Port will win the flag: King

Chad Wingard and Port Adelaide have good reasons to smile heading into 2015. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Corp Australia

FOOTY expert David King says Port Adelaide will win the 2015 premiership — but they can't take anything for granted.

King says Paddy Ryder is the final piece of the premiership puzzle Ken Hinkley has been piecing together for the past two years.

Pick up your copy of Footy15 on Saturday. Source: HeraldSun

A second AFL premiership would complete a remarkable rise for Port Adelaide, which won just five games in 2012.

Writing in Footy15, the North Melbourne premiership wingman says Port has "no real weaknesses".

"If the Power want it badly enough the premiership can be theirs," King says.

"Every recruiting decision Port Adelaide has made has been brilliant. Jason Cripps and his merry men have built the platform for a sustained successful period."

Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson says Port is the best placed side to knock off established favourites Hawthorn and Sydney.

"God help everyone else if they finish one or two and host home finals," he says.

Former Bomber Paddy Ryder adds flexibility to Port Adelaide's line-up. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Corp Australia

Of the Herald Sun's 20 experts surveyed in the magazine, four — led by King — are tipping a Port Adelaide flag.

But King says cross-town rival Adelaide provides a warning against taking the rise for granted.

"There are no guarantees in AFL football. The Crows were in an identical situation in 2012. Just pause and consider where they've been since."

Read the full Port Adelaide preview, expert crystal ball and 84 pages of the best AFL analysis in Footy15 — $2 with your Saturday Herald Sun

Originally published as Port will win the flag: King

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Round 23 Barometer: Will Heppell play?

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We must run Dockers into ground: Hartlett

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Sauce still has taste for finals

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White embracing Showdown rivalry

Jay Schulz manages a club record-equalling eight goal haul against the Western Bulldogs as Port go on to thrash the Bulldogs by 72 points.

Matt White has been excellent in his first season at Port Adelaide. Source: Getty Images

MATT White has played in front of 87,000 people at the MCG which for eight years was the ground he called home as a Tiger.

Now he says having 40,000 fanatical Power supporters at the Adelaide Oval is just as spine-tingling, and the Showdown rivalry with the Crows is as big as anything he experienced in Victoria.

In 105 games with Richmond, White said the biggest occasions were always against Essendon, Collingwood and Carlton but SA's greatest rivalry was just as intense.

"This year being the first time I was ever part of a Showdown - it had a finals like atmosphere," he said.

"It's a massive thing. I didn't understand the whole thing behind it when I first came over here, but to see how passionate people are about it.

Ken Hinkley says the most impressive part of his side's 128-56 thrashing of the Western Bulldogs was their outstanding defence from the second quarter ownwards

"And even inside the club it gets built up and it's an amazing atmosphere (at the ground).

"The first one (in March) was our home game and the Port crowd were ridiculously loud.

"And I'm sure the Crows supporters who will be there (this) weekend will be trying to beat it."

Unlike Showdown XXXVI in Round 2, Port Adelaide fans will be seriously out-numbered by Crows supporters who are hosting this weekend's game.

But regardless of the opponent, White said it was the majority support at Adelaide Oval which set its cauldron-like atmosphere apart from playing at the MCG.

"The big difference is the home crowd support, it's all one way," he said of the $535 million revamped city stadium.

"The ground and everything is amazing but you go into a crowd of 40-50,000 and you'll get maybe 2-3000 that are the opposition or interstaters. Where as at the MCG it was a 50-50 crowd.

"The noise of 40,000 people cheering for one club is deafening and it definitely gives us an edge having the great support we've got there."

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Roo returns to Crows, joins the board

Crows champion Mark Ricciuto is returning to the club as a board member. Picture: Sarah Reed Source: News Corp Australia

BROWNLOW Medallist and former club captain Mark Ricciuto is returning to the Crows as a board member.

Ricciuto is to be one of at least two changes to the Adelaide Football Club board this year, the Crows' first as an independent club free of SANFL control on director appointments

Crows chairman Rob chapman announced long-serving board members Peter Hurley and John Sutton would leave the directors' table at the end of the year. This is their 14th season on the board.

Ricciuto said it was always his plan to return to the Crows in an official capacity.

"Once I had things in order I wanted to give something back to the football club," he said.

"Peter Hurley has been a great business partner for me and he said to me a long time ago that when he goes off the board he wants me to go on."

His term begins from July 1.

