They said it couldn’t be done. Port Adelaide’s rivals called it a ‘sideshow’. Yet within five years, Port Adelaide had attracted major sponsors from China, played three in-season AFL matches in Shanghai, and featured in a series of significant moments in the Australia-China relationship. This is the inside story.

It was not easy. Port Adelaide’s engagement with China coincided with a period in which on-field performance fell below expectation, as well as a rapid deterioration in the Australia-China relationship. It took leadership, creativity, and resilience to see the job through.

Port Adelaide’s China Engagement guru Andrew Hunter tells the story with its challenges and joys, disappointments and triumphs. PAFC captain Tom Jonas, journalist Michelangelo Rucci, and cheersquad leader Ian Wilson contribute their tales of the long journey from Port Adelaide to Shanghai.