Power president David Koch can't stop the SANFL's wind-up of the Port Magpies

POWER'S decision to "go to war" to keep all of the Magpies in the SANFL and to create an AFL reserves team is a battle lost before it begins.

PORT Adelaide is in a squeeze. Its decision to "go to war" to keep all of the Magpies in the SANFL and to create the Power AFL reserves team is a battle lost before it even begins.

Power president David Koch, who has upset far too many SANFL leaders and club presidents, is adamant the Magpies with their senior, reserves and under-age teams and recruiting zones must stay.

He will not sacrifice any of this for a Power reserves team in the SANFL league competition.

But Koch is not in control of this agenda. The SANFL league directors are.

SANFL president John Olsen, in a stern interview on radio FIVEaa on Tuesday night, revealed (or confirmed) a reality so many Port Adelaide fans either have not known or ignored since the "One Club" reunification of the Power and Magpies.

The Magpies' perpetual place in the SANFL was replaced by a three-year licence that can be revoked on a year's notice. The Magpies' seat at the league directors' table also was lost.

The SANFL league directors - who last night met to decide the future of their competition - on November 1 can tell the Magpies that their time is up. They would get Season 2014 as their last in the SANFL.

For 2015, Koch would be offered the chance to put his Power reserves team in the SANFL league competition as a stand-alone side. It can wear the Magpies jumper. It can be Port Adelaide.

It is the ultimate win for the SA Football Commission that wants the Crows and Power on equal terms in the SANFL. That is with just one team and no recruiting zones.

And there is nothing - absolutely nothing - Koch can do to stop this.

The concessions Port made to bring the Magpies back to Alberton under the "One Club" banner has given the SANFL league directors the winning hand in a game of bluff and counter bluff during the AFL reserves debate.

Koch can stand by the Magpies today. But on November 1 he is destined to get a notice to wind up the Magpies and an offer to replace them with the Power reserves.

The SANFL keeps a "Port Adelaide" presence in its league competition. The Crows get their reserves team in the SANFL. The SANFL becomes a 10-team competition without the unpopular bye. And the SANFL returns to commercial television with Koch's Channel Seven.

And there is nothing Koch can do to stop the Magpies being kicked out of the SANFL on November 1.

However, he may want to strike a deal with the Crows for their joint entry to the SANFL to include under-18 academy teams with the Power using the Northern Territory as its special recruiting zone.

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