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Gibbs re-signs with Carlton until 2019

• by: Glenn McFarlane
• From: News Corp Australia
• June 24, 2014 2:06PM

CARLTON midfielder Bryce Gibbs insists he never considered offers from rival AFL clubs, saying his new five-year deal with the club was never in question.

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Trengove stays loyal to Power

Last updated: June 23, 2014

PORT Adelaide's long term future keeps getting rosier with key utility Jackson Trengove locking in until 2017.

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Port one win from finals safety

Jay Schulz manages a club record-equalling eight goal haul against the Western Bulldogs as Port go on to thrash the Bulldogs by 72 points.

Chad Wingard under pressure from Liam Picken and Koby Stevens. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia

PORT Adelaide is one win from qualifying for consecutive AFL final series for the first time since 2005. And it is still June.

Not since the heady days of its SANFL glory seasons has the Port Adelaide Football Club been in a position to plan so early for September - even before the tax man cometh. At 11-2 and one win clear of its rivals at the top of the AFL ladder, the Power is better placed than in its breakthrough 2004 premiership season (9-4, fourth) when the players were fuelled by the pain of three years of wasted opportunities.

The argument may begin that this young Power player group still has not paid its dues ... but then did the Baby Bombers who stunned the AFL by winning the 1993 flag or the Alastair Clarkson shark hunters of 2008 who netted Geelong?

Port coach Ken Hinkley is to learn plenty of his players in the next nine weeks. Last year, he watched them thrive on the edge of qualifying for the club's first final series since 2007. Such a script is never short of motivation, week after week. This season, there is the challenge of staying on the so-called "red line" for another three months - and the danger of taking short cuts, such as protecting the body be ready for confirmed appointments in September.

Ken Hinkley says the most impressive part of his side's 128-56 thrashing of the Western Bulldogs was their outstanding defence from the second quarter ownwards

The Power players returned to their Portress at Adelaide Oval on Saturday - after taking many pats on the back for a "gallant" four-point loss to Sydney at the SCG a week earlier - needing to prove the "fat head" tag thrust upon them earlier this season by North Melbourne premiership defender David King would not resurface.

The 72-point win against the lowly ranked Western Bulldogs was pretty much all Hinkley should have expected - and everything the Power players should have demanded of themselves in a competition that punishes teams that are satisfied in June.

Port lost the first quarter by four points (after being 16 points down in time-on) but - as a sign of a team with a clear focus and unbridled ambition - won the next three quarters by 16, 32 and 28 points while key forward Jay Schulz moved closer to personal success in the race for the John Coleman Medal as the AFL's leading goalkicker. His eight goals (four in the last term) matched the club's AFL record of eight from Hall of Famer Warren Tredrea against Carlton at Princes Park in 1998.

Port Adelaide celebrate their win over the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia

Beyond the instant headline created by Schulz's eight goals, the other telling signs in a rather predictable game were the class of Robbie Gray, the appetite Ollie Wines has for contested football and the way captain Travis Boak sets the agenda when the Power needs to make its mark on the scoreboard.

The Power did again mix a heavy focus on defence with the critically important task of entertaining a demanding supporter base by breaking the watershed 100-point barrier for the seventh time this season. But it is still June ... and the question lingers on how ambitious and self-critical are Hinkley's players who are still competing against proven men from Sydney, Hawthorn and Fremantle for the flag?

Hinkley insists they are the coach's dream - self-motivated men led by a demanding captain, Boak, who returned from the SCG noting his teammates had lost a game and cannot put in a trophy cabinet whatever respect they supposedly won by standing up against the Swans.

Jay Schulz kicked eight goals in the win over the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia

Schulz, who endured mediocrity at Richmond and in his early seasons at Alberton, notes: "We always come into Monday knowing there are still things we need to work on. Guys will go home (on Saturday night) to watch the game knowing what they did not do well enough. We don't need (Hinkley) to come down at quarter-time to tell us what we are not doing well - a lot of the guys know it already and they are not happy with it.

"That is the good thing about this group. We're telling each other - even before Ken has to - and we get on with fine tuning things, quarter by quarter; week by week. We know there is a long, long road to go - and we have to (turn up) every week.

"The next 10 weeks (to the finals) are not going to be a drag. We love playing footy - and we love competing, particularly against the best sides ... and there are some good ones coming up. We want to win every game and the only way we can do that is by improving each week.

"We are more demanding of each other, more demanding than any other group I have been involved in. We want to achieve something together. we want to keep winning."

What more could a coach want?

"They want to be as good as they possibly can be," Hinkley noted of his group. "Their appetite is as strong as it ever has been. Very strong. And (despite the early qualification to finals) we will not take our eye off the ball."

