Inaugural AFL squad member and premiership star Peter Burgoyne has signed a new one-year contract with the Port Adelaide Football Club.

Burgoyne’s contract contains a games-played clause that will trigger a second year if achieved.

Power General Manager – Football Operations Peter Rohde said the club believed 30-year-old Burgoyne could play on longer than his current deal.

“Peter Burgoyne has been one of the club’s greatest AFL contributors and we are very pleased he will be with us next year,” Rohde said.

“He is a very important part of our side and even though this is a one-year deal we see no reason why he can’t play for as many as three more years.

“His form in the last two matches, when he had consecutive best-on-grounds, certainly showed us the improvement he has made.

“A fit and firing Peter Burgoyne in 2009 will take us a long way towards making a steep improvement on last season.”

Burgoyne said he was pleased to be staying at the club he started with as a teenager after moving down from Darwin.

“I’ve been with this club since its inception to the AFL in 1997, and I feel like the players are my family, so it would have been very hard to walk away,” Burgoyne said.

“I still feel that my body will allow me to play two or three years of good football so it was just up to myself and the club to come together and work out a deal that was fair and we’ve been able achieve that which is great.

“With our young group going forward, I feel like my experience can be a valuable asset. I really believe our team is going places and we’ll be back playing finals in 2009 so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile, skipper Warren Tredrea’s one-year deal has also been completed during the off-season. The club publicly assured Tredrea of the new contract following his shoulder injury in Round 17 that required a reconstruction.

Tredrea, Burgoyne and Brendon Lade are the last remaining players from the club’s first AFL squad that came together in 1997.