Round 10 Review vs. Western Bulldogs- Have we found our spark?

PAFC 16.4.100
FFC 9.8.62

Goals: Wingard 3, White, Schulz 2, Hartlett, Westhoff, S. Gray, R. Gray, Wines, Stewart, Monfries, Ebert, Boak 1.

Just reading through my review from Round 8, and it’s funny how things can change in the world of sport. That review was us hitting rock bottom- we fare-welled a champion in arguably the most insipid performance since the dark days of 2011-12. Two weeks ago the Port Adelaide Football Club were a shadow of their 2014 selves- our playing group seemed tired, our skill level was abysmal and our players appeared unwilling to do the basics that win games of football, and exhibit the team first attitude that our coach and captain have built this teams reputation around over the past 2 seasons. Then out of nowhere, something changed….at approximately the 10-15 minute mark of the 2nd quarter of last week’s game against Melbourne, a flicker emerged. Port Adelaide had returned, however not as we have come to know them. The few small things that Ken knew were the catalyst to our resurection- workrate, trust in one another, belief in the game plan and skill level appeared. The question then emerged- could we back it up? We followed through with a solid win last night to now sit 5-5, and I find myself asking- can I believe again? Are Port Adelaide a Top 8 chance, and if we make the 8, can we do some damage?

Last night was a funny old spectacle. I walked into the game with real concerns over the Dogs potential to win the contested footy and cut us open on the outside. Heading into the game they were the number one contested footy side and number one tackling side in the competition, and with players such as Dahlhaus, Macrae and Murphy capable of slicing through opposition defence and delivering to the likes of Stringer, Crameri and Boyd- the inconsistent nature of both sides had me fearing the worst- one couldn’t blame the average Port fan for that line of thinking, too!

What transpired was contrary to expectation. The Bulldogs were true to form in the contested stakes- however they were perhaps too defensively minded in their attempt to emulate the feats of West Coast and Richmond. They didn’t seem to have the run and carry offensively that we have seen from them in weeks gone by, namely against GWS and Adelaide. What Port Adelaide did display in contrast to our 3 most recent losses was composure with the footy, particularly coming out of defensive 50. We were beaten in centre clearances 58-47 (14-9 in centre clearances), which had us relying on forward half turnovers from the dogs in order to get our offensive transition under way. Unlike weeks gone by where we have blazed away either out of defensive 50 or when transitioning into our forward line, this week we were prepared to wait for the right option to open up. Aside from aiding the disposal efficiency stat, what control of the footy enabled us to do last night was set up defensively with controlled offensive possession. If we did turn the footy over (which let’s be honest, it’s going to happen more often that we would like), the likes of Carlisle, Hombsch, Clurey were an impenetrable wall across defensive 50. If they were surpassed, the likes of Jonas, Pittard, Broadbent and Impey as well as the midfielders, were not caught hopelessly out of position- thus rarely did we see the Dogs waltz into an open goal, or have a hopeless mismatch occurring deep in the drop zone. It is straight out of the Ross Lyon playbook, but it’s effective. I couldn’t give a stuff how it’s done, so long as we bank the 4 points.

Things that went Right:

• Our forward 6. In losses to West Coast, Richmond and Brisbane- we were a complete and utter abolishment forward of centre. There was no leads, we had forwards triple contesting inside 50 balls leaving nobody to mop the crumbs at the foot of the contest, we were simply incapable of taking a mark I50 and our goal kicking accuracy across those 3 games was 55%, 32% and 27%. The past 2 weeks we have shot at 72% and 80%. The old adage of back kicking is bad football rings true, so not only was it great to see us getting shots at goal (20 scoring shots from 44 entries), but we were taking marks inside 50 (14 @ 31%), our forwards were pressuring to lock the ball in (13 tackles I50), and we were punishing the dogs on the turnover (8.1 to 4.2- the dogs didn’t score a goal from a turnover until after half time). Don’t ask me how Ryder will fit back into this line up- 34 goals in 2 weeks compared with 23 in 3 losses….
• The W’s: Wines, Westhoff, Wingard, White= wickedly good. Wingard is a seriously special talent. There aren’t too many players in the competition who are better on the first take, and have that 6th sense awareness of the positioning of their team mates, or anticipating where they will be. Some of his handballs (the handball to release Monfries which lead to Hartlett’s goal) leave me amazed, and his tandem with Gray in the last quarter was a joy to watch. Wines was his usual best, just a beast around the stoppage in frenetic pursuit of the sherrin, with no regard for who dared try and stop him. White really set the tone for us early in the first quarter with some gut run and a couple of goals to stem the early flow, and Westhoff was back to his absolute best- creating havoc up forward and impassable in defensive 50.
• The performance of our next generation. Karl Amon gave us a glimpse of what we can expect in the future with some great decision making. Jarman Impey blanketed both Tory Dickson and Luke Dahlhaus, and Tom Clurey showed us we have some fantastic KPD depth, with a fantastic 2nd half in unison with Hombsch and Carlisle.

