After the Port Adelaide resolves whether to stay by tradition with its captain, the Power can prepare for an even more emotive battle

PORT Adelaide celebrates its 150th anniversary in Australian football next year. And there is one certainty — the fans want to see the Power in black-and-white and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire will have the final say.

• Power’s battle for ruck spot
• Growing pains for AFLW
• Braveheart approach
• Port members cry out

PORT Adelaide has one challenge that is more volatile than appeasing its traditional members and fans by appointing just one captain this season: Sorting out its celebratory jumper for next year.

So far, Port Adelaide has put no submission to the AFL for a heritage guernsey to mark its 150th year in Australian football next season.

Even club president David Koch was cautious — and very diplomatic — in his response to club members at the annual meeting at Alberton earlier this month as the traditionalists asked for an update on their (rather than the club’s) appeal for a return of the black-and-white jumper.

While Port Adelaide this month could wipe away 149 years of tradition by appointing co-captains, there is no way the club would not want to dust down the “prison bars” for Season 2020.

But there is that eternal question (even fear) of how Collingwood president Eddie McGuire will react … and how the AFL will behave in yet another tedious jumper brawl.

It is now almost five years since McGuire last approved — and said “never again” with a venomous tone — Port Adelaide wearing black-and-white in the AFL. It was the 2014 elimination final at Adelaide Oval to avoid a black-on-black clash with Richmond.

Why McGuire — and not the AFL — has to sanction what Port Adelaide wears is always a mystery. But the Power understands McGuire’s sensitivities, more so after he said “not again” when seemingly ambushed with the question in the lobby at AFL House on Friday.

Port Adelaide‘s Robbie Gray marks and gets thrown by Richomd’s Alex Rance in the 2014 elimination final at Adelaide Oval. . Photo Sarah Reed.

Officially, Port Adelaide is silent on the impending jumper saga. There is a time and place to deal with seeking official endorsement of the wardrobe for its 150th anniversary.

But the fans are far from idle. Their petition is nearing 7000 signatures. But to whom do they deliver it? McGuire or AFL boss Gillon McLachlan?

And there are AFL critics — as far as Perth — picking up on the impending scrap while Port Adelaide tries to avoiding agitating McGuire. Paul Hasleby, one of Fremantle’s most-admired players from the Dockers’ short AFL story, has put the heat on the AFL to be the only agent deciding team uniforms in the national league.

“The AFL needs to be strong,” Hasleby said in Perth this week.

“(Wearing the black-and-white jumper in 2020) is in the best interest of Port Adelaide. It is going to help footy … if it is going to generate more income for Port Adelaide, why not do it?”

The answer to that question is: Eddie.

“It is a completely different jumper (to Collingwood’s black-and-white stripes),” Hasleby adds. “Collingwood would not be involved (in the Power’s heritage games featuring the prison bar jumper).

“I don’t see the issue. It is for the betterment of the game in Port Adelaide’s 150th year. Let’s do it.”

If only it was so simple.

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