AFL: Port Adelaide inducts 2004 premiership team into club’s Hall of Fame, along with four past greats, at season launch
Port Adelaide’s annual season launch gala event had a distinct 2004 flavour. Premiership coach Mark Williams came across, and two greats from the side were individually honoured.
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Twenty years after taking Port Adelaide to the top of the AFL tree, the Power’s 2004 premiership team has been inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame.
The side, which beat Brisbane by 40 points at the MCG, was recognised, along with four Port Adelaide past greats, at a gala event on Thursday night.
Players from that flag-winning team, including its acting captain Warren Tredrea, united on stage in Adelaide Oval’s Magarey Room with premiership coach Mark Williams.
In a special touch, 2004 Power skipper Matthew Primus was honoured with that group.
Primus missed the grand final due to a mid-year knee injury and instead watched on from an MCG coaches box before emotionally embracing teammates on the ground after the siren.
The event had a distinct 2004 flavour as premiership heroes Peter Burgoyne and Brendon Lade were also elevated into the Hall of Fame individually.
Port Adelaide’s reflection on the feats of its sole AFL grand final-winning team was a fitting way to launch a season in which the 2024 team hoped to follow a similar path.
The Power overcame finals disappointments from 2001-2003 before getting the ultimate prize, while Ken Hinkley’s side had fallen short in the major round in 2020, 2021 and last year.
Burgoyne links the past and present given his son Jase is part of this season’s squad.
He played 276 games (240 AFL, 36 SANFL) for Port Adelaide, starting with the Magpies before becoming part of the Power’s inaugural team in 1997.
Initially a small forward, Burgoyne starred in the 2004 flag as a midfielder, then reinvented himself as a half-back flanker in 2007 to help Port Adelaide reach another grand final.
Lade also rose from the Power’s first team to become a premiership winner.
The forward/ruckman arrived from South Adelaide and went on kick 182 goals from 234 matches.
A Kangaroo Island product, Lade was Port’s vice-captain from 2006-2008 and earned All-Australian honours in 2006 and 2007.
Burgoyne and Lade both retired in 2009.
Port Adelaide recognised a third member of its inaugural AFL squad – David Brown.
Brown won six SANFL premierships for the club, including as captain in the 1999 grand final triumph over arch rival Norwood, and claimed the Jack Oatey Medal in 1996.
The rugged midfielder was a member of the Magpies’ 1988 and 1989 premiership sides in his second and third seasons before joining the Crows’ initial squad.
Traded to the Power ahead of its debut campaign, Brown played in some of the team’s early milestones, including the first match against Collingwood and its breakthrough win versus Geelong.
Port delisted him after two seasons but he returned to skipper the Magpies.
The night’s other inductee was another six-time premiership winner Marx Kretschmer.
Kretschmer was a tough utility during a golden era for the club, lining up in the first five of the Magpies six consecutive grand final wins from 1954-59.
He also played in the 1951 flag success in his debut season.
Kretschmer was among Port’s best players in the 1955 and 1957 triumphs over the Redlegs.
He died in 2022.
Thursday night’s event, which was attended by about 550 people, featured members of the club’s Hall of Fame presenting the Power’s eight recruits their guernseys.
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Originally published as AFL: Port Adelaide inducts 2004 premiership team into club’s Hall of Fame, along with four past greats, at season launch
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