Things that went Wrong:

• I’ll think a little bit lateral here, but I hated the treatment of Travis Boak last night. How good was the Adelaide/Fremantle game last Saturday night? Why? Not only did we have 2 sides bash and crash their way to one of the games of the season, we saw 2 of the competitions stars in Fyfe and Dangerfield, no holds barred, dominate their way to 40 and 38 touches respectively, but it can be argued that neither were the difference in their team winning or losing. Fremantle were just that bit more composed with ball in hand and were able to convert half chances, thus giving us a look at football without the conventional tag. Watching Koby Stevens and Bailey Dale hang to Boak like fly to shit at stoppages with absolutely zero interest in the footy for the first 60 minutes was disappointing as a spectator. Fair enough Stevens was able to hurt Boak going the other way, but it’s an average evening as a paying spectator, having to sit through watching the players that put bums on seats mauled.
• The skill level of our prime ball users was a little disappointing. Broadbent had a pretty horrible first half by foot, Pittard was defensively brilliant but made some costly turnovers on simple skill execution, and Hartlett mixed 50 meter bullets with 15 meter shanks. Might see us be a 6-8 side, but won’t cut the mustard for anything higher.

Player Reviews:

TOP 5:

Ollie Wines- Should be getting the contested plaudits of a Josh Kennedy or Patty Dangerfield, as his ability to hunt the footy, win it and set up his outside runners is absolutely outstanding for a 3rd year player. 33 touches (23 contested), a game high 11 clearances (9 stoppage), 5 tackles and a goal- put it this way, if his last name was Fyfe or Selwood, that is an automatic 3 vote game. Continues on that 25 average for the remainder of his career and he will be an outstanding player for this football club.

Chad Wingard- Averaging 21 touches and nearly 2 goals a game this year, he probably is back to his AA form of 2013 although is getting nowhere near the level of media plaudits he got that season. When he flicks the switch to #Wingod, he is almost unstoppable. 23 touches, 6 marks, 4 I50’s and 3 goals, not to mention 3 score assists and a game high 11 score involvements. Outstanding.

Justin Westhoff- THAT is the Hoff that I know and love!! Controlled proceedings when down back, and was a valuable target up forward and a great foil for Schulz and our smalls. 25 touches, 14 marks and 511 meters gained (outstanding for a big man). The problem now is to find these numbers when Ryder returns.

Jack Hombsch- My current leader of the John Cahill medal, this man has been nothing short of exceptional this season. Primarily on Crameri and Stringer, just kept them to absolutely no influence on the contest. 13 touches, 6 marks, 8 1% acts and almost 300 meters gained- shows that not only is he an ultra-reliable defender as an intercept mark, but is adding valuable rebound to the side. Gun.

Robbie Gray- My clear BOG at half time and whilst he faded out of the contest in the last half, I can’t bring myself to leave him out of our best. He is much like Wingard in the sense that anticipation and awareness of team mates and their positioning is unparalleled to anybody else in the comp. Continually finds space where there is none which is so critical to us being able to bust open the cluster around stoppages. 20 touches, 5 marks, 5 tackles, 4 I50’s and a goal.

The Rest:

Brad Ebert- Pretty stiff to miss my Top 5, but there were probably 12 players who I could have snuck in there for one reason or another. Disposal efficiency a little down but won a stack of the footy on his way to another quality game, along with some great inside work with a game high 12 tackles. 22 touches, 6 marks and 3 I50’s.

Matt White- Another who is very stiff to miss the Top 5. His best game by far since North Melbourne. Looked to be carrying an injury up until last week, but has re-discovered his run and carry, and managed to hit the score sheet last night. 16 touches, 4 marks, 6 tackles, 2 I50’s and 2 goals.

Jasper Pittard- Defensively outstanding with 8 marks, 9 tackles and 14 pressure acts, but offensively gave us nothing last night. I’m not enjoying games where Broadbent and Pittard are not offering us run and carry, driving the footy into our forward 50 with regularity. Yes there was the turnovers from kickouts, yes there was the fumble under no pressure resulting in a goal- but dropping him will do us and him, no favours. We are a better side with Jasper in there and fingers crossed he can get back to where he was in the first 5 rounds.

Hamish Hartlett- Not bad in his 100th games, but still nowhere near his best yet. Finished with 20 touches, 5 clearances, 5 tackles, 4 I50’s and a goal. His meters gained for the evening was a paltry 155- for a man who can kick 60 without even using his driver and hamstrings, we need him delivering the footy into our forward 50 much more regularly, as well as getting on the end of some outside ball, as his leg is capable of getting us over the back of defensive zones and into scoring opportunities.

Matthew Broadbent- 2 of the absolute worst kick-outs you are likely to see which resulted in shots on goal- very uncharacteristic of Brogs, and I don’t think his skills improved much over the course of the evening. Won a fair bit of footy in the 2nd half and took a stack of marks, but much like Pittard we need him on the end of inside release and delivering inside 50. 18 touches, 11 marks, 2 I50’s.

