YOU have to hand it to Port Adelaide. Of the six non-Victorian clubs in the AFL, Port is the youngest and smallest, yet it would be fair to say it has already penetrated the psyche of fans in this state more effectively than any other.

While the AFL form of the famous club has existed for not much more than a decade, Victorians have quickly learnt to love to hate Port the most. Given that four of the other non-Victorian teams have taken away nine premiership cups since 1992, that's quite an achievement by the little battler from Alberton.

Currently, Port's propensity for meltdown when in sight of the weekly finish line is causing tremendous merriment this side of Bordertown. As one seeks an explanation for this extraordinary modern achievement, two words spring quickly to mind — Mark and Williams.

For the coach, who this year will complete a decade at the helm of the club whose South Australian parent was coached by his father for 21 years, is nothing if not provocative. Sometimes, he's just winding his audience up; at others, the roles of the winder and the wound are reversed. It's invariably great theatre and good for footy's profile, even when the image created is as grotesquely comical as the famous choke-pose after the 2004 grand final.

While "Choco" Williams has a special capacity for dividing the crowd, the same man is widely admired by players and peers. Coaches say his contributions are among the most respected at their conferences. He has, over nine full seasons, demonstrated a remarkable capacity to generate competitive performance from his team; twice overseeing meteoric rises when conventional wisdom suggested the Power were due for hard times. All this has been achieved at one of the competition's less well-resourced clubs.

If credit is directed his way for achievement, though, Williams must also accept the scrutiny and responsibility that come with his team's consistent failures this year. And these failures have not involved defeat pure and simple, but rather defeat of the most ignominious kind, regularly repeated.

So, the question must be asked, why? When Port unaccountably fell over in the last quarter against the Brisbane Lions in round four, it was disappointing and alarming but, well, it can happen to anyone. When it happened a few weeks later against Hawthorn, there was the cold comfort of recognition that this just might have been a case of meeting one's match. When it happened again last week, though, at home, and against a not-so-good team in Carlton, it was obvious that something was wrong.

The worry for Williams is that there is something familiar about this. The joke about the choke is an old one. It goes back as far as 2001, when the Power finished in the top four but was bundled out of the finals in straight sets. When it finished top of the ladder in each of the next two seasons but couldn't reach a grand final, the heat was on the coach. Famously, one of the club's major sponsors, Allan Scott, expressed his reservations about Williams' ability to get the team over the line.

When Port did get over the line in 2004, the eccentricity of the coach's behaviour served to underline how deeply the events of the previous three years had cut. The premiership was a circuit-breaker and it seemed likely it had lain to rest whatever ghosts may have haunted Williams and his team. In light of recent events, the question must be asked, though, whether there is a connection between then and now.

Some say these failures have largely been to do with Port's style of game, which has consistently been based more around possession than the winning of contested ball. This all sounds logical until you notice that Hawthorn comes in bottom of the table at both contested possession and hard-ball gets and scarcely outstrips Port Adelaide at tackling.

Perhaps it's more about the mind game. Is it possible that the coach in some way, consciously or otherwise, imposes a burden on his players that might lead them to falter and doubt themselves in some situations? After the loss to the Lions two months ago, Williams reportedly accepted the criticism of his players that he had created negativity among them at the three-quarter-time break.

It's interesting to note that so many of Port Adelaide's unlosable losses have occurred at home: finals in 2001, 2002, and 2003, while home matches this year against Brisbane, Sydney and Carlton all looked won at some point.

Last year, Port won nine of its last 10 on the way to the grand final, was the only team to beat Geelong in the second half of the season, and beat the next most deserving contender, Collingwood, in Melbourne, at their only meeting.

This season, Port has won four and lost four of its last eight games. The four that were lost all appeared won at some point. This is not a bad team. It's just that something has gone amiss and, in this case, it's up to the coach to rectify it.