REWIND TO 2016, and Port Adelaide was staring down the barrel of mediocrity. After a 10th-place finish with an ageing list, something had to change.
Of the 44 players on that 2016 list, just 19 remain this season. Of the 22 players that defeated reigning premiers West Coast last weekend, nine had moved to the club over the past three off-seasons.
A three-year plan was put in place after failing to make the 2016 finals, with one theme staying consistent throughout. Recruiting can be pot-luck at times, but a successful department needs to take as many bites of the cherry as possible.
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The Power would begin by hitting the draft hard in 2016, topping up through free agency and trades in 2017, and then acquiring elite talent at the top end of the draft again in 2018. It was a quantitative approach from a club that had previously traded away bounties for established talents.
The Power traded out of the first two rounds in 2014 when they attained Paddy Ryder, and again in 2015 when they swung a deal for Charlie Dixon. The trade for the Suns forward also included Port Adelaide's 2016 second-round pick heading to the sunshine state.
To begin the 2016 off-season, the Power held picks 9, 19 and 49 and flipped them to Sydney for what ended up being Todd Marshall (pick 16), Sam Powell-Pepper (pick 18) and Willem Drew (pick 33). Joe Atley also wound up at Alberton with pick 32.
All three of Marshall, Powell-Pepper and Drew have provided an impact in 2019 for the Power, while Atley has played three games in teal.
Willem Drew has looked the goods in his five games to date. Picture: AFL Photos
The 2017 acquisitions have been discussed plenty of times, with Tom Rockliff, Steven Motlop, Trent McKenzie and Jack Trengove all entering the club through free agency. The Power also picked up Jack Watts after trading away pick 31, while Lindsay Thomas was selected in the rookie draft.
Thomas, Trengove and McKenzie were, perhaps, holdovers for depth as Jarman Impey, Jackson Trengove, Brendon Ah Chee, Logan Austin, Aaron Young and Matthew Lobbe all departed the club.
Motlop has proved to be a match-winner at times, although he's been out of form in 2019. Rockliff has gathered the third-most disposals of any player in the competition this season, while Watts sustained a serious ankle injury after a promising to start this year.
The 2018 draft and trading strategy has wielded early success.
Scott Lycett has proved to be the ideal partner for Ryder. Connor Rozee has been nominated for the NAB Rising Star already. Xavier Duursma has looked right at home, kicking two goals against the Eagles. Zak Butters might end up being the most exciting of the lot, with his ability to zip through traffic with an array of sidesteps and classy finishes already being put on show.
The trades to get the trio in were aggressive. Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard were shipped off to North Melbourne to get the pick that snared Butters.
Chad Wingard had been the great hope for many Power fans. It's early days, but the additions of Ryan Burton and Duursma have arguably had a greater impact on Port Adelaide's 2019 success than Wingard has had on Hawthorn's.
Can you imagine a Gold Coast forward line of Rozee, Izak Rankine, Jack Martin and Alex Sexton? The Power couldn't miss out on the South Australian, so they moved up from pick six to pick five and grabbed Lion Sam Mayes along the way, leaving the Suns to take Ben King after receiving pick six for Steven May.
At 3-2 after five rounds, it's tough to predict where the Power will finish at the end of this season. But finals are not out of the question if this young team can continue to break the lines and adjust on the fly like it has so far in 2019.
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