Matthew Lobbe- 1 possession to half time before he worked his way into the contest with a much better 2nd half. He simply doesn’t offer much around the ground, but broke even in the midfield battle with Minson, finishing with 44 hitouts (10 to advantage). 7 touches and 5 tackles. The most damning stat for Lobbe is marks for the season. He is currently on 11- compare that with the best ruckman in the competition- Jacobs (50), Goldstein (37), Sandilands (34), Ryder (32), Mumford (23)….massive need to improve in this area.

Jay Schulz- Didn’t get a lot of it last night but took his opportunities when they arose. Found plenty of space but wasn’t honoured on the lead on many occasions. 9 touches, 6 marks, 4 tackles and 2 goals.

Jarman Impey- Really Really happy with Jars’ performance, probably his best game since he demolished Ballantyne in Adelaide last year. Was on Dickson for the first half and kept him to 9 touches before going onto Dahlhaus for the 2nd half, keeping him to just 3 touches where Luke had accumulated 17 by Half Time. Gets better and better with each game that he plays. Many people were critical of Krakouer being demoted to the rookie list ahead of Sam Gray- truth is Hinkley and the coaching staff didn’t opt for Gray over Krakouer, they opted for Impey over Krakouer, and on last nights performance you can see why. 17 touches, 5 marks and 4 tackles.

Sam Gray- Thought his 2nd and 3rd quarters were really valuable, particularly when opportunistic goals looked like becoming the difference. As mentioned above, we have not gone Gray over Krakouer, we have opted for Gray over Neade and I thought Sam offered us enough to remain in the side. 9 touches, 3 tackles and 1 goal.

Travis Boak- Just mauled around the stoppages and is being given no space to work his magic. The downside to Boak’s game last night is that Stevens was able to hurt the other way when opposed to him. 22 touches @ 59%, 8 clearances, and a goal isn’t a bad evening on paper, but 2 tackles and 1 I50 is well down on his normal output.

Paul Stewart- You know what you are going to get each week from Stewy, and last night was no exception. Won some ball, kicked a goal, got involved in a few possession chains leading to scores. Mightn’t be enough to keep him in the side when Ryder returns, but he is a valuable depth player. Finished with 16 touches, 3 marks and a goal.

Karl Amon- Gave me trouser movement with that scintillating 50 meter pass to Westhoff over the back from 2 or 3 steps, hopefully a sign of what is to come from a lad in his 4th game. 13 touches, 5 clearances and 176 meters gained- I feel will become increasingly important now that Polec looks to be out for the rest of the season.

Alipate Carlisle- Not much to report on Bobby’s game apart from the smashing he gave Boyd. Kept Tom to 4 touches and 0.0 whilst helping himself to 8 touches and 3 marks. Another solid leader’s performance, he really set the example for the likes of Clurey.

Tom Clurey- Signed a contract during the week, tying him to the club until the end of 2017, and showed that he really wants to be a part of this group and is prepared to fight tooth and nail for his spot in the side. Only clearly outbodied in one contest vs. Crameri, but came into his own after half time. 9 touches and 6 marks, I have really enjoyed watching him over the past 2 weeks and do believe there is a role in this side for him.

Angus Monfries- For the doubters of Gus out there, have a look at his past 5 weeks. Was arguably our best player across the 3 losses with multiple goals, kicked a couple last week in his 200th and was back to his defensive best last night, completely smashing Murphy- keeping him to just 12 disposals whilst helping himself to 10 touches and a goal. For the stat heads out there, Murphy hasn’t been kept to 12 touches since 2012. A cracking performance from Gus, showed his versatility and adds real value to our side.

Tom Jonas- Nothing much to report on TJ’s game, just the 10 touches, 5 tackles and 5 marks. Defensively very good, which is a big improvement on his season thus far.

Aaron Young- Came on in the last quarter as sub and had a fair impact. 8 touches, 2 clearances and a tackle. Will have to fight tooth and nail to fit into this side.

So with the ledger back at 5-5, the next 2 weeks before the bye pose a nervous fortnight for myself and no doubt many Power fans. Can we go into the bye with some optimism for 2015 at 7-5? Can we prove that we are still a premiership threat?

I’m bloody pumped for this next game. Geelong at the Portress on a Friday night- must get 50k to this one so work can slip me $10k haha. There is a cracking atmosphere for night games at AO, and with a limited supply of Friday night games available due to the outstanding spectacle that is Carlton dominating market share- both the team and the supporters need to get behind this one and show the competition that AFL in South Australia has a thumping pulse and deserves prime time slots.

Disappointing to hear of another Port fan abusing an autistic Dogs fan on Saturday night. Fingers crossed witnesses to this appalling incident come forward to out this wanker, and have his membership torn up. The club has worked incredibly hard to restore its reputation on field, we need to carry that reputation off of it, and imbeciles like said fan, are not required.

