Port Adelaide are channeling the teamwork theme from the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ into September this year.
Ryan Burton and Ollie Wines revealed the news to SEN on Tuesday, with the 2023 finals series seen internally as the culmination of years of work.
Port Adelaide has defied plenty this season to surge up the ladder, while Ken Hinkley has also earnt himself a contract extension.
‘Oppenheimer’ tells the tale of how the Manhattan Project was commissioned with J. Robert Oppenheimer leading a team that developed and created the first atomic bomb over years of work, a breakthrough that ultimately ended World War II.
Speaking to SEN’s Sportsday, Wines said the Power are looking to emulate the journey aspect of the movie.
“It’s a little bit about just how much work goes into something. In the movie Oppenheimer, it was (the work) to go into the atomic bomb that ended World War II,” Wines said about the club's finals theme.
“So many people have to come together and work hard for a number of years, this finals campaign isn’t something that’s just been building for this year, it’s probably been the last four years where we have reached two (Preliminary) Finals we’re continuing to grow.”
He added: “(We watched it) individually, not everyone has actually seen the movie so there was a few scratching their heads.
“But I guess the general grasp of it is so many people have to come together and work hard to reach a common goal, which hopefully for us is a premiership.
“Funnily enough it’s not (about blowing the competition away)… it’s more so about the journey to get there and what it takes to get that finished product.”
The Power have finished in the top five on four occasions since 2016 but have never played a Grand Final under Hinkley.
They fell in consecutive Preliminary Finals against Richmond (2020) and Western Bulldogs (2021).
Earlier on Tuesday, Nathan Buckley suggested he believes Port Adelaide has more to offer than many think and are flying under the radar ahead of the finals.
With a Qualifying Final against Brisbane locked in for Saturday, Wines said the underdog tag hasn’t hurt the Power.
“It’s probably a little bit different situation to previous Qualifying Finals where we have been at home and probably the favourite,” he added.
“But in saying that we understand we’ve been up against it throughout the year and even when we’ve been getting on winning streaks and winning all those games in a row people were still probably doubting us.
“In our four walls at Alberton we’ve got full belief in what we’re capable of and we understand Brisbane are a really hard team to beat up and their home ground, but we’re going to give ourselves every chance.”