It is not the players who arrived at the Crows and Port Adelaide who made the difference this season … it was those who left

FOR all the excitement generated by the Crows and Port Adelaide making big deals in the AFL trade market in October, two players who left West Lakes and Alberton made the real difference.

Charlie Cameron at home in Brisbane. Picture: Chris Hyde/AFL Media/Getty Images

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ONE player, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley repeatedly says, should not define an AFL team.

Indeed, there is not one player who has saved either the Power or Crows this season — the first since 2011 that will have no SA-based AFL team in the top-eight finals next month.

Bryce Gibbs’ long-awaited arrival at West Lakes after 11 seasons at Carlton did not redefine the Adelaide midfield that continues to be labelled as one dimensional and one speed.

Port Adelaide tried to charge its on-field campaign with three “aces”.

Paddy Ryder chats with former Power player turned Bulldog Jackson Trengove earlier this season. Picture SARAH REED

Charlie Cameron celebrates a goal against Port Adelaide in his first game at Adelaide Oval as a Lion. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

The Power’s attack scored less this season when Melbourne recruit Jack Watts was to take the focus off Charlie Dixon. Brisbane free-agent midfielder Tom Rockliff seems to have suffered from no pre-season because of a leg injury, after arriving at Alberton with a rebuilt shoulder.

Geelong free-agent midfielder-forward Steven Motlop has been as expected — sometimes brilliant, sometimes no so effective.

Adelaide has fallen from grand finalist to 12th. Port Adelaide has followed the slide from a top-eight ranking to an also-ran.

So October — with all that optimism as the Crows and Power snared their chosen men in the AFL trade period — was a false promise.

But while one player should not define a team, there is one at each of the Crows and Power — who by his exit in October — created a hole never covered over.

At Adelaide, it was small forward-midfielder Charlie Cameron. It is even clearer today why the Crows did not want to trade Cameron to Brisbane. The loss of his speed has not been overcome. And it might not be a grand stretch to link veteran Eddie Betts’ fall this season to Cameron’s exit.

At Alberton, it was defender-ruckman Jackson Trengove. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. The list-management team at Port Adelaide can say it needed to move on with 22-year-old Dougal Howard in a key defensive role, leaving no place in defence for the 27-year-old Trengove.

The Power can note that free agency allowed Trengove to secure his future with a long-term deal at the Western Bulldogs — and opened up salary cap space for Port Adelaide to be busy in the October trade market.

Jackson Trengove belts out the Power song with his former teammates after a win last year. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

Hindsight certainly helps those who want to argue Trengove should have stayed on the list to cover the ruck crisis created by All-Australian Patrick Ryder’s repetitive injuries this season (Achilles and hip).

And strategically, Trengove — as awkward as he can seem with that kicking action — has proven he can work to many demands on the field.

But the more telling note about Trengove in his 153 games at Port Adelaide from 2010 to last year was what he meant to the Power team. The much-used tag of “spiritual soul” applied to Trengove perfectly.

Trengove was the player who set the agenda of standing together at Alberton as the Port Adelaide Football Club appeared on the brink of collapse. He was the player with the strongest inspiration voice in the changerooms and on the field.

Trengove was Port Adelaide. And it would have been a better Port Adelaide had he been kept at Alberton.

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