it be understanding each other better or communicating better,” Williams said on Wednesday.
“We spend hours and hours trying to get the players to kick better or to improve their fitness or weights, but we haven’t spent that much time [on leadership] over the years because our resources have indicated that we haven’t had the time or money to devote to it.
“We used to get the people coming in once a fortnight or once a month but Jan and Jenny are here two or three times a week and are putting in huge hours. It’s all about our group being a lot better and that includes the coaches and the players.”
The players’ leadership skills were on show at Alberton on Wednesday.
Williams devised a ‘reward day’ for his charges after a solid week of training.
The players took part in a variety of activities from changing car tyres, to lawn bowls and singing on the Nintendo Wii.
“It’s a reward day, but it’s still a competition. We really wanted to push their competitive juices, so there’s some money on it and whichever team wins is going to be very happy at the end of the morning session,” Williams said.
“Sitting there and playing Rock Band on Wii; some of the players don’t like to do that sort of stuff. It’s important for players to get out of their comfort zones every now and then to be able to deliver under pressure.”