Port Adelaide's general manager – football Peter Rohde will leave the club in December this year after more than 30 years in the football industry to take on a senior position at EFM Corporate.



Rohde enjoyed a distinguished career as a player, coach and administrator.



He played 46 games for Carlton from 1985 to 1987, before switching to Melbourne where he represented the Demons in 117 games from 1988 to 1995.



Upon his retirement as a player, Rohde was appointed senior coach of Norwood in the SANFL from 1996 to 1999. He coached Norwood to a drought-breaking premiership in 1997 and enjoyed sustained success leading the Redlegs into four successive finals series during his period at the club.



Rohde’s football journey would then take him back to Victoria where he was an assistant coach with the Western Bulldogs from 2000 to the end of 2002. In the final round of 2002 he took over as Bulldogs senior coach and held that position until the end of 2004.



Rohde returned to South Australia at the end of 2004 to take up the role of general manager – football operations at Port Adelaide, a position he still holds today and will remain in until the end of the year.



Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas said Rohde has enjoyed an outstanding career in football as a player, coach and administrator.



“For Peter to play over 160 games at Carlton and Melbourne through the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties is very significant in its own right,” Mr Thomas said.



“But then when you consider his successful coaching career at Norwood in the SANFL, where he won a premiership, and in the AFL for the Western Bulldogs and then to be able to turn his attention so successfully to a football administration career here at Port Adelaide adds up to a simply outstanding career at football’s highest level.”



Mr Thomas said Rohde will leave behind a huge legacy at Port Adelaide after ten years of exceptional service.



“Peter started here at Port Adelaide at the end of 2004, almost immediately after our premiership. The game of football and our club has changed so much in that period and Peter remained the one constant within our football department,” Mr Thomas said.



“History will show that he facilitated the process of transitioning our entire football program, which often involves a great deal of pain, uncertainty and difficulty, and that is where his resilience of character and pragmatism came to the fore.



“His resilience, character and pragmatism helped us to ride through these difficult times, to the point now that the Club is back on the brink of a new period of sustained success.



"Peter leaves the club in great shape, and he can look back on his career with Port Adelaide with great pride” Mr Thomas said.



Mr Thomas thanked Rohde for the timing of his announcement.



“The timing of Peter’s decision is very important to us. Announcing this decision now allows us to finish this year without distraction and enables us to transition in the next person in a very measured way. It’s just another example of Peter putting the club before himself,” Mr Thomas said.



Rohde said although it was a difficult decision to walk away from football he was sure the time was now right.



“Footy has been a huge part of my life. I was 17 when I left the country to head to Melbourne to play for Carlton and since that time I’ve been fortunate enough to be at some great clubs and meet some great people along the way,” Rohde said.



“But over the last couple of years I’ve given some thought as to what I would do in the next stage of my working career and now it feels like the right time to branch off into something new.



“At the end of last year I took over a majority ownership of EFM corporate so from that point on I’ve had open discussions with Keith Thomas about my future with the view that I would finish up in December of this year.”



Rohde said he leaves football with many great memories including coaching Norwood to the 1997 SANFL premiership but his most notable recollections come from his playing days.



“My overall highlights from my football career certainly come from my playing days. I was fortunate enough to play in a lot of finals for both Carlton and Melbourne so from a football perspective those playing days were very memorable,” Mr Rohde said.



Most significantly, Rohde said he felt he was leaving Port Adelaide at a high point.



“From a football perspective it is definitely satisfying to leave when the club is on the up with a core group of young players that are hopefully on the cusp of sustained success,” Rohde said.



“I’ll be watching on with a lot of interest and taking enormous satisfaction if success comes their way.



“And people may ask why leave now? Well I think it’s the perfect time to leave when the club is on the rise and when we are in a position to push towards sustained success.”



Mr Thomas said Rohde will remain in the position of general manager – football operations until Christmas with the club hopeful of finding a replacement in the coming weeks.



“The role of general manager – football operations has evolved over the time of Peter’s career with a real emphasis on integrity issues and the governance of the game,” Mr Thomas said.



“The role, just like football itself, has changed significantly in the last decade. As a club, we have an Academy structure to build and we have a newly integrated football program with the Magpies and the Power, so we need to take all those aspects into consideration when searching for the next person.”





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