a cracked tibia after stepping on a sprinkler, leading the club's greatest goal-kicker to retire. Port Adelaide in 1986 finished the minor round in third place behind North Adelaide and Glenelg. Greg Anderson won the 1986 Magarey Medal despite being knocked unconscious the week before against Glenelg. In the 1986 SANFL First Semi-Final, Woodville defeated Port Adelaide by 7 points. The 1987 SANFL season signalled a significant list restructure for Port Adelaide. Ebert debuted eight new juniors to Port Adelaide's league side during the season. Greg Phillips and Bruce Abernethy returned from Collingwood to Port Adelaide to resume playing for the club in 1987. Meanwhile Dwayne Russell and Ben Harris left for VFL clubs Geelong and the Brisbane Bears. Despite overtures from Essendon, Port Adelaide and Ebert managed to hold reigning Magarey Medallist Greg Anderson to the final year of contract for the 1987 SANFL season. Port Adelaide improved on their minor round performance the previous year under Ebert, this time finishing second on the ladder, behind North Adelaide. The club lost both of its 1987 finals against Norwood and Glenelg by 34 points and 2 points, respectively. After failing to win a final for three consecutive seasons after the 1984 SANFL Grand Final loss, Ebert was sacked as coach of Port Adelaide and was replaced by John Cahill for the 1988 SANFL season. Although the three seasons preceding Ebert's dismissal as coach were ultimately unsuccessful, he is credited with blooding a large number of champions that helped propel the club into the Australian Football League. These players include: 1983 – Tim Ginever 1984 – Greg Anderson, Darren Smith, Wayne Mahney, Roger Delaney 1985 – Mark Tylor, Rohan J. Smith, David Hynes, George Fiacchi, Darryl Borlase 1986 – Geoff Phelps 1987 – Andrew Obst, Paul Northeast, Scott Hodges, David Brown Woodville coach (1988–1990) At the conclusion of 1977, Woodville coach Malcolm Blight accepted an offer from Geelong to move to Victoria and coach the club for the upcoming 1988 VFL season. Ebert, having recently lost his position as Port Adelaide coach to John Cahill, accepted to fill the equivalent role at Woodville. In his first season as coach of Woodville, the club won the 1988 Escort Cup Final defeating Port Adelaide by 45 points in front of 31,210 at Football Park. The 1988 Escort Cup was the only piece of silverware that the Woodville Football Club ever won. Woodville merged