Ruckman Dean Brogan is the first senior card to fall in a Port Adelaide cull that could leave just one premiership hero standing for the AFL club.

Brogan will be joined in retirement at season's end by fellow warhorse Chad Cornes, while stalwart Kane Cornes is playing for his career.

And the likes of 29-year-old Daniel Motlop and 27-year-old Brett Ebert are under pressure to survive sweeping changes to Port's list.

Of the Power's 2004 premiership side, only captain Dom Cassisi is assured of a future at the battling club.

Power coach Matthew Primus pitched his club into trade winds for a ruckman after Brogan announced he'd quit at the end of the season.

"It's definitely something we'll have a keen eye on," Primus said on Tuesday of enticing a senior ruckman to Port.

"We'll see what is available ... it's something on our radar for sure."

Brogan, 32, retires as the only sportsman to win premiership medals in the AFL and National Basketball League (NBL).

Brogan was a member of Port's 2004 premiership team, six years after winning a NBL championship with the Adelaide 36ers.

The 201cm tall Brogan changed codes in 1999.

"Everyone said 'you won't do it, it's not going to happen, and you're not a footballer'," he said on Tuesday.

" ... Now most clubs have five or six ex-basketballers on their list, who have played state or some representative level.

"I think with the way the game has changed it's more for athletes now.

"The game is heading that way and with all the zones it's sort of like a massive game of basketball really."

Chad Cornes has played just five games this season, one of a senior brigade pressed to justify their spots in Primus' long-term rebuild vision.

Forwards Ebert and Motlop, and 100-plus gamers Jacob Surjan and Steven Salopek, also remain on the outer.

Primus acknowledged the leadership hole from the retirement of Brogan, who has played 173 games since being elevated from the rookie list in 2001.

"Every player has a great story to tell about how they made AFL footy, but Broges is one of the special ones," Primus said.

"To come from another sport onto our rookie list ... in the early days he looked a million miles away.

"But there's no-one who has worked harder at their craft than Broges.

"He's left a legacy here of a guy who has left no stone unturned, not only for himself, but to make every other player better."

The Power have won only two of their 13 matches this season and sit in second-last spot on the ladder, ahead of newcomers Gold Coast on percentage.

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