Josh Mahoney’s rebuild of Melbourne highlights how the hardest workers can make the wisest players in the AFL off-field games

MELBOURNE’S strategic raid on Adelaide Crows defender Jake Lever highlights how Port Adelaide’s quiet achiever is making his mark off the field.

Melbourne football chief — and Port Adelaide 2004 premiership player — Josh Mahoney has taken his strong work ethic on the field to his work as the architect of the Demons’ emerging challenge for an AFL flag that would end the game’s longest drought. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin.

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WHO would have thought? In his four years as a player at Port Adelaide — his third AFL club — Josh Mahoney was the “quiet one”.

Head down. Low profile. Smart footballer, they noted at Alberton. And very effective, as highlighted by his two-dimensional work of scoring a tad more than a goal a game in his 67 matches with the Power (2004-2007) and his reputation for winning the hard ball.

Mahoney became a premiership player at Alberton by his hard work after being cast as an AFL journeyman by his previous short stints at Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs.

A decade after Mahoney cleared his locker at Alberton, his sequel in football might just leave a greater mark on Australian football.

He is a fascinating reminder of how those who are made to work hardest for their place in an AFL team bring sounder perspective to leading a football program in a highly competitive league.

Josh Mahoney in action for the Power.

Josh Mahoney in his Collingwood days.

Mahoney is increasingly appearing as a “premiership architect” for the long-suffering Demons who have the longest-running premiership drought in the game (53 years). And his progress in football administration is highlighting how so many of Port Adelaide’s 2004 premiership team have moved to meaningful roles in football.

Melbourne tapped Mahoney to take charge of its football operations in September, 2011 — after he had been an assistant coach for three seasons.

Mahoney this year has delivered an answer to Melbourne’s obvious, pressing needs in defence. Time will tell if it is an expensive answer with a four-year deal worth almost $4 million with Jake Lever.

But the encouraging reviews of Lever’s work in his 56 games in three seasons at Adelaide — and the Crows’ reaction in losing the 21-year-old Victorian — suggest the Demons have made more than a reasonable strategic raid on West Lakes.

For Mahoney to deliver Lever against the interest from Hawthorn and Collingwood — and to close the deal as the first exchange in this slow-moving trade period — is a greater tribute to his ability to “do the business”.

In the “black carpet” walk at the opening of trade talks at Etihad Stadium on Monday, Mahoney highlighted his approach in administration is a replica of his no-fuss, honest work on the field. He was precise and clearly defining Melbourne’s objectives — quite a contrast on a day when some AFL clubs fall into the farce of deception, vagueness and mystery in their statements.

Mahoney is among the 15 from Port Adelaide’s 2004 premiership team to have taken up key roles in football since their retirements. There are nine as senior or assistant coaches: Damien Hardwick, Stuart Dew, Brendon Lade, Brett Montgomery, Josh Carr, Chad Cornes, Jarrad Schofield, Dean Brogan and Adam Kingsley.

Three have worked in football departments: Mahoney, Matthew Bishop and Michael Wilson. And one has taken up a board seat: Darryl Wakelin. Two have major profiles in the media: Kane Cornes and Warren Tredrea.

Mark Williams certainly had a special group at Alberton at the turn of the century.

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