Port Adelaide Football Club expands to AFLW for the first time with women leading its management team

Juliet Haslam played in the first women's Showdown.

It was not officially a Showdown of course, since Port Adelaide has yet to play an AFLW match.

Nevertheless, the Football Park game played before an AFL derby between Port Adelaide and Adelaide in 2004 was treated very seriously by Haslam and her teammates as they took on the Crows.

"We beat the Crows of course," Haslam proudly declared.

Despite being part of two Olympic gold-medal winning Australian hockey teams, Haslam rates her experience in a Port jumper as "incredibly special".

"Having the chance to wear the Port Adelaide guernsey was something I will always remember," she said.

"It was the sheer joy and excitement of representing the club that I have passionately supported all of my life."

Haslam took her passion to the next level in December last year when she joined Port as head of the AFLW program.

"It was a pretty lengthy, detailed full-on process to say the least," she said about the selection procedure that delivered her the job.

"It's a fantastic role that provides an exciting opportunity to build the new program from the ground up, but there's no question there've been challenges along the way."

The immediate and obvious challenge when she started in the role was finding staff, a coach and players in what was then a 12-month window before the opening round of season seven of the AFLW.

"I thought late November was going to be a bit of a push, but then the season was brought forward three months," Haslam said.

"It's out of your control, so you've just got to be able to work with it.

"It's happened very fast, but we feel like we're in a good position now."

Talent group five years in the making

In the modern era, a player group is built not by a coach but by a list manager.

That position was filled by Naomi Maidment, a former South Australian cricketer and experienced football coach, who was at the time in charge of Port Adelaide's female Next Generation Academy.

She officially started as list manager in January.

"I guess really truthfully it started five years ago when I took on the role as academy coach with a plan that one day we would have that AFLW licence," Maidment said.

Her academy experience gave her a significant head start as she built a database of talent in South Australia and, just as importantly, looked beyond the borders.

"The list strategy philosophy was really mapping out probably a three-year road map," Maidment said.

"We're aiming to be competitive straight away with an eye on future drafts.

In fact, 12 of the 30-player list were recruited from outside South Australia, while the club has brought home another four.

An outsider of a different kind was brought in as the club's AFLW operations manager.

Former basketballer Rachael Sporn, a good friend of Haslam, is envious of what has been provided for the inaugural squad.

"I do like how well they are looked after in this day and age," Sporn said.

"I look at this program and I wish I was playing."

Port's players will have exclusive access to their own change room facility, which sits on the opposite side of Alberton Oval to that of the AFL side.

"We couldn't be happier with the W facility — as we call it," Haslam said.

"What I love about it is that it's part new, part old."

History and tradition are a prized part of the Port Adelaide experience and Haslam's staff has worked hard to inform but not overwhelm the new players about the 152-year-old story.

"We've got the Fos Williams Family Stand, so you have this heritage and history on the outside and inside you've got this new bubbling, exciting place for our group and our players to make their own," Haslam said.

Women at the helm

Owning the task of leading the club into its first AFLW season is former Carlton and Brisbane player Lauren Arnell.

It would be hard to find someone more proud of their pathway in coaching.

Australian football has taken her from a childhood obsession with the game through the disappointment of being told she could no longer play in her early teens.

After discovering the game again as an adult, she had an impressive albeit relatively short AFLW career highlighted by a premiership victory with Brisbane in 2021.

Her playing career is only part of the story though. Arnell is a teacher, a career choice that has played a hefty role in her success as a coach.

"There's a whole range of experiences plus teaching and coaching development work which has kind of got me to this point," Arnell said.

"In the last two years at the Lions I was coach of their academy program and three days a week teaching.

"Perhaps a lot of people in the industry would see me comparatively like Michael Voss, Nathan Buckley or James Hird as soon as they finished playing.

"Those guys just played footy. I've been working since I was 19, so it's a different story to tell and I think it paints a picture of AFLW athletes and the sort of path that my generation has walked."

As much as anything, her experience outside of playing football has guided her approach to her team.

On the morning she sat down to be interviewed, Arnell had already spent time over coffee with four of her squad and was aiming to meet up with another four before the day's end.

"Coaching a training session is by far the easiest part of my job," Arnell explained.

"It's so much fun being out there but if I'm a senior coach sitting in front of my laptop all day planning a training session then I'm not doing my job.

"Supporting the environment and creating the best possible space for our group is harder."

'No limits set'

None of the coaching panel, nor Maidment in her high performance role, are delusional about the task they've been handed and the degree of difficulty.

"Things are building," Arnell said. 

Maidment was even more blunt.

"Pre-season is one of those things where everything is going well, you've never lost a game," she said.

"We need to see them play and we need to make those list management decisions once they're in competitive matches."

The initial on-field test was two weeks out from the first match with a trip into Melbourne to play Essendon.

The trial game served as a valuable introduction to travel for the logistics team off-field as well.

"What has been amazing is the support from the men's department, from those that have the experience," Sporn said.

The operations manager said the AFL side of the club provided a checklist of not only what needed to be packed, but also the timings of when and how to deliver what would be required on game day.

"It's so different to basketball because you have so much property," Sporn said with a laugh.

"There's a property truck, as if I knew that coming in.

"And there's so many more people than basketball. It's supersized!"

In her calmer moments though, Sporn is able to put the adventure into perspective.

"We are having to do a lot things that, you know, in season two are already in place and we won't have to revisit," she said.

Pragmatic and experienced in coaching, Arnell has managed to navigate every challenge with a surety that surely inspires those around her.

"The beauty of having a short pre-season is that you can be very targeted in what you teach," she said on the subject of the AFLW's decision to bring forward the start of season seven.

"We're not setting any limits on what we're capable of.

On a cold night in July, when she brought her 30 players together for their first training session as a group at Alberton Oval, her message was simple and direct.

"Have a ripper tonight, let's start on the best possible note that we can," Arnell told them.

"Just bring the best of yourself."

It was the straightforward nature of the message that somehow befits Port Adelaide, its creed, tradition and ambition.

For Juliet Haslam, it no doubt echoes the words chosen by basketball super coach Jan Stirling as she sent forth her players in that pseudo-Showdown 18 years ago.