Monday 18 April
I arrived at Alberton at 8.30am on Monday morning and caught up with Russell Ebert. Russell gave me a tour around the player’s facilities and introduced me to players, coaches and trainers. Afterwards, he showed me around the administration area, as this was to be where I would spend most of my week, and introduced me to staff. I was introduced to my supervisor Tash and given a rundown of my week ahead, which included an introduction to the work done by the Community Department. There was a press conference with Troy Chaplin following the ‘Showdown’ on the weekend, and I was able to sit in and listen. Afterwards I followed Russell as he gave a tour to a group around the facilities at Alberton, which included a player appearance. When I got back to the office I wrote a short article for PAFC website about the visit and made a phone call to the organisation involved to get clearance to publish it. I finished the day by doing some research and bringing up the findings at the Community team meeting.

Tuesday 19 April
Tuesday started by working in the Power Mega Store. I was introduced to Anton and Nathan, and started out by shifting boxes of the new ‘Since 1870’ book. Nathan showed me how to operate the inventory search, card machine and till. I answered a few customer questions and helped some people look for gifts. After observing Nathan, I put through a couple of transactions for customers, and bagged purchases. I finished by restocking the Jacket racks. After being at the store, I joined the Media for a press conference with players and ‘Army Reserves’. Lunchtime was the chance to put the ‘Russell Ebert’ diet to the test, and the ham, cheese & pineapple foccacia sandwich lived up to the high expectations set. In the afternoon I joined Russell, Daniel Stewart and Alipate Carlile for a charity appearance at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s Starlight room, where the players chatted to the kids, played party games, signed autographs and posed for photos. I took some photos of the event and wrote an article for the website.

Wednesday 20 April
Today I assisted the Footy Department at AAMI Stadium where the players had a closed training Session. I was on ball duty : ) I was able to be in the changerooms before training, then went behind the goals and collected the balls as players kicked them. Sometimes I would be kick-out and kick them back to the players, other times I would bag them and run them out to the coaches/trainers when needed. When the training was finished, I collected the equipment and packed it away. When we arrived back at Alberton, I helped out sorting the player’s boots into lockers. I really enjoyed this morning, as I was able to spend a lot of time with the players, and it was great fun kicking the balls back to them and having a chat. After lunch I sorted a few hundred tickets into envelopes for personal in the army or emergency services for this weekend’s game against GCS.

Thursday 21 April
Today I spent the morning running errands for the Community Department, which included loading up the Planet Teal vehicle for the game on Saturday, as well as other general ‘run-arounds’. Afterwards, I joined in with the Events and Media Department, where I did a few odd jobs for them, then spoke to Media about career opportunities, as this is a field that I am interested in. After lunch I continued to run errands for different departments in preparation for match day on Saturday. Also spoke to different people from different departments on career advice!!

Friday 22 April
Attended Footy training in the morning and helped out, as the office was closed for Good Friday.

Saturday 23 April
Attended the Port Adelaide v Gold Coast Suns game at AAMI Stadium, and was able to go behind the scenes. Awesome atmosphere!

I really enjoyed my time here at PAFC. It was a fantastic week, and I couldn’t believe I was interacting and working with some of the players that were my heroes as a kid. It was unreal. The work side was great too, and all staff were very friendly and welcoming. I didn’t realise the full extent of the behind the scenes work, especially in the Community Department where I spent most of the time. They are doing some great things to benefit others, and it was a real privilege to spend the week with them. I really like the atmosphere here at PAFC, and it would be a great place to be employed at in the future.