Heading into the locker room you may have noticed some displays, these change several times each year based on different themes. Updates on these displays are available on the club website.
Here in the Locker Room, you can sit and enjoy various short videos about key moments and key icons of our club. The television is a touch screen and you can take your pick of video from the main menu. Do this at your leisure.
But before you do, let’s take a look around at some of the items on display in here.
Looking straight ahead as you entered the room, you’ll see a locker containing items belonging to one of the club’s all-time greats – Russell Ebert.
While he passed away in November 2022, Ebert remains the most decorated individual in South Australian football history. With a club record 392 SANFL senior games to his name, an unrivalled four Magarey Medals as the SANFL’s fairest and most brilliant player, and a record six club best-and-fairest titles, he was most deservingly honoured with Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2022.
But his legacy is so much more at this club, Ebert played a pivotal role in establishing and running the club’s community programs through its not-for-profit charity arm Power Community Limited. In particular he was instrumental in the design and evolution of the Community Youth Program, established in 1999 and still going strong in primary schools today as the longest-running program of its kind run by an AFL club. The community was always front of mind for Russell:
"I really think that’s the glue that keeps the club together. Other clubs fragment because there’s egos, and once you’re part of that, whether that’s as a volunteer, or as a supporter, whether it’s on the shoulders of your dad, going to your first game and not really understanding and then coming through and doing it with your own kids… that’s what the Port Adelaide football club is all about. They demand effort, they demand intensity and they demand you give your best. And invariably that was good enough. But if you didn’t, they absolutely let you know. So you get the pat with the win, but you get the big big reminder that that effort wasn’t acceptable. If you’re going to be a part of this organisation for any length of time, you’ve got to accept that. If you won’t accept it, don’t be a part of us. It can be pretty ruthless. But that’s the way Bob McLean and Fos Williams set the place up, community means everything.”
Next to the Ebert collection, you’ll see a range of items from Port Adelaide’s first season in the AFLW competition in 2022. Coached by Lauren Arnell and captained by Erin Phillips, the club had little time to build an AFLW squad before its first game in August 2022 against West Coast in Perth. Forward Gemma Houghton, playing in her home state, booted the club’s first ever goal... a truly historic moment.
The inaugural Captain, Erin Phillips was a fitting leader following in the footsteps of her father Greg Phillips in wearing the iconic number 1 guernsey as Port Adelaide captain. After a successful basketball career, she turned her attention to football where she had excelled as a junior, winning numerous accolades including twice being named the AFLW competition’s best and fairest player during her time playing with the Adelaide Crows. Her 50th AFLW game came in the Round 4 win over Sydney, here at Alberton Oval – Port Adelaide’s first ever win in the competition.
“And the fans are going to bring them home here. It’s going to be a history making moment at Alberton. And the originals etch their name in the Port Adelaide record books. Their women’s team celebrates its first ever win and they do it by 66 points.”
Further around in the corner, you’ll spot a lace-up black and white “prison-bar” guernsey belonging to former club captain Darryl Poole. As well as being part of the club’s inaugural AFL list, Poole was a SANFL premiership player and captained the Magpies in the SANFL between 2000 and 2003. As well as making his mark on the field, Poole has left his mark upstairs in the Precinct with a photo he has taken of the wharf pylons in the Port River displayed as a wall mural.
The significance of his guernsey is that after 2001, the club was not allowed to wear the lace up version of its guernsey. It turns out the guernseys presented a risk of injury to other players who could get fingers stuck!
Take your time now to select from our range of short videos, sit and learn more about Port Adelaide, its icons and its history.
When you are ready, head to our next stop back out of the locker room and around to your right, where we’ll talk more about Russell Ebert and some of our other Magarey Medallists.