See you at the footy!!

Valleys.

NAB 1 Review vs. Sydney

Sydney 1.10.12.81
Port Adelaide 1.7.9.60

Super Goal: Jared Polec; Goals- Colquhoun 2, Neade, Ah Chee, Palmer, White, Snelling 1.

Footy is back, finally! Port Adelaide fans got their first look at the boys in action on Saturday against the Swans, in what turned out to be a pretty impressive performance, taking into account the inexperience we put on the park. Previous years have seen the pundits questioning our depth after being comfortably beaten when playing our reserves (2014- 60 Points vs. Adelaide & 2015- 66 Points vs. Richmond), so my expectations pre-saturday’s game were much of the same, and I went about capitalising on some long awaited Jnr Valleys free time at the brother-in-laws wedding :partyman:

Watching the replay, considering the first choice names we had left out (Boak, R.Gray, Wines, Ebert, Hartlett, Wingard, Lobbe, Schulz, Dixon, Hombsch, Broadbent, Pittard and Westhoff), I was stoked with the endeavour and attack on the contest from our younger brigade. Our 2nd string midfield contested hard with the likes of Parker, Kennedy, Hannebery, Mitchell and co., our small forwards looked lively around the contest, and I thought our backline defended amicably against a mobile Swans attack.

What was most pleasing for mine was our game style. There have been many theories thrown about, and experts have come out with stats and figures to try and answer what when wrong with Port Adelaide in season 2015, and all arrive at the same conclusion- Port Adelaide needed to get better at the contest, and regain that hard spread once the footy was won. On Saturday, there was a fierce hunger for the contested ball. Groundball was a massive weakness for us in 2015, and our young brigade really took it up to a more experienced Sydney midfield. Whilst we still played wide when beginning our attacking forays out of the back half, there was lots of hard running, lots of long kicks into open space to exploit Sydney for pace and lots of overlap handball where we tried to use the corridor and wings to force quick F50 entries. The negative of this game style is that the opposition can punish you on the turnover by playing an open forward line, and Sydney did this to good effect for most of the day with Sinclair, Towers, Franklin and Tippett all getting cracks at one on one contests inside Sydney’s forward 50.

If the speed of ball movement and appetite for the contest matches what we will play in NAB 2, 3 and beyond with our most experienced side on the park, then Power fans can enter 2016 with a lot of hope for what 2016 has in store.

Things that went right:
• Contested Possession- The numbers certainly don’t paint a pretty picture for Power fans, but for mine- the numbers don’t accurately reflect how well we attacked and defended. We lost Clearances (44-35) and Contested Possession (135-114) but with Bass at the forefront of the changes we have made to our game plan defensively, I was thoroughly impressed with how we operated around the contest. Consider the names atop of the clearance list for Sydney (Kennedy 8, Parker 7, Hannebery 5) as opposed to Port (Gray, Amon, Young 5, Snelling, Howard 4) along with the fact we lost hitouts 60-24, it appears to me as though Port are coaching around losing more than most of the stoppage/centre clearance ball up’s without Ryder, and are looking to outnumber opposition mids at stoppages to either win the ball and feed it out to runners, or to tackle our way to a turnover. I can’t wait to see our first string midfield in Lobbe, Boak, Ebert, Wines, Gray to get a clearer picture of how we approach the contested footy- but signs of improvement are there.
• Team Defence- Port lost the disposal count 383-244, but once again this stat doesn’t accurately highlight how well we used the footy across the game, nor how well we were able to defend Sydney, and press them into their defensive half. Before the monsoon swept over Blacktown, in particular the first half, Sydney’s over-inflated possession count was attributed to Port’s full oval press- with Sydney in the first quarter alone leading the possession count +70, however only 30% of the quarter was spent in their forward half.

Things that need improving:
• Disposal Efficiency- on a day where I couldn’t find too many faults, I didn’t like the fact that only Polec and Toumpas had D/E’s over 75% from our midfield group. What makes Hawthorn such a brilliant offensive team, is that by control of possession, not only does it give them control of the game, but it gives them time to structure up defensively, hence why their defence is #1 for causing turnovers. It was a shame to see us work so hard to turn the footy over or win a contested footy and work it into space, only to see us hand it straight back to Sydney, or force another contest via a stoppage or boundary throw in. I think Port are building a squad of quality ball users, with names such as Amon, Bonner, Polec, Toumpas renowned for their work by foot- but in the heat of battle when you are able to work it clear of a stoppage, nothing frustrates coaches (and supporters) more than a rushed kick to nowhere.

Player Reviews:

Top 5:
Sam Gray- (21D,5CL,5T,3I50). Whilst his disposal efficiency was down, he was still best on for Port. Clearance work picked up where he left off last season, and improved his defensive pressure with 5 tackles. Had a laugh with his midfield matchup on Buddy. A must in our Round 1 side.

