Port Adelaide are leading a renewed push to leave the SANFL and join a national AFL reserves competition as soon as 2025. The likely end of the Magpies, who have won 36 state-league premierships in their 153-year history, has edged closer to becoming a reality in recent weeks. Port have told the SANFL they are keen to get out of the league, according to 7NEWS Adelaide’s Theo Doropoulos, and they could be joined in an exodus by Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle.
Doropoulos said it is “growing increasingly likely” that 2024 will be the final season that the teams feature in the state league. Port’s decision to wrap up the Magpies’ historic involvement in the SANFL will be a watershed moment for one of the most successful clubs in the top-level history of the sport. The Magpies won their first premiership in 1884 and last triumphed in 1999, after the club had also entered the AFL as the Power.