PAFC 2026

[Booney]

Take aways from last nights community consultation on the Alberton Square project :

- Rezoning process completed in around 4 months
- Final designs completed in 8-12 months ( rezoning impacts this )
- Developer selected in that 12 month period
- Club retains ownership of the land
- Developer recoups money via sale of residential property
- Club draws on going revenue from commercial tenancies

Not as many NIMBYs as I expected, a couple of older folks were vociferous and it descended into a car parking on Port Road discussion but in the main a good informative night.

[Dutchy]

Did they mention how long the development approval will take? Sounds like Port will end up owning the commercial side of the development and the residential will be taken over by a developer, which lines up with the anticipated returns that Kochie was spruiking. That mitigates the risk significantly which is a smart move as while it reduces the potential windfall they could make, it reduces there exposure greatly.

[Booney]

5-7 years for completion.

*Edit

Rezoning and approval are two different things.

Rezoning around 4 months. Approval is in a (can't recall the actual term) shadow (I think) stage, basically running in the back ground.

[RB]

- Club retains ownership of the land
- Developer recoups money via sale of residential property

I'm probably just ignorant of how these sorts of arrangements work, but I assume if they're selling off properties then the residents own the land? I know it's going to be flats, but wouldn't that just be a strata-type arrangement with the common property being owned by the strata corp?

Or did you mean club retains ownership of the land during the development and sells directly to the residents, with the developer receiving an agreed cut or amount equivalent to the increased value etc.

I'm probably missing something.

[Booney]

- Club retains ownership of the land
- Developer recoups money via sale of residential property

I'm probably just ignorant of how these sorts of arrangements work, but I assume if they're selling off properties then the residents own the land? I know it's going to be flats, but wouldn't that just be a strata-type arrangement with the common property being owned by the strata corp?

Or did you mean club retains ownership of the land during the development and sells directly to the residents, with the developer receiving an agreed cut or amount equivalent to the increased value etc.

I'm probably missing something.

No, the club will own the land full stop. I see that the club will allow the developer to "use" the land to build upon and when they sell the apartments they recoup from there.

The club is at pains to reinforce to the community that this isn't a developer coming in, building, cashing in and leaving. The club has a vested long term interest in the facility.

[RB]

Roger re the developer not owning the land. I assume though the club are eventually going to sell the units when they've been completed (and common property) under strata/community title, unless they do wish to retain ownership of the land, in which case perhaps they're considering long-term lease arrangements.

[Dutchy]

Not sure how Port could hold the residential side of the project if it is being sold off.

I would think the DA could take a good 12 months, but its all obviously contingent on the rezoning being approved, so makes sense that this is running in conjunction with each other.

[Booney]

A wins a win they say and we’ll take the 4 points after defeating Essendon by 63 points at Adelaide Oval on Sunday but we’ll take it on advisement.

From the opening moments the game looked to be on Ports terms and the changes to the line up, in particular the inclusion of Jordan Sweet, looked to be the right move up against young Blakiston from the Bombers who in his 13th game looked about 15kg shy of being able to go with Sweet. At their feet it was a total domination by Port, 13 clearances to 4 in the opening quarter and 21 to 6 inside 50’s ( Essendon had the last 4 ) resulting in a 33 point lead and the game was effectively over. Jason Horne-Francis was on a tear in the forward 50 for Port, 5 touches, 3 marks, 3 goals. He’d helped ice (bath) the game in 30 minutes.

In the middle Drew had 5 clearances and 3 score involvements, Sweet had 2 clearances, 3 score involvements and a goal and by quarter time the midfield was humming but it’s easy to hum when nobody is telling you to be quiet. Essendon’s pressure was, to use some recency bias, about as poor as Port’s was last week against North Melbourne, particularly post clearance where Port just moved the ball at their leisure as the Essendon defenders were left to wonder where the help was going to come from. One glaring aspect to their play was their inefficiency by foot, going at 58% at one point they gave their midfield and forwards very little chance to generate scores as they coughed the ball up over and over.

When Essendon did move the ball forward Caddy looked dangerous, he finished with 4 for the day and livewire Kako had some moments that suggest he’s a player that will offer some proper highlights in the future. The Bombers showed a bit of spirit to open the second quarter, as they did to close out the first they won some ball inside 50 but it wasn’t to their advantage as Port’s first 3 scores of the term were goals Essendon’s were behinds ( one rushed ). The visitors won the I50 count for the quarter but lost the term by 17 points, 8 score from 24 inside 50’s showing how inffective their ball movement is, it’s more by accident then design then they do score.

The second half isn’t going to be easy to write home about.
Some notable numbers I've come across -
Essendon conceded 25 marks inside 50 and 165 for the match, that's a reflection on how poor they were defensively.
Throw in 8 Essendon players didn't lay a single tackle and 4 of them laid 1 each. That's 4 tackles between 12 players.

For Port there was some positive signs from the week before, the forward line all got a lick of the ice cream, Lukosius with 3 would be feeling good about himself for the first time since arriving at Alberton, time to back it up next week, Durdin hit the board with 2 majors for the second consecutive week and I may have to eat my words on him, Watkins looked more at ease with the pace of the game, Berry did some nice things and got plenty of the ball (career high 19 + 2 goals ) and Logan Evans with 11 marks might just be coming of age.

Again, we'll preface any positive news with the weight of negativity that hangs over Essendon at the moment but the bad news from the game didn't end there. Captain Connor Rozee suffering a potentially season ending (who knows) hamstring injury. Tearing the tendon off the bone sounds excruciating. With the timeline down for 12-16 weeks and given we have 22 weeks remaining there is a chance we don't see him again or at best it won't be until very late in the season. A massive blow as we rely on our top end talent to be at their best but as with all injuries in the game someone gets a chance to step up. With Bergman out for a couple with a rolled ankle we're two of our best down. Not ideal.

Boons best - Butters, Horne-Francis, Sweet, Rozee, Aliir, Evans