Week from hell for Power following tragic news of John McCarthy's death

THE Port Adelaide Football Club has endured the toughest of weeks. Jesper Fjeldstad looks at how it responded to the tragic death of John McCarthy.

THE Port Adelaide Football Club has endured the toughest of weeks. Jesper Fjeldstad looks at how it responded to the tragic death of John McCarthy.

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IT was the phone call that Keith Thomas never thought he would have to take.

The Chief Executive of the Port Adelaide Football Club was used to crisis management. But this made the club's previous leadership turmoil irrelevant.

It was Monday morning, just on 9am, and the players were all on annual leave. Thomas's team was tidying up the loose ends of the season, while a core group continued the search for a new coach.

The phone rang, Thomas answered, and it was a Victorian police officer who said he had some bad news.

John McCarthy had fallen to his death while on a trip with 10 teammates. Shattered, Thomas took a moment to collect himself, and then called his staff together. He realised action needed to be taken, and quickly. News like this would spread quickly on social media. All hell was about to break loose.

People needed to be told, and the club needed a man on the ground in Las Vegas.

Football manager Peter Rohde wasted no time packing his bags.

Phones were being worked frantically and meetings were arranged as a numb feeling swept the football club.

Every pre-existing plan was tossed out.

The club had a crisis management plan in place, but nothing that covered the magnitude of the situation. Key people had to think on their feet, and Thomas was quick to grab hold of the reins.

The next issue was to get in touch with the players - the 10 who had travelled to the US gambling capital with McCarthy and those who had remained at home.

Many were too distraught to talk, and two of the more senior players, Travis Boak and Alipate Carlile, would soon assume leadership roles on the other side of the world.

Phones would be passed around, sometimes be put on loudspeaker, and the players received great assistance from Victorian police officer Stuart Bailey, who doubles as the Western Bulldogs' runner and was with a Bulldogs travelling party as a chaperone.

The next issue was how to make the tragedy public..

There had already been condolences posted on Twitter - they were soon erased, but nothing is ever really erased once it has been out in cyber space - and a couple of smaller media outlets had posted the news online.

At Alberton, staffers frantically tried to track down McCarthy's brother Matt, a former Geelong player, who was over in Ireland.

They could imagine the horror if he found out while perusing the internet on his mobile phone.

The club's media manager, Andrew Rutter, advised the media of the death of one of Port's players at 12.05pm on Monday, but was yet to be able to reveal his identity.

It was left to Thomas to tell the world it was McCarthy at 4.15pm, and by that time the place was surrounded by grieving fans and members of the media.

By that time, contact had been made with Matthew and the rest of the McCarthy family, who gave their blessing for Thomas to announce the grim news.

Away from the club, the players were reeling, but support was on its way.

In Adelaide, the AFL players' union had already been on the phone and was sending a group counsellor. The club chaplain and the club psychologist swung into action. Grief counselling was arranged for the following morning, right on 24 hours after the club learnt of the tragedy, and it took in players, coaches and off-field staff.

The players were hurting, some more than others.

"Nothing prepares you for something like this," one told the Sunday Mail. "This has been one of the toughest days of my life."

The players met again on Tuesday night, and has continued to catch up regularly throughout the week, at various players' homes and also while undergoing counselling at the club.

The most difficult part was not knowing the circumstances of McCarthy's death.

Even Thomas, as strong as he was, found himself stunned when trying to assess aspects of the tragedy.

"A lot of it is still a mystery," he'd say. "There's a lot of things we just don't know."

A weight was lifted, however small the consolation was, when it was found everything pointed to McCarthy having had an accident.

One of the players put it like this: "It's still a tragedy; in a way it makes it even more tragic, but suicide would have been more difficult to deal with.

"If that had been the case, the players and the family would always have to ask ourselves if we should have picked up on the signs."

For all that, there's still much regret and second-guessing around Alberton.

Thomas said he wondered whether they could have done more. Whether they, like the Bulldogs, should have sent along a chaperone.

The travelling party, too, are grappling with the thought that they could have done things better. After one of them received a phone call from McCarthy's girlfriend, he had frantically searched the XS nightclub for half an hour before managing to get McCarthy on the phone. He was then assured McCarthy was OK and on his way home.

One aspect that has stood out this week has been the strength of Thomas, who has been the glue around the club.

He's taken it upon himself to call press conferences for regular updates. All have been impressed by his character.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who was in Adelaide as the Crows and the Dockers preceded their semi-final with a minute's silence for McCarthy, couldn't speak more highly of Thomas's leadership through one of the club's most difficult passages.

- Leave your tribute to John McCarthy.