Brendan Ah Chee- (12D,5T,1G). I still pinch myself when thinking of the turnaround of this lad. Reminded me a lot of Greg Williams yesterday, particularly in close with his ability to get his arms free and extract the footy when under extreme pressure. Another who must feature in Round 1.

Jake Neade- (9D,3M,4T,5I50,1.1). Loved his game, and will only benefit when our more dangerous small forwards return to the line up. My criticisms of Jake have always been strength and aerobic capacity, and he has improved in both of these area’s for mine. Went on multiple dashing runs through the midfield using his trademark speed, gave a great don’t argue in the 2nd quarter which set up a Colquhoun goal, and kicked a great snap goal in the 3rd. What really pleased me about his game yesterday was his added defensive pressure acts in the F50. Was reminiscent of Cyril in his 1-2-3 efforts- if he could be half as good this season, I’ll be a happy man.

Dougal Howard- (10D,7HO,4CL,6T,3I50). All the rage over the summer as far as back up for Lobbe is concerned, has been Frampton. Well Dougal, thanks to Billy being injured, thankfully backed up what Port fans saw on family day with another super competitive performance, giving hope that should disaster strike with Lobbe, we will at least be able to break even with Dougs smashing in at centre bounces. Found it tough up against Sinclair and Tippett, particularly as the game wore on in terms of hitout’s, but absolutely loved his endeavour and aggressiveness at the contest. Not out of the question for a Round 1 spot.

Jimmy Toumpas- (14D,3M,5T,2I50). A non event in the 1st quarter, but after quarter time he worked his way into the game with some neat ball use. I would still like to see more from him on the inside, but I thought he started some important link-up with breakaway speed, and barely wasted a possession. A good first up hitout for the former demon, but still a way to go.

The Rest:
Cameron O’Shea- (15D,5M,7R50,3T). Won a bit of the footy and used it relatively well. A quintessential O’Shea performance I thought- got in the right spots to win the footy, and ran hard to create, but wasn’t overly damaging with his disposal. A typically slow starter to the season, he would want to be at peak form to be considered for R1.

Aaron Young- (17D,5CL,4T). I love Youngy’s work in close, but thought his disposal was rushed a majority of the time, forcing the turnover. There was one passage of play in the 2nd term where he broke free from a contest and had plenty of space, but perceived pressure/lack of talk from his teammate forced an errant kick. Much like Andrew Moore, lacks other aspects to his game. He had a quiet first half, but won a few clearances once the weather set in. I would doubt Youngy will play much senior footy this year, but should be a consistent performer at SANFL level for the magpies, and handy depth if required.

Karl Amon- (14D,3M,5CL,6I50). Enjoyed Karl’s game, has silky skills and moves well in and out of traffic. Disposal efficiency surprised me when looking at the numbers, I thought he was cleaner with his disposal than stats suggest. Got in and got his hands dirty which was great to see from him. Was a valuable link up for us throughout the day.

Sam Colquhoun- (10D,3M,2.0). His 2nd quarter was the entire show unfortunately, as he did not impact the contest outside of that. Needs to be a lot more influential at the foot of the contest if he wants to be a regular small forward. Prepared to persist with him there though. Got on the end of some good work up field to kick 2 goals.

Darcy Byrne-Jones- (15D,4M,5R50). Darcy really needs to step things up this season for the Maggies, and went some way to doing that yesterday I thought. Got himself in good spots for intercepts and spoils, and provided us with valuable rebound from defensive 50. Needs to tidy up his ball use a bit, but a big step forward from when I last saw him against the Tigers this time last year.

Jackson Trengove- (9D,11HO,3T). Was most pleasing to see Jacko back in the ruck again, as we are going to need multiple support options for Lobbes. Competed well whilst in the square and around the ground, and was solid defensively.

Jesse Palmer- (8D,3T,1.1). Caught my eye a few times in the family day internal, but was solid yesterday without being outstanding. Kicked a great goal in the 3rd quarter, and I thought he used the ball well when he got it. Needs to find ways to become more involved in the contest.

Matt White- (9D,2T,1.1). Was one of our best before he seemed to injure his hand just before half time. Kicked a lovely goal in the 1st quarter, and was his usual zippy self around the contest, and constantly looked to provide run and carry. Hugely important to our best 22, particularly if we are looking to recapture our 2014 form.

Will Snelling- (7D,4CL,6T). I really enjoyed this lad’s game, and surely he and Krak are monty’s to get upgraded to the senior list. Kicked a lovely goal from the boundary in the 1st term, and was really influential around the stoppages. For a young lad, he has impressive strength around the contest- no doubt his 2015 senior experience at SANFL level has done him wonders. I was reminded of Sam Mitchell in his formative years.

Tom Clurey- (9D,3M,4R50,4x1%). I really like what Tommy offers the side, and would have him knocking on the door come round 1. Barely gave Franklin an inch all day, and offers us plenty of drive from the half back line. Has great closing speed.

