Warren Tredrea was the Power’s premiership captain, but has now been booted from its board

In 2004, the Port Adelaide Football Club stood at the summit of the AFL world — and standing at the top of the club was Warren Tredrea.

“It doesn’t seem too real out here,” he told a TV interviewer following the final siren on the last Saturday in September.

The venue was the MCG, the occasion was the grand final, and Tredrea — who was captain that day — was basking in the glow of victory.

The Power had beaten Brisbane by 40 points to claim what was its first, and remains its only, AFL premiership.

That September triumph 21 years ago cemented Tredrea’s place as a Port Adelaide icon and the brightest star of the club’s AFL era.

But now, the club that continues to describe Tredrea as one of its greatest-ever players has dismissed him from its board of directors.

“After exhausting all reasonable avenues for resolution, the board determined that Mr Tredrea’s continuation as a director was not in the best interests of the club,” it said on Friday in a statement.

The decision followed a formal governance review over “recent public content” shared by Tredrea.

The review was launched in June following an ABC story that reported the concerns of the Jewish Council of Australia about one of Tredrea’s social media posts, which featured claims made by a guest on the former footballer’s new podcast.

In response, Tredrea issued a statement staunchly defending his podcast and his reputation.

The controversy has not been the only one to involve Tredrea in recent months and years.

A place in the Power’s pantheon

In its statement on Friday, the Power said its decision to remove Tredrea from its board was purely a “governance matter relating to its expectations of club directors”.

“It is not, and should never be interpreted as, a reflection on Warren Tredrea’s extraordinary contribution to Port Adelaide as a player,” the club said.

That legacy is an impressive one — during 255 AFL games Tredrea kicked 549 goals, and was a four-time All-Australian, a four-time Power best and fairest winner, and an eight-time club leading goal-kicker.

“The Port Adelaide Football Club has been around for over 140 years,” then-Power coach Matthew Primus said upon Tredrea’s retirement in 2010.

From Power to pundit

After his retirement, Tredrea pivoted to a career in media, with roles at radio stations Triple M Adelaide and FiveAA.

He also worked as a sports presenter at Channel Nine, which is where his career reached a crossroads — in January 2022 he was dismissed from his $192,500-a-year job.

In response, he launched a lawsuit, claiming the network unfairly terminated his contract because he refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

But in March 2024, the Federal Court dismissed the case.

At the time, Justice Geoffrey Kennett found that while there may have been a case had Tredrea been terminated solely on the grounds of a breach of COVID policy, the dismissal was supported on other grounds.

In his judgement, Justice Kennett reflected on Nine’s concerns over reputational damage caused by comments Tredrea made on FiveAA.

“Mr Tredrea was a controversial figure who was discussed in other media outlets in a manner that was unwelcome to Channel 9,” he wrote.

“Rather than having the studied neutrality of a newsreader, he was associated in public discourse with an unpopular viewpoint on an issue apt to excite strong emotions.

“It did not help that the viewpoint with which he was associated was diametrically opposed to the public position of Channel 9 itself.”

Legal problems escalate

Tredrea filed an appeal against the court’s decision — but he later lost and was subsequently ordered to reimburse the news network for its legal fees relating to the appeal.

Earlier this year, Tredrea said he had “fully discharged his liability” to pay costs by presenting Nine “with a promissory note”.

“I have not seen or been presented with any material facts or evidence that shows that a promissory note is not legal tender and cannot, once delivered, discharge a financial obligation or liability to pay a debt, and I believe sincerely that none exists,” he stated in an affidavit submitted to the court this year.

In the same document, Tredrea described himself as a “private man” who was “not an entity, legal person, person, citizen, resident, name, trust, estate, government entity or employee … or any form of creature of statute”.

Outside court, Tredrea was asked whether he recognised himself as a citizen of Australia and replied, “Absolutely, I do”.

“I am a citizen and they’ve already been paid from a legal form of payment,” he said.

But in September, the Federal Court ordered Tredrea to pay $149,000 to cover legal costs that were accumulated by his ex-employer, ruling “the provision of a promissory note made by him was not effective to constitute payment”.

Podcast in the spotlight

Months before that outcome, Tredrea launched a podcast, Ballsy, which is described on Spotify as a forum for “fearless guests … from sports legends and business titans to politicians, health and wellness visionaries”.

They have included various high-profile figures including current and former MPs and athletes.

In an episode that was posted in May, Tredrea featured a guest introduced as British Army veteran AJ Roberts.

Several short video clips from the discussion were posted on Tredrea’s Instagram account — including one in which Roberts makes statements about Israel, which he says is a “fake state” that was behind the creation of terror group ISIS.

Roberts also said Zionists were responsible for “controlling World War II”, and also claimed the 9/11 terrorist attacks were carried out by Mossad.

“Mossad created ISIS with Barack Obama so ISIS actually stands for Israeli Specialist Intelligence Service,” Roberts told Tredrea.

In response, the Jewish Council of Australia criticised the post, saying it was “deeply disturbed by the amplification of far-right antisemitic conspiracy theories in this Instagram post and podcast episode”.

In a statement, executive officer Max Kaiser said that while it was possible to make “entirely legitimate” criticism of the Israeli state and Zionism, the claim that “Zionists controlled World War II” amounted to “a form of Holocaust denial”.

He criticised other comments by Tredrea’s guest in the same post, saying it included “bizarre” theories “about satanic rituals, chakras and ley lines which are way off the deep end and do nothing to illuminate current events”.

The ABC contacted both AJ Roberts and Tredrea for comment. In a social media post, the latter defended his position.

“I unequivocally condemn war and genocide, and seek only to share other perspectives of what has been a very one-way reported narrative in the mainstream media,” Tredrea wrote.

“I am not in any way, shape or form, an antisemite, and consider it defamatory for anyone to accuse me as such.”

Following the ABC’s reporting, Port Adelaide initiated a formal governance review.

“Directors and officials of the club are entitled to their personal views, however, there are concerns that recent content published is in breach of these standards,” Power chairman David Koch said.

On Friday, the club revealed the outcome — and said it had dismissed Tredrea as a board director.

It said it had sought alternative resolutions to the matter, including that Tredrea “agree to a club statement which included an apology to the club and anyone who took offence to the comments made on his podcast by Mr AJ Roberts”.

“Mr Tredrea refused to agree with the public apology request to close out the matter.”

The Power said it was embarking on “next steps” for members to “elect a new director at the next annual general meeting”.

The ABC again sought a response from Tredrea, who on Instagram said he would be “making further and fuller statements in the future”.

“I am concerned about the actions taken by a number of important people at our club, which have led to my dismissal today,” he said.

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