Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas said the future of the Magpies in the SANFL could be out of the club’s hands
Port Adelaide’s future in the SANFL is up in the air, and chief executive Keith Thomas said the decision on the Magpies may not lie with the club.
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Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas says the club is “pushing hard” for the Magpies to remain in the SANFL, but conceded it could be a decision taken out of the club’s hands.
Doubts have raged over the future of the SANFL’s most successful club, because of the expected impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the AFL industry.
Answering questions from fans Thomas said Port had been making its case for the Magpies to continue in the SANFL.
“So what we’ve been doing is saying to the AFL and SANFL we are a 150-year-old club, we are a foundation member of the SANFL. We love our involvement in that competition, we feel like it is in the fabric of our footy club,” Thomas said.
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“And we understand that we may be unique as an AFL club in that scenario, and that only means that we should be treated uniquely.
“We feel like it is good for South Australian footy, we feel like it is good for our club, for Port Adelaide to be competing in the SANFL and we are prosecuting that case vigorously.
“Often you don’t see these conversations because they are behind the scenes … but we are pushing hard for that (Port to continue in the SANFL).”
The future of the Magpies was one of the questions that Thomas was asked the most from fans.
The other was whether he would still step down from his role at the club at the end of the year, and whether he could stay on to help the Power come out the other side of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thomas said he wasn’t thinking about this.
“The reality is David and I haven’t given it a moments thought,” he said.
“We are just heads down thinking about tomorrow to be honest.”
Thomas said fans would be provided with a “wide variety of options” regarding their memberships when the club had an idea of what the 2020 season would look like.
And he said he was still hoping fans could be allowed back at games at the end of the season.
“We’ve been modelling that scenario all the way through,” he said.
“Given the amount of progress that has been going on in Australia in terms of containing the virus I don’t think it should be an option that should be ruled out.
“But having said that there has to be some risk associated with that.”
Meanwhile, Port Adelaide wants all 27 of its interstate players back in Adelaide by Monday in preparation for an AFL restart.
With momentum gathering that the season – postponed since round one – could resume as soon as June, the Power has called on its playing group to return to Alberton quick smart.
“We’ve recommended the players come home next week,’’ captain Tom Jonas told The Advertiser.
“We don’t want to be caught out if we’re suddenly called into a quarantine hub.
“We want them home so they can go into a two-week mandatory quarantine period and then give them a week to get some outside training before we potentially go into a hub.
“Some boys have to travel further than others to get back, so there might be a few that arrive after Monday, but they will be required to be back sometime next week.’’
Former Cat Wylie Buzza is in Cairns and has the furthest to travel.
Ex-captain Travis Boak and last year’s club champion runner-up, defender Darcy Byrne-Jones, are among a handful of interstate players who have stayed in Adelaide during football’s shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vice-captain and former co-captain Ollie Wines is at his family home in Echuca, young gun Xavier Duursma also is in Victoria and other players are spread all over the country, with several, including rookie sensation Mitch Georgiades, in Western Australia.
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“We just don’t want to run the risk of the boys going straight from quarantine into a hub without getting some proper training under their belt,’’ said Jonas as the AFL considers restarting the season in quarantine hubs in Victoria and Queensland.
“At the moment that will mean running by themselves or with one other person but at least they’ll be outside on the grass getting some good miles into the legs.’’
Port – round one winners against Gold Coast and currently sitting on top of the AFL table – made the decision in consultation with the playing group and club coaches at a zoom video meeting on Thursday night.
The AFL is expected to announce its plans, possibly including a new fixture, for a season reboot on May 11.
All of Port’s non Adelaide-based players will have to self-isolate for 14 days before they can return to training, hastening the club’s decision to bring them back.
Hometown rival Adelaide is not moving with such urgency.
The Crows are, at this stage, waiting for an AFL announcement before recalling their players from interstate.
“Once we get the May 11 update we’ll decide what we are going to do,’’ new skipper Rory Sloane said.