Port Adelaide prepares to tell AFL bosses why they’re ready and to join the AFLW

On Thursday, Port Adelaide chiefs will pitch their plan to launch an AFLW team in the 2022-23 season – and we can reveal the key details of the Power proposal.

The Port Adelaide Football Club will on Thursday formally put forward its case to the AFL that the club be granted the right to establish a women’s team and join the successful AFLW competition from the 2022-23 season.

Club hierarchy, including chairman David Koch, board member Holly Ransom and chief executive Matthew Richardson, will tell AFL executives that the club is already well advanced in its planning and preparation for a women’s team and will be aiming to win premierships from its first season.

Among key pillars of the pitch are that the Power’s women’s captain will wear the coveted No. 1 jumper, spectators will belt out “Never Tear Us Apart” before games and that all home games will be played at Alberton Oval, which is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation to, in part, develop new women’s change rooms and create a “premium AFLW match-day venue”.

Port Adelaide is preparing to pitch its case to the AFL that it be granted a licence to form a women’s team and join the AFLW. Pictured are Next Generation Academy footballers Jemma Whitington-Charity, Marlie Fiegert, Lauren Young and Chloe Whitington-Charity. Picture: Sarah Reed

The Power will also tell the AFL that the club is ready financially to support the team, with both new and existing corporate sponsors are already on board and that its first game should be a showstopping AFLW Showdown I against cross-town rivals Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Port will also detail how it is building its playing list, with emerging talent already identified through its Female Next Generation Academy.

The club also plans to recruit local SANFLW talent overlooked in recent AFLW drafts, with an emphasis on recruiting Indigenous and multicultural talent.

The Power will next month appoint its first Head of AFLW, and has pledged it will be a woman and the process of identifying candidates for their inaugural head coach is also underway.

Richardson said a women’s team would finally “complete our club”.

“A women’s team will make us a better club,” he said.

“Great women have always been at the heart of this proud club, too often as unsung and unseen forces driving it on.

“Now is our time to shine.

“We are one club with one united voice and one common purpose.”

Artist impressions of Port Adelaide's redeveloped Alberton headquarters, where te AFLW team would play its home games. Pictures: Supplied

Among the club’s Academy talent are reigning SANFLW best and fairest, West Adelaide’s Lauren Young and daughter of former Port defender Nigel Fiegert, Marlie.

Marlie, 16, said the introduction of SA’s second AFLW team was an exciting opportunity for a new generation of female footballers.

“I really hope I have the opportunity to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” she said.

Young, 15, said she hoped the AFL would grant Port the licence.

“This will help pave the way for a new movement in SA,” she said.

Port is one of four AFL clubs without a women’s team, along with Hawthorn, Sydney and Essendon.

Port Adelaide players Lauren Young, Jemma Whitington-Charity, Marlie Fiegert, and Chloe Whitington-Charity. Picture: Sarah Reed

Each of the clubs will put forward their formal submissions to the AFL this week, with clubs needing to show the league how prepared they are for a women’s team across a number of criteria: how the team will be resourced and integrated to the club, facilities, list building initiatives, fan base, and commercially.

The Crows have had a women’s team since the inaugural AFLW season in 2017, appearing in three grand finals in five years, winning two premierships in 2017 and 2019.

After Thursday’s formal submission, it’s expected Port will learn whether it’s been successful in its quest by early August.

Artist impressions of Port Adelaide's redeveloped Alberton headquarters, where te AFLW team would play its home games. Pictures: Supplied

Goalposts shift over Alberton revamp

By Caleb Bond

Changes to the community land rules of Alberton Oval which would allow Port Adelaide Football Club to redevelop the ground have been revealed.

Port Adelaide Enfield Council began consultation on a new community land management plan on Wednesday.

It has proposed leasing community land – which is currently open parkland that is partly covered by the Allan Scott Headquarters – to the club so it could create a new carpark and build and operate an indoor basketball gymnasium.

A letter sent to Alberton residents by the council’s city assets director Mark Buckerfield on Wednesday said PAFC’s proposal, which includes a new carpark, a soccer pitch and a gym, “may not be consistent with the objectives of the current” land management plan. The extra land would be leased to the club for 42 years on a peppercorn rent of $1 a year.

Artist impressions of Port Adelaide's redeveloped Alberton headquarters, where te AFLW team would play its home games. Pictures: Supplied

The new soccer pitch, which would also replace what is currently open parkland, would be added to Port Adelaide’s current lease over the rest of the oval.

That land has previously been used for carparking on SANFL game days.

Alberton resident Peter Sossic, who has led a protest group against the redevelopment since March, said there had been talks between PAFC and the council for a redevelopment since 2009.

“In 13 years they have not once approached the community to ask them how they would like to see the land used,” he said.

“It’s very symptomatic of the old government ‘announce and defend’ strategy.

“Because the council didn’t have a community meeting to look at alternatives to the land use, our local residents groups have done that and recently submitted our own masterplan for the park to the council to consider instead of the proposal by PAFC exclusively.”

The new land management plan is out for consultation until August 27.