Alipate Carlile- (9D,2M,4x1%). Neither here nor there for Bobby. Rotated between Franklin and Tippett, I thought he did a serviceable job on both. Neat disposal and got into good positions to perfect the spoil.

Aidyn Johnson- (6D,3T). Has great pace, but spent a majority of the contest chasing without much reward. He will be good for the run as he looks to develop at SANFL level this season.

Riley Bonner- (9D,4R50,2I50). Our first pick in the 2015 draft, Riley showed me enough to suggest that he can force his way into the AFL side this season. I love the prototype silky left footer, and Riley will be that player for us down the track, I have no doubt. Entrusted with kick-in duties after half time, he has the penetration in his kick to clear opposition zone set ups, and backs himself in to beat his opponent on the rebound.

Kane Mitchell- (9D,3I50). A player that has gotten the absolute best out of himself, I can’t see Mitchell offer us much more than SANFL consistency, and handy depth at AFL level this season. Has brilliant aerobic capacity, but simply can’t use the footy when he gets it. It wouldn’t kill him to stick a tackle either!

Paul Stewart- (10D). Will be good depth, but not much more. Played as a quasi-tall forward before being shifted down back in the 2nd half.

Jared Polec- (5D,2I50,1.0). The best 5 disposals you will ever see haha! Kicked a fantastic (not quite) supergoal, and seemed to be re-adjusting to the pace of the game. Cannot wait to see him roaming the wings again in 2016!

John Butcher- (7D,2M). Our only tall target today in the absence of Schulz, Dixon and Westhoff- it was obvious he was going to be in for a tough day. I thought he competed really well and always brought the ball forward at contests. A nice grab and dish off to Polec for a goal, his only highlight.

Tom Jonas- (8D,3x1%). Barely gave Heeney a sniff before he went off injured, and didn’t notice him a great deal after that. Some great intercept work a highlight.

Cam Hewett- (2D). Came on in the last quarter and had 2 kicks. Came on just as the heavens opened, which wasn’t great timing for him!

This week will see us host Melbourne at Playford Alive Oval, with wholesale changes expected as we ramp up our round 1 preparations. Really hoping that we maintain the defensive structures shown in NAB 1 when we transition towards our round 1 side.

Did note that Krakouer is set to miss a month of footy with a hamstring injury: http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2016-02-22/injury-update-nab-challenge-game-1

No other injury concerns to report, with White obviously not experiencing any repercussions with that hand injury. Charlie Dixon (meniscus) and Billy Frampton (foot), are both 2-3 weeks away.

Bring on NAB 2- carn the Pear!

Valleys.

NAB 2 Review vs. Melbourne- Deesmantled.
Port Adelaide 1.10.7.76
Melbourne 0.15.5.95
Super Goal: Matthew Broadbent; Goals- Westhoff, Boak 3, Schulz, White, R.Gray, Young 1.

What can any Power fan take from that game?

Our First Half: Pure Port Adelaide football I thought. Backline was solid as a rock, with Pittard and Broadbent mopping up everything that hit the deck, Hombsch great on Hogan, and midfield working back in numbers to start the attacking chain. Midfield was working really well as a group. Boak, Sammy Gray, Toumpas and Polec were winning plenty of the footy, we were matching in clearances, we were tackling well and forcing repetitive stoppages if we couldn’t win the clearance. Forwards looked lively. Schulz, Westhoff and Butcher had great first quarters, our smalls in Robbie Gray and Matt White were impacting the scoreboard, and we were getting clean entries into our forward 50 and scoring 50% of the time.

Our 2nd Half: Absolute rubbish. We lacked run across the ground, our defensive structures fell away, we were unable to clear the footy from our defensive 50, our skills were pretty bloody poor (although that started to fall away during the 2nd term), and we really copped a pasting around clearances and in contested possession- a real return to 2015.

Let’s take a look at some numbers:

Contested Possession/Clearances: CP- Differential of 30 (Melbourne 135, Port 105); CL- Differential of 14 (Melbourne 44, Port 30)- This killed our 2015 campaign, and was an area I thought we were quite competitive in last week given the level of inexperience. I went into today’s game bullish that with our first string midfield, we would win this statistic. It bothers me that Max ****ing Gawn was able to accumulate more clearances than the best ranked Port midfielder in Sam Gray. It bothers me that aside from Boak and Gray, our premium mids in Ebert, Wines, Robbie Gray couldn’t get anywhere near the contested footy. It was the Jack Viney show in the guts, unfortunately. I will touch on tackles whilst I am here. Differential of 20 (Port 72, Melbourne 52). When Melbourne began to clamp Port down (2nd quarter onwards), stoppages formed and we amassed 29/19 and 13 tackles in the last 3 quarters- Melbourne were first to the footy time and time again.

