I am at a restaurant on Block Island in the USA, literally ONE DAY (!) after booking a trip to Australia for April of next year and praying Port is at home while I'm there. "Never Tear Us Apart" just started playing at the restaurant I'm at. I have literally never once heard this song in the wild before.

IT'S A SIGN. I hope.

I think it would be good top build them up i could defo see Xavy Bamert over Moares Van Wyk id say is a maybe

Have been thinking about how we might set ourselves up if Butters decides to leave and the ladder stays as it is now. Bear with me.

Let's optimistically say Butters goes to Richmond and we get pick 1 for him, and maybe some change too.

If Butters leaves, we're going to be shit for a few years and should commit to a rebuild. So perhaps we have a direct chat with Georgiadis about his long term intentions. If he doesn't sign an extension beyond his current contract, we test the trade waters with West Coast (who will think Georgi matches their age profile well). We then trade Georgiadis to West Coast for pick 4. We now hold picks 1, 3 and 4.

With pick 1, we bid on Walker and then take the best available player.

With pick 2, Essendon no longer have an incentive to bid on Cochrane (they're already getting the 2nd round compo pick) so they take next best available. We've also quietly promised them that we'll leave their upcoming academy and FS kids alone if they don't bid on Cochrane.

We then use picks 3 and 4 to take next best available.

North have the next pick and they finally bid on Cochrane, but this is really pick 6 (because the Walker bid has pushed it back), which means we can match it with the two second rounders we already hold (ours and Carlton) AND we get the early second round compo pick.

That would mean we'd landing essentially 4 top 6 draft picks in one draft. That's a possible "set yourself up" haul, particularly when other teams are going to struggle to get bulk talent with Tassie diluting it. We could use the Butters and Georgi cap space to front load contacts and make room for Nas next year. And we'd still have three first round FS/NGA prospects in next year's draft.

I know this is cooked but an example of how we could be thinking laterally to really hit this upcoming draft and use every means possible to ensure a Cochrane bid comes as late as possible.

There is a huge injury setback at Alberton with Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee preparing to go under the knife again. While recovering from a serious hamstring injury, the skipper now has nerve damage in his leg. The 26-year-old has recently told 7NEWS’ Two Team Town he was set to return in the round 16 Showdown but now his season is in doubt.

Should go down the slide for the big freeze because fuck it why not!

Port Adelaide 2026 AFLW coaching panel
Glenn Strachan – senior coach 
Aiden Yelland – assistant coach
Sam Virgo – assistant coach 
Braedon Talbot – assistant coach
Logan Austin – development coach 
Troy Wilkey – development coach

The guy took 6 intercept mark against carlton

Just wondering why we would pass with our third pick in the MSD? Surely there must have been a long term key defender project we could have taken a punt on?

I get not wanting to add list cloggers, but given that we brought in Wehr and Brodie that argument doesn’t really hold. Would much rather take a punt on a couple of young kids than have 2 players in their mid 20’s who we know aren’t good enough.

Injury list
Lachie Jones (concussion protocols) - test
Jack Lukosius (groin) - test
Sam Powell-Pepper (knee) - 3-4 weeks
Miles Bergman (toe) - 5-7 weeks
Connor Rozee (hamstring) - 7-9 weeks
Ollie Lord (knee) - season
Josh Sinn (shoulder) - season

As expected, Josh Sinn has been moved to the inactive list as he continues his recovery from a shoulder reconstruction.

The vacant list spots provide Port Adelaide with the opportunity to select up to three players in the mid-season draft tomorrow night

1 of which is widely expected to be Alex Van Wyk currently of North Adelaide.

The first set of flairs are now available. It’s currently a work in progress, so I will leave this thread open as I create and fill out the rest of the flairs.

Suggestions or recommendations are appreciated. Happy to edit or change anything currently up. Things have been kept things relatively stock to begin with, so I can change player names to nicknames etc. if that’s preferred by people.

The logos/icons need to be created manually, but if there are any others that people want to see, I’m happy to make them.

—————

A few Magpie and AFLW players, along with a few other guernsey/milestone flairs have just been added.

Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Jemma Charity will miss the upcoming AFLW season after scans confirmed a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee. 

The 19-year-old had recently returned to full training after recovering from an ACL injury to the same knee in 2024, before suffering the setback during a training session in the second week of pre-season. 

Charity will undergo reconstructive surgery in the coming week before beginning her rehabilitation program at the club. 

Season is so over im thinking about trades only halfway through 💔.

If butters leaves we could pay them massive overs for their first 5 years at the club and then offer them less after. That way we can actually have a functional midfield (JHF, D Cochrane (if we play him as a midfielder), Sparrow, Chandler, Burgoyne, Sweet).

Edit: These guys are UFAs so we can save our picks for our 4 draftees in 2026 and 2027.

Aren't we all being a bit knee-jerk?

So far, the year has still exceeded expectations

Every team has shit games now and then

We are bad and have some challenges list-wise, but this whole sub has swung from cautiously optimistic to full-blown meltdown in 1 week

34 point loss to Carlton - whose coach left because they couldn’t win games

Looking at a 10 goal loss to carlton at home.

Clearly the Geelong game was a massive fluke.

If butters leaves, our list will be even worse off which I can't even imagine right now....

We knew we would have some shockers this year, however what we didnt think is that those shockers would be against the teams down the bottom (bar nth they are 50/50)
We have shown some great signs against the good teams but when we play the lesser teams its like the players think its won before even being played and that has been a problem for a few seasons now.

This is just terrible to watch, our skills are shocking and we are getting thrashed by one of the worst teams in footy.

Everyone is talking about Butters and the kids in the next couple of drafts but no mention of Nas

Do people reckon he is still keen to come home?

Surely we would have to lose Butters to get him?

E.g. Dougie Cochrane, Zemes Pilot, Etc.

Curious to see what they do with him