Rucci’s Roast: As Adelaide Crows fix mess, cash-strapped Port Adelaide Power flies under radar
Port Adelaide is out of the AFL news cycle that is dominated in Adelaide by the Crows as the in-town rival seeks a new coach, new football department and new player list. Is this a blessing or curse for the Power as finances become an issue again.
Michelangelo Rucci
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Port Adelaide is flying under the radar, out of sight as all focus is directed towards in-town AFL rival Adelaide while the Crows seek a new coach, close off an “external” review and prepare for an overhaul of a mismanaged player list.
It might be seen as a blessing at Alberton as the Power can review — in luxurious silence — where Season 2019 went right and wrong and prepare for the club’s 150th anniversary season while others deal with overbearing external and internal noise.
But it also might be a curse, particularly when there is such unrest in the Port Adelaide supporter base — and even greater need to inform them of where their club stands off the field as much as on the park.
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Port Adelaide’s status as an afterthought on the AFL news radar was highlighted on Friday when the club announced an end to its major sponsorship deal with the world dairy giant that put the OAK label on the Power’s jumper and significant coin in the club’s bank account. After five years, the past three as a major sponsor, Lactalis Australia is gone from the Port Adelaide sponsorship roll call.
Had Crows coach Don Pyke not cleared his desk at West Lakes last Thursday to dominate the headlines across the weekend, this late Friday evening announcement from Alberton might have generated more attention — and questions. The most obvious are about Port Adelaide’s financial status … again.
So where is Port Adelaide as it prepares to close Season 2019 at Adelaide Oval on Sunday chasing its first SANFL premiership 1999?
ON FIELD: Port Adelaide has reaffirmed Ken Hinkley will coach the Power for his eighth season at Alberton. This is not universally popular with the club’s frustrated fans who once wore “In Ken We Trust” T-shirts. But club president David Koch insists his board is staying strong to the plan set out with Hinkley — and will not be distracted by external noise, even if most of this is created by Power fans.
Port Adelaide’s list is not facing any major refit. The headlines expected in the trade period in October are: All-Australian ruckman Patrick Ryder finding a new club; will contracted midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper be “trade bait” and will uncontracted forward Billy Frampton cross the divide to Adelaide?
Port Adelaide’s coaching panel is new, but has first-year assistant coach Jarrad Schofield being attached to the interview field at Fremantle and senior assistant coach Michael Voss still eager for a second chance as an AFL senior coach.
Still contentious, particularly among the traditional fans, is whether the Power returns to one captain wearing the No. 1 jumper or stands firm to its conclusion the team is better off with two skippers, Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines.
In this division, Port Adelaide needs to start Season 2020 with a healthy group — and with all the extra work on skills to start showing benefits.
OFF FIELD: Here, Port Adelaide has headline after headline to unfold.
What is the club’s financial status? After three years of profits, Port Adelaide is to return to the red. But the six-figure loss is just part of the story. The key figure at Alberton will be debt — and how much this has grown from an $11 million count on November 1 last year.
It is time the Port Adelaide fans — who always blamed the SANFL for the club’s difficult balance sheet — to understand the financial model at Alberton. They need clarity on the strategy of season-tickets sales. Prices have been kept low — and will not increase next season — to entice more and more fans to the 50,000-seat Adelaide Oval. But low prices deliver low “yield” to the bank account.
And disappointing — and inconsistent — on-field results mean there is falling demand for those high-profit tickets at the gate at Adelaide Oval. Is it prudent to have Port Adelaide’s revenue streams at the Oval heavily tied to on-field performances?
Port Adelaide members wanting to rebel — with a protest at the ticket renewal stand — need to consider their actions will only damage their club … and scare off potential sponsors. And there is no SANFL to pick up the bill this time.
The “Never Tear Us Apart” anthem now echoes inside the Port Adelaide chamber.
The request for key players to have some of their payments delayed from October 31 to November 15 needs to be explained, regardless of the “confidentiality” in the player contracts. Is this move to ease the red ink on the balance sheet at Alberton … or a clever ploy in managing the AFL’s new floating salary cap system?
Internally, there has been change at the Power headquarters, particularly in key roles from the board room to the front office. Chief operating officer Stephen Dawes is off the staff list — but chief executive Keith Thomas remains, despite all the speculation of his exit to take up an AFL offer.
Port Adelaide will play its fourth AFL home-and-away match in Shanghai, China in May — and there are more and more Power fans wondering when the Chinese fortune cookie will deliver big coin at Alberton.
They should note Thomas’ statement on SEN1629 that Port Adelaide’s “China Strategy” is a 20-year project — and Koch insists the Power needs China as a genuine, alternative revenue stream outside the crowded and limited Australian economy.
So where is the Port Adelaide Football Club as the AFL financial year prepares to close on October 31?
On field, the Power needs to break out of the no man’s land that cripples teams that repeatedly ranks 10th, as Port Adelaide has in 2016, 2018 and this season after being ninth in 2015.
Off field, Port Adelaide is still a concerning financial read.
And while Adelaide is under intense scrutiny, Port Adelaide is flying under the radar. Is this a curse or blessing?