PORT ADELAIDE FOOTBALL CLUB - Key Persons
BIO
Braedon Talbot was appointed assistant coach of Port Adelaide's AFLW side prior to the 2024 season, after spending a year as development coach.
From Kadina on Yorke Peninsula, Cam Sutcliffe was initially drafted by Fremantle with pick 71 of the 2011 National Draft.
He made his debut in Round 15 of the 2012 season and would go on to play 104 games for the Dockers before being delisted at the end of the 2018 season.
Sutcliffe was originally brought to Port Adelaide as its SANFL leadership player in 2019 before being upgraded to the AFL rookie list through the mid-year rookie draft and guiding the club to the SANFL Grand Final in his first season at the helm. He also played nine AFL games to make it 113 for his AFL career.
He announced his retirement at the end of the 2023 season, finishing with 50 SANFL games and 35 goals for the club.
A development coach in Port Adelaide's inaugural AFLW campaign in 2022, Sutcliffe was elevated to be a midfield assistant coach under head coach Lauren Arnell the following season while splitting his time working in the club's not-for-profit charity arm, Power Community Limited. There he ran the Power to End Violence Against Women and Empowered programs, promoting gender equality and respectful relationships.
A shift into the AFL program in 2023 sees him working full-time as a development coach. He will also be an assistant to Hamish Hartlett with the SANFL side.
A cult figure in the hearts and minds of Port Adelaide supporters, in 2016 Chad Cornes ended a four-year absence from the club spent at the GWS Giants as an assistant coach.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Coach
- Assistant Coach of Port Adelaide 's AFLW
BIO
Daniel Merrett was appointed assistant coach of Port Adelaide's AFLW team in early 2024.
Job Titles:
- Development
- Development Coach
Jason Williams joined Port Adelaide prior to the 2024 season as development coach, following a stint with the AFL as head coach of its Indigenous Talent Programs.
A proud Noongar man from Narrogin in Western Australia, Williams is passionate about mentoring and developing young people, particularly those with First Nations roots.
Prior to coming to Alberton, Williams has held coaching roles across multiple clubs including the Northern Bullants in the VFL, Calder Cannons in the NAB League and most recently, as senior head coach of the Bacchus Marsh Football Netball Club in the Ballarat Football League.
A talented footballer himself, Williams spent four seasons playing senior VFL football (Port Melbourne in 2012, 2013 and 2016 and the Northern Blues in 2018), and also represented Vic Metro as a junior at the AFL under 18 national championships.
2004 premiership player and Port Adelaide fan-favourite Josh Carr returned to Alberton at the conclusion of the 2022 season to join Ken Hinkley's coaching team as midfield coach.
Carr originally joined Port Adelaide after being picked up by the club in the 1998 AFL Draft.
Known as a damaging inside midfielder, he quickly became one of Port Adelaide's most important players - twice named as Port Adelaide's best club man and playing a vital role in the club's 2004 premiership campaign.
Carr was traded to Fremantle, playing there from 2005 to 2008, before he returned to Port Adelaide to finish his playing career. He retired immediately after Showdown XXIX in 2010 - a 19-point win - marking an impressive 10-0 record in Showdowns.
Ken Hinkley was appointed Port Adelaide Senior Coach in October 2012, capping a highly successful career as an assistant coach with a number of AFL clubs.
Hinkley - a dedicated and hard-working defender throughout his 132 VFL-AFL games (11 with Fitzroy and 121 with Geelong) - was destined to serve as a senior coach at AFL level.
His greatest success came at Geelong where he was a part of the coaching group in their 2007 and 2009 AFL Premierships.
He added a further dimension to his coaching, moulding the young playing group at the Gold Coast Suns in their first three years in the competition.
As a player, he was involved in the successful Geelong teams of the late eighties and early nineties - playing in the 1992, 1994 and 1995 grand finals.
Lauren Arnell's name will forever be etched in the history books as Port Adelaide's inaugural AFLW senior coach.
In 2022, Arnell was appointed to the role, following two years as head coach of the Brisbane Lions Academy.
A true trailblazer of women's sport, she was Carlton's inaugural AFLW captain and later, became the first former AFLW player to be named senior coach of an AFLW side.
As a player, she was part of an incredibly successful era for the Darebin Falcons, winning nine VFLW premierships.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Midfield Coach
- Port Adelaide As a Midfield Development Coach
BIO
Luke Kelly joined Port Adelaide as a midfield development coach after a number of years of experience at the Western Bulldogs and GWS GIANTS.
Kelly was a performance analyst at the Western Bulldogs from 2012 - 2016.
In 2016 he joined the GWS GIANTS as Senior Performance Analyst before becoming the GIANTS' Defensive Coordinator in 2018.
Kelly made the move into a full-time coaching role as an assistant coach in the development space ahead of the 2019 season.
In 2020, Kelly was awarded the prestigious Phil Walsh Memorial Scholarship and continued on in his role as GWS assistant coach in seasons 2020 and 2021.
At the end of 2021 Kelly took up the role of midfield development coach at Port Adelaide.
Kelly continues his role as midfield coach in 2024, supporting Josh Carr.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Head of Development
- Rucks / Head of Development
BIO
Former Port Adelaide ruck Matthew Lobbe's playing days are remembered fondly by the Alberton crowd, owing to his no-fuss attitude and consistency.
Taken in the 2007 AFL Draft, Lobbe played two years at SANFL level before earning his AFL debut in 2010 - quickly showing his ability to be a serviceable first-choice ruckman.
He boasts the unique statistic of kicking the first goal at Adelaide Oval, etching his name in the history books back in Round 1, 2014.
Lobbe made the move to Carlton in 2018, finishing his AFL career there in 2019. He then moved into a playing assistant coach role at the Werribee Football Club in the VFL.
BIO
Assistant coach Sam Virgo joined Port Adelaide's coaching ranks ahead of the 2023 AFLW season.
The All-Australian defender played 29 games across a five-season career between Brisbane and the Gold Coast SUNS and following retirement, quickly seized her opportunities in coaching.
She was selected as one of eight women to take part in the BHP Women's Coaching Academy, where participants achieved their Level 3 Coaching Course and undertook various development opportunities.
Virgo later took the reins of the Queensland boys NAB AFL under-17 championships team, making history as the first female senior coach to do so.
She also spent two years as part of the coaching panel for the men's Coorparoo Kings division 1 side in the QFA.
Her on-field career overlapped with that of senior coach Lauren Arnell, with the pair playing together at the Lions in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Defensive Coach
- Senior Coach of Port Adelaide 's SANFL
Tyson Goldsack made his AFL debut for Collingwood in 2007 where he featured 165 times at AFL level.
Goldsack became a premiership player in 2010, featuring in Collingwood's Grand Final replay win.
In 2019 Goldsack retired from AFL and joined Port Adelaide in a dual development coach and SANFL leadership player role, however never got to play SANFL due to the AFL's COVID-19 restrictions.