Inside 50’s: Differential of 5 (Melbourne 44, Port 39). The number mightn’t seem like much, but what did bother me during the 2nd half, was our inability to rebound the footy. After leading the I50 count 24-19 at half time, and converting 25% of our entries into goals and 50% of our entries into scores- another scoreless quarter and some junk time goals worries me greatly. Our 2015 campaign was haunted by opposition teams pressing up and denying us clean transition from defensive 50, and in the 2nd half, our rebound disappeared, our skills were horrible, and we had no forward pressure enabling us to lock the footy down and create scores when we managed to get it past the centre line. I don’t give a rats what anyone says, however- Melbourne’s 50+ extra interchanges certainly played some part in them being able to out-work us across the ground, and have sharper skills. The key for our coaching staff will be to identify what errors/positional deficiencies are able to be put down to fatigue.

Free Kick Count: Differential of 15 (Melbourne 32, Port 17). See Contested Possession- we were 2nd to the footy for most of the day, and this, along with lack of discipline, severely impacted the count. Wines, Sam Gray and Lobbe each conceded 3 free kicks, and Jay Schulz conceded 5. The mids just need to get to the footy first, and as for Jay- yes he was double teamed most of the day, but he needs to find a way to force a contest without
infringing.

Things that went right:
• In the first half, we proved to ourselves and the competition that a 3 tall forward line can work. Schulz got on the end of some great transition early in the contest, Westhoff was everywhere in that first half, kicking 2.1, and Butcher took a couple of strong grabs and had 3 shots on goal. With Dixon likely to come into the side for NAB 3, hopefully he, Schulz and Westy can cause some damage for opposition defenders, and bring the likes of Wingard, White, Gray x 2, Neade into the play for opportunist chances.
• Competition for spots as far as tall defenders are concerned, is well and truly hot. Bobby Carlile played for the Magpies yesterday, and might find it tough to force his way back in. I thought Hombsch had a great battle with Hogan, Trengove gave Sam Frost an absolute bath, and Jonas beat Watts in that first half, before the avalanche in the 2nd. Having Bobby’s spot potentially up in the air come Round 1 is great signs for our back 6.

Things that are of concern:
• Lobbe. Ok- alarm bells are ringing for me in this area. Got spanked by Gawn (42 hitouts to 26), mustered just the 6 disposals, took no marks around the ground, and gave away a number of frees. This right here could be the difference between us competing in a grand final or finishing outside of the 8, and for a first hitout, the only way is up, surely.
• Poor skills, intensity around the stoppages, contested possessions. This absolutely crucified our 2015 campaign. Carn Port, fix your ****.

Player Reviews:

Top 5:

Travis Boak- (22D,4CL,5T,3.0). The only player worth a pinch of salt over 4 quarters, and clear best for Port. Still isn’t getting the protection from his teammates that he deserves when extracting the ball from stoppages, which prevents him from getting clean ball forward. Did look frustrated out there at times, but it was nice to see him sneak forward and hit the scoreboard- the best teams in the comp have midfielders who kick goals regularly.

Justin Westhoff- (10D,7M,2I50,6HO,3.1). I thought he was really damaging in the first half, taking a number of strong grabs and hitting the scoreboard. Disappeared for parts of the 2nd quarter and all of the 3rd before appearing again in the last. Would be nice to see consistency from him, but there were far worse than him yesterday.

Jimmy Toumpas- (17D,5M,4T,3I50). The former Demon is really pressing a strong claim for a Round 1 spot, with another solid game yesterday. He and Polec brought their own footy for the first 35 minutes, and with a D/E hovering around 90%, is exactly what we need in blokes not wasting a disposal.

Sam Gray- (19D,5CL,2T). I said to Boon at the half time break that it felt like I was looking for Sammy for most of the half, and was surprised that he had the amount of footy he did. Re-watching the game, he was BOG for us in that first half and his stoppage work was really good. A round 1 lock- given he only played 64% of the game, it is a shame nobody else apart from Boak stood up in the contested stakes.

Hamish Hartlett- (14D,3CL,8T,5I50). A solid game from Hamish, I thought he rarely wasted a disposal all day, and was brilliant defensively, laying a game high 8 tackles. It will be interesting to see where he lines up come Round1- obviously the side needs his penetration when entering the 50, but did play some bloody good footy in the back half of last year when playing off half back.

The Rest:

Jasper Pittard- (19D,4M,3R50,2I50). Probably unlucky not to make my top 5. I really enjoyed his defensive play, didn’t give his opponent an inch. Offensively he was also very good. He rarely wasted a disposal and for once, his decision making was instinctive and accurate. The best of Pittard comes when he trusts his first instinct, and hopefully we see him head on an upward trajectory in 2016, as his best is extremely important to the output of the side.

Robbie Gray- (16D,4T,4I50,1.0). Had a ripping first half but barely saw him after half time. Provided the goal of the day for mine with a clever snap recovering from a marking contest. Hopefully the disparity between halves is him dusting off the cobwebs, and we get a four quarter performance from him against the Tigers.

