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Port Adelaide prepares for China adventure with objectives both on and off the field

PORT Adelaide leaves for Shanghai on Tuesday searching for wins on and off the field in the first AFL game played for premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand.

Port Adelaide players Brad Ebert, Chad Wingard, Paddy Ryder, Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines toured the 1930s venue where they will face the Gold Coast on Sunday. Picture: Sarah Reed.
Port Adelaide players Brad Ebert, Chad Wingard, Paddy Ryder, Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines toured the 1930s venue where they will face the Gold Coast on Sunday. Picture: Sarah Reed.

PORT Adelaide will leave for China in two waves on Tuesday and Wednesday - and with two major intents on and off the field in the first AFL game played for premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand.

Power coach Ken Hinkley will be chasing four premiership points - and staying ahead of the win-loss count to be 5-3 before the bye - by beating Gold Coast at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai on Sunday afternoon.

Club chief executive Keith Thomas will be seeking AFL endorsement for the historic game to become a regular feature of the AFL fixture, at least for the next five years.

Hinkley Tuesday will chose at least 25 players to leave Adelaide for Shanghai at 8pm. A second travel party of club officials will follow on Wednesday.

The team will train for the first time in Shanghai with a closed session on Thursday afternoon when the forecast in Shanghai is for a cloudy day with 31C.

“We’ll take 25 - three emergencies - that gives us good coverage,” Hinkley said.

“We’ll do it pretty normal in the early part of the week (but after that) obviously, it’s an unknown.

“For a handful of us who have been to China (in December), we’ve had some experience with what it looks like and what the ground is like. There are some challenges in that.”

Thomas will leave Shanghai next week with notes from those challenges - and lessons - that will form the final piece of a new submission to the AFL Commission to sanction an annual game in China for at least the next five years.

The Power has generated $4 million in corporate backing to make Sunday’s match breakeven.

“This game will not cost us anything other than effort,” Thomas said.

“And in the next couple of months we will look to present a five-year view on China to the AFL Commission.”

Port Adelaide’s “China Strategy” works well beyond regular AFL games in Shanghai.

Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard handballs against West Coast’s Kurt Mutimer. Picture: SARAH REED
Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard handballs against West Coast’s Kurt Mutimer. Picture: SARAH REED

The key to the campaign - as noted by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan - is to draw on China capital from the world’s second-largest economy to underwrite the club’s new growth beyond Alberton.

Thomas expects the Power’s moves to “build a bridge to China” will have benefits that spill to other AFL clubs, as noted earlier this year with the Crows beating A-League club Adelaide United to a sponsorship deal with China Southern Airlines.

“Opportunities will increase not just for us, but other AFL clubs - after all, we will need an opponent in Shanghai every year,” Thomas said.

“There will be more clubs interested in joining us.”

Power defender Hamish Hartlett admits it will be “quite odd” playing an AFL game in Shanghai.

“But we can’t wait to get over there and to experience a different atmosphere,” Hartlett said.

“The game is sold-out; the (10,964 capacity) will create a reasonable atmosphere. It will be quite odd playing where we have not playing before.

“If you had told me at the start of my career (2009) or even two or three years ago that we would be playing a game in China, I would have laughed at the idea. It has been magnificent from the club to make it happen - and hopefully it opens a few doors to develop a bigger relationship with China.

“As players, we get there Wednesday, so we will have a few days to adapt - and keep the focus on putting in a strong performance.”

Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak snaps a goal. Picture: SARAH REED
Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak snaps a goal. Picture: SARAH REED

Power in China

TUESDAY: Port Adelaide’s first travel party leaves Adelaide at 8pm.

WEDNESDAY: Port Adelaide’s second travel party leaves Adelaide.

THURSDAY: 10am (local time, 11.30 SA time) coach Ken Hinkley and captain Travis Boak at teams’ press conference on The Bund in Shanghai.

1.30pm (3pm), closed training session at Jiangwan Stadium.

FRIDAY: 8am (9.30am), president David Koch and chief executive Keith Thomas at leaders’ press conference.

SATURDAY: 1.30pm (3pm), open training session at Jiangwan Stadium.

SUNDAY: 1.15pm (2.45pm), Port Adelaide v Gold Coast at Jiangwan Stadium.

NEXT MONDAY: Port Adelaide travel party leaves Shanghai.

NEXT TUESDAY: Port Adelaide group returns home with bye in round 9

michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au

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