Port Adelaide just love it in Alice Springs

Thomas ( pictured) said a high priority for the Port Adelaide administration every year is to lock in away games in Alice Springs against the allocated home side and in recent years that has been Melbourne.

“What that has meant to us is we’ve grown some conti- nuity as we keep coming back,” he said. “We don’t get financially rewarded for it, but that’s OK, we’re not doing it for that,’’ he said.

Thomas said Alice Springs was his club’s No.1 preference for playing games in the NT.

“Alice Springs works better for us,’’ he said. “It’s closer to Adelaide and the people here have a closer affinity with South Australia which creates a bond.

“Going to Darwin was all about thinking commercially, could we make it work with the railway going all the way through? But it hasn’t panned out that way.’’