With less last-minute challenges in Shanghai, Port Adelaide boss Keith Thomas can spend time on bigger goals in China

PORT Adelaide’s return to China has less surprises before the Power-Suns game in Shanghai, giving the club’s leaders more time to find off-field wins in China, writes Michelangelo Rucci.

• Port in for the long haul
• Power’s key mission in China is to win

PORT Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas appears relaxed, much more comfortable than a year ago when his AFL club made history in China.

“Last year, China,” says Thomas, “challenging task we have undertaken as a club in my time here (since 2011) ... even more than moving to Adelaide Oval.”

Thomas’ current agenda in Shanghai - where the Power plays Gold Coast at Jiangwan Stadium on Saturday - does not have any of the crisis marks that tested him 12 months ago.

In the lead-up to the first AFL match played for premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand, Thomas had Chinese suppliers chasing cash in a place where the Power wants to make big money. Television deals were still unresolved.

And local police were concerned with security needs at Jiangwan Stadium questioning Thomas if there was ever any history of fan violence between Port Adelaide and Gold Coast fans.

A year on, after the successful presentation of elite Australian football here last year, it is much easier for Thomas and his China-dedicated staff to put on the game that still divides opinion at home.

Television deals with Chinese television networks - including three free-to-air commercial channels - were signed weeks ago. AFL executive Dave Stevenson likes to make the point that Australian football has beaten American football’s NFL in both putting a serious game on Chinese soil - and to commercial television deals in China.

The AFL is predicting the Power-Suns game will be the most-watched in the league’s history, with estimates of television audiences of 8-10 million.

Critically, there will be more fans inside the 80-year-old Jiangwan Stadium - and more locals. Of the 11,000 seats assigned in the huge arena, Thomas expects almost half to be taken by curious Chinese. The “sold-out” sign was put on the game a fortnight ago.

“We were always confident that our push into China would grow each year,” said Thomas, who is working with a five-year lifeline in Shanghai from the AFL Commission.

“We put down a good base last year. One of our key objectives was to expose more people to our sport. This year’s ticket sales say we are meeting that objective.”

So are the Port Adelaide’s moves to take Australian football clinics to more and more schools in Shanghai.

Local police and security agencies are more comfortable with what is to unfold around Jiangwan Stadium - but they are still refusing to allow alcohol to be taken by the fans to seats, as is the case at local soccer games as well.

The “money question” remains. Port Adelaide was to have a “break even” bottom line last year - after absorbing start-up costs such as the turf and refurbishment of Jiangwan Stadium - and return millions to its coffers at Alberton from future games.

It is noted some of the big sponsorship announcements made in Shanghai in the lead-up to last year’s ground-breaking match - such as the MJK deal to sponsor the Power coaches to 2020 - have not lasted the distance.

Having set up a strong foundation in Shanghai - and less last-minute surprises this time - Thomas and his team now have more time to find that gold mine they need in China.

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