The Power's two- to four-year players arrived at Alberton on Monday strapped and ready for their first day of pre-season training, only to be told they would be spending the week working 9-5 jobs in the local business community.
Coach Mark Williams, who is overseas on a study trip, decided to introduce the program after watching NRL premiers Melbourne Storm enjoy success with a similar approach.
The jobs range from landscaping and tiling to customer service, and assistant coach Adam Kingsley said he was confident the exercise would prevent the players from taking their fledgling football careers for granted.
"The biggest thing that can come out of this is the desperation to have a career and make a career out of football because it doesn't last long. I think the average is three-and-a-half years on an AFL list," Kingsley said on Monday.
"Not many guys are fortunate enough to play AFL games let alone make a career out of it and that's the message we want to drive home to these guys. You have a very small window to have a successful career, so you'd better make the most of it.
"You'd better work as hard as you possibly can and you better give us your greatest effort in every session you come to. If you do that, you will be a successful AFL footballer and if you don't you'll be working in the workforce earlier than expected."
The players are expected to return to Alberton after work each day, where they will be required to complete a normal training session.
"The players are back to old school. They'll work during the days and train at night," Kingsley said.
"I know when I first started, for the first two years of my AFL career, that's how it was. The players will experience just how difficult it has been for the people that have preceded them at the Port Adelaide footy club."
The Power made a conscious effort to add more grit and grunt to their list during the off-season following a year of inconsistent and sometimes non-competitive efforts.
The club failed in its bid to lure Hawthorn tough nuts Jordan Lewis and Campbell Brown to Alberton but succeeded in adding two of the hardest players of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dean Laidley and Garry Hocking, to its coaching panel.
Kingsley denied the existing coaches felt threatened by the experienced off-field additions and said he expected the hard-hitting pair to have an immediate impact on the players.
"I'm absolutely rapt that Dean and Garry have come in because both guys are very experienced players and coaches. having coached their own teams for numerous years. They're not here to take our jobs and we're not concerned about that," he said.
"The outward perception would be that those two guys were mean players. They were tough, hard competitive people and that's going to help our group.
"If our players play like those guys did we'll be a successful team."