Matthew Broadbent- (15D,4M,3R50,3I50,1.0). Much like Robbie, his first half was excellent, before fading after half time. Kicked a wonderful supergoal in the first quarter, and I thought he offered us plenty of rebound whilst very solid defensively.

Brad Ebert- (15D,3M,3R50,4T,3I50). I thought it was a neither here nor there game from Brad. He got his hands on it a fair bit but his possessions weren’t damaging, nor did they allow us to quickly transition up the field.

Jared Polec- (14D,2R50,2T). Had the ball on a string in the first half, with 10-11 touches to half time, before fading out of the contest in the 2nd half. I thought he collected a majority of his disposals in our back half, and was less damaging than he can be.

Karl Amon- (11D,3M,5T,2I50). Gets his hands on the footy and uses it well, but needs to be involved more in the contest. Did spend a fair bit of time on the bench as part of our midfield rotations, hopefully he can impact the contest more as the season progresses. I have him lined up to take Gus’ role, and have him pencilled in for 15-20 games this season- he will need to produce more to fulfil that prediction.

Cameron O’Shea- (10D,3x1%). The highlight of his game was getting caught holding the ball by Kent in the last term, resulting in a goal. That about sums it up, yeah?

Jarman Impey- (10D,3M,2R50). See O’Shea. He was poor defensively for a majority of the game after quarter time. Garlett got over the back too many times. Have seen it all before against Betts.

Ollie Wines- (9D,2CL,3T). Offered nothing in the midfield. Gave away a free kick in literally the first play of the game, and his day plateaued from there. Watching Viney accumulate 28 and 10 clearances would have lessened the blow for Demons fans. I can’t recall ever seeing Ollie fail to impact the contest, hopefully his poor performances stick to the practice arena.

Brendon Ah Chee- (9D,3CLR,2T,2I50). Argh! There are about 4-5 positions up for grabs in our Round 1 side. Arch last weekend had one of those spots sewn up, but he wouldn’t want too many more showings like yesterday’s. In fairness, spent more than half the game on the pine, but I didn’t notice a single thing he did yesterday.

Aaron Young- (9D,3T,1.0). Came on after half time, and contributed more than some players did in four quarters. Might have more of a role in this side than people think, Boon quite rightly suggested that there is no-one in the wake of Cornes capable of playing a shutdown role. Yesterday’s game with Viney off the leash might just have been the perfect opportunity to test the waters.

Jack Hombsch- (8D,2T,5x1%). I really enjoyed his match up with Hogan. Hogan had him for strength in a few contests, but Jack somehow managed to get a limb in there to affect the spoil. Melbourne’s ball movement did give Hogan great positioning to take a few good marks, but I thought Hombsch had the better of the matchup for most of the day, given a majority of Melbourne’s scoreboard damage coming from the likes of Garlett, Kent and Vandenberg.

Darcy Byrne-Jones- (7D). Can’t see this lad getting another contract at the end of the season. Was involved in some good passages of play in the last quarter, but just doesn’t impact the contest in the manner of a Pittard or Broadbent. Given our plethora of half back options on our list, it’s hard to see him surviving the cut.

John Butcher- (7D,4M,3x1%,0.3). I really enjoyed his first quarter, and then went into relative obscurity after quarter time (like we haven’t seen that before). Nail 2 of his 3 shots and his day becomes a lot better. With a player like Butcher, he simply must make the most of the limited opportunities he gets during games.

Jackson Trengove- (7D,3T,5x1%). Smashed Frost, and provided the inanimate carbon rod a chop out in the ruck.

Matt White- (6D,2T,3I50,1.0). Went off at half time, but I thought he was lively around the contest up until then. A nice snap goal in the 2nd quarter.

Matt Lobbe- (6D,7T,26HO). Enough said *sigh*

Jake Neade- (5D,6T). Gave us plenty defensively, but couldn’t get a kick in a street fight. It is a shame that consistency could again be his detriment, especially given his game last week.

Tom Jonas- (4D,6x1%). I thought he was really good defensively considering he played less than half the game, and allowed Watts little room. Didn’t get near the footy offensively, and area he has really lacked since 2014.

Jay Schulz- (3D,2M,1.1). Did he do anything after 15 minutes, apart from give away free kicks?

Full credit to Melbourne, they got exactly what they would have wanted out of yesterday, which is a psychological boost heading into R1. Viney was electric at stoppages and around the ground, and will be aided with the return of Jones and Vince. I thought their forward line was dangerous with Garlett, Vandenberg and Kent lively and pressuring well.

As for Port, well here is hoping that Ken addresses yesterday’s deficiencies. We were reactive at stoppages, our skills were generally pretty poor, quite often looking for that perfect option rather than first instinct, and being held scoreless in a quarter for the 2nd week in a row is a concern.
Thankfully it is NAB challenge footy, and if there is a time to be dusting off the cobwebs, then this is it. Here is hoping for a more unified performance come March 10.

Carn the Power.

Valleys.