NO PORT IN STORMY DEBUT

Any battle between Port Adelaide and Collingwood evokes plenty of emotion and that will be the case again when the two sides clash at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Be it the debate over Port’s ‘prison bar’ guernsey or the ‘Magpie’ connection between both clubs, there is always a little more energy when these two teams meet.

And in terms of AFL history, there will always be a special connection between the Power and the Magpies.

After years of trying to join the AFL, the SANFL powerhouse finally made it to the national stage in 1997 – and the AFL fixturing department, perhaps with a cheeky sense of history, decided Port’s AFL debut would be against Collingwood in the opening round of 1997.

Just over 50,000 fans, including a large and noisy contingent from Port Adelaide, headed to the MCG on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Under second-year coach and club legend Tony Shaw, the Magpies were coming off a disappointing 11th-place finish in 1996.

Inspired by star midfielder Nathan Buckley – a former SANFL premiership player with Port –the Magpies kicked 11 goals straight, including 7.0 in the opening term.

Understandably, the Power had a touch of stage fright and the Magpies’ dominance continued throughout the day. Collingwood held sway for long periods through the brilliance of Paul Williams (30 disposals, four goals), the smart running of Buckley (27 disposals) and the forward dominance of Sav Rocca (six goals).

Another couple of South Australians also helped rub salt into the Power’s wounds – Scott Russell (ex-Sturt) had 28 touches and kicked two goals and Stephen Patterson (ex-Norwood) gathered 27 disposals and kicked three goals.

Russell polled three Brownlow Medal votes, Magpie skipper Gavin Brown was awarded two votes and Williams collected one vote.

Donald Dickie (26 disposals) and Fabian Francis (20 touches, two goals) were two of Port’s better players while former Geelong forward Shayne Breuer had the distinction of kicking Port’s first goal at AFL level.

Port lost its first home game at Football Park the following week, going down to Essendon by 33 points, before opening its AFL account with a 39-point win over Geelong at Football Park in round three.

John Cahill’s men gained some revenge over Collingwood later in the 1997 season, thrashing the Magpies by 53 points at Football Park.

They missed the eight by a healthy percentage differential (13.4) and finished in ninth place, half a game ahead of Collingwood in 10th spot.

ROUND 1, 1997

Collingwood 7.0 12.1 21.3 26.10 (166)

Port Adelaide 3.2 5.4 9.5 13.9 (87)

BEST: Collingwood – Williams, Buckley, S. Rocca, Russell, Patterson, Prestigiacomo, Brown. Port Adelaide – Dickie, Francis, Wilson, Lyle, Lade.

GOALS: Collingwood – S. Rocca 6, Williams 4, Patterson 3, A. Rocca 2, Curran 2, McDonald 2, Russell 2, Crow 2, Richardson, Ahmat, Barnett. Port Adelaide – Cummings 2, Francis 2, Heaver 2, Poole 2, Breuer, S. Bond, Francou, Lade, P. Burgoyne.

Umpires: D. Humphrey-Smith, S. McBurney, B. Sheehan.

Crowd: 51,883 at the MCG.