How Port Adelaide’s ‘long-term’ view let the AFLW’s most marketable player walk to its direct rival
Port Adelaide has missed two key opportunities to push hard into the AFL Women's competition and it needs to join sooner rather than later, writes Jack Hudson.
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Four years ago, Port Adelaide made the declaration that Erin Phillips would be its marquee player if the club was granted a licence to enter the AFL Women’s competition.
It was an announcement in the heat of the AFLW hype, prior to the competition’s first teams being made official, but it was one that had the Power fanbase excited.
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Finally, Port Adelaide people would be able to see a player John Cahill himself called “the most talented junior” he had ever seen, run around in the silver, teal, black and white.
She was even quoted on the Port Adelaide website as saying.
“It was pretty unbelievable, really, since I was born I’ve wanted to play football for Port Adelaide like dad,” she said in 2015.
Fast forward to 2020 and she’s a two-time premiership player and two-time AFLW best and fairest … for the club’s rival, the Adelaide Crows – how on earth did that happen?
The Power instead opted for a ‘long-term’ view to women’s football, but lost the opportunity to have the most marketable player in the competition on its list.
A multi-sport superstar who has inspired thousands around the country to pursue a dream of playing at the elite level.
Port Adelaide also missed the boat and lost a connection which would have not only new supporters in who were interested in the AFLW brand on its own, but current fans who love the nostalgia of having the child of a past champion play on its list.
The missed opportunity also would’ve allowed the club to ‘right the wrongs’ and enter the national competition ahead of its rivals, a reverse of what happened in the early 1990s.
Instead, the Crows have the entire AFLW market to themselves in South Australia and the access to the state’s best talent, while the Power opted to push for China – and the coronavirus outbreak looks like it has put a fork in those plans for this year.
Yet, as we enter the AFLW’s fourth season, there’s still no sign of Port Adelaide, and it appears it will be one of the final two sides to enter, perhaps in the mid-2020s.
This season would’ve been perfect for the Power to enter – it’s 150th year – a year of grand significance.
It would’ve been double the history and the opportunity to broaden its market in a year of huge celebration, the 150th season for the club, and its first ever women’s side.
It could’ve opened the season against the Crows, perhaps wearing the ‘Prison Bar’ guernsey to give that connection with history and attempt to spoil Adelaide’s party as it unfurled its premiership flag.
After all, not only does Port Adelaide pride itself on being successful, but also on excelling as the underdog.
Let’s hope we see the Power represented in the AFLW competition sooner, rather than later.
Originally published as How Port Adelaide’s ‘long-term’ view let the AFLW’s most marketable player walk to its direct rival