For the record, there are still 97 days to the grand final.

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Jonathan Brown retires on doctor’s orders

Former Lions skipper Jonathan Brown has announced his immediate retirement due to health reasons.

Speaking on AFL 360 Barry Hall and Cameron Mooney encourage Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown to retire after suffering another concerning concussion

Jonathan Brown of the Lions looks on from the bench. Source: Getty Images

VETERAN Brisbane superstar Jonathan Brown has announced his immediate retirement from AFL footy.

Brown, a 256-gamer, said his decision was based on strong medical advice following his third heavy head knock in 12 months in the Lions' 45-point loss to Greater Western Sydney on June 14.

LEGEND: HOW TWITTER REACTED TO BROWNY'S NEWS

"It's a very difficult time, but at the same time I'm very happy on reflection," 32-year-old full-forward Brown told reporters at the Gabba.

"Unfortunately though, the last week or so it's become evident after my concussion last week that I don't respond or bounce back like I used to from those hits.

REPLAY THE ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW

"I had pretty strong medical advice this week that it was in my best interest to stop.

"It's been a hard pill to swallow, even though deep down inside I knew that was the right answer."

Brown, a three-time premiership player, said his 15th season in the AFL was likely to have been his last anyway.

"It wasn't worth the risk of going out there and copping another head knock and jeopardising my future with my wife and kids," he said.

"I've got to keep pretty sharp for the young fella, to chase him around."

After 15 seasons, Brisbane stalwart Jonathan Brown has called it quits on his career after suffering a heavy concussion in the Lions' clash with the Giants in Round 13.

The two-time All-Australian said he would stay involved with the club off the field for the remainder of the season.

"I'm not going to dramatise it — I'm OK, I'm going to recover. I'm sure my symptoms will clear up soon," Brown said.

Has Jonathan Brown made the right decision to retire from AFL footy?

Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge today described Brown as "an intimidating figure".

"But he's highly respected among the footy public and players, and as intimidating as he is on the field he's just as good a bloke off the field.

IT COULD BE MY LAST GAME: BROWN

BROWN DOESN'T OWE LIONS ANYTHING

LYNCH: C'MON BROWNY, MAKE THE RIGHT CALL

"He's always willing to have a beer — probably more than anyone else — but that's the kind of person he is, a laid-back country bloke who loves to play footy and loves to have a good time with his mates.

"What he's done for football in general and also the Brisbane Lions has been enormous.

"It's disappointing the way he's finished with another head clash but that's the way he's played his footy from day dot, he puts his head over the ball."

Hodge said he tried to keep up with Brown in an off-season drinking session about five years ago.

"No good," he said. "He's a powerhouse — on and off the field."

Brown thanked coach and former teammate Justin Leppitsch for his support, insisting he hadn't pressured him into retiring.

"I'm looking forward to the future, whatever that may be."

The club legend said he believed the 17th-placed Lions were heading in the right direction, despite Saturday's 83-point mauling by Fremantle.

Hawks captain Luke Hodge has been one of the first people to praise former Lions skipper Jonathan Brown following his retirement announcement.

JONATHAN BROWN

Recruited from: South Warrnambool/Geelong Falcons

Draft history: Pick 30 (father-son), 1999 national draft

Age: 32

Games: 256

Goals: 594

Honours: Best-and-fairest 2007, 08, 09; All-Australian 2007, 09; Coleman Medal 2007; premierships 2001, 02, 03; co-captain 2007-08; captain 2009-12

BRISBANE LIONS MOST GAMES

322 Simon Black

318 Marcus Ashcroft

289 Michael Voss

282 Luke Power

279 Nigel Lappin

273 Shaun Hart

268 Darryl White

256 Jonathan Brown

248 Jason Akermanis

222 Daniel Bradshaw

BRISBANE LIONS MOST GOALS

594 Jonathan Brown

496 Daniel Bradshaw

460 Alastair Lynch

307 Jason Akermanis

285 Roger Merrett

MOST GOALS BY A BRISBANE LIONS PLAYER IN A GAME

10.1 Jonathan Brown v Carlton, 2007

9.6 Brad Hardie v Carlton, 1989

9.2 Daniel Bradshaw v Melbourne, 2005

8.6 Rod Owen v Fitzroy, 1992

8.5 Jim Edmond v Geelong, 1987

8.4 Jonathan Brown v Hawthorn, 2006

GALLERY: JONATHAN BROWN'S CAREER

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