PAFC 2025

[locky801]

Another injury

Willie Rioli with calf muscle awareness.

[mots02]

Another injury

Willie Rioli with calf muscle awareness.

I feel that’s a muscle he should have previously been aware of.

[DOC]

I had crumbed calf muscle for dinner.

[Lightning McQueen]

Another injury

Willie Rioli with calf muscle awareness.

I feel that’s a muscle he should have previously been aware of.

Could've been a mis-steak

[Brodlach]

As much as I hate Port, listening to 5AA on the way to work and the bloke who hip and shouldered the crackhead on the weekend and Koch organising President Lunch tickets to their first round was very good. Even I clapped.



Going for a shower now, dirty.

[mighty_tiger_79]

As much as I hate Port, listening to 5AA on the way to work and the bloke who hip and shouldered the crackhead on the weekend and Koch organising President Lunch tickets to their first round was very good. Even I clapped.



Going for a shower now, dirty.

Not to be outdone Mali is hosting him for the Gather Round match v Hawthorn.

give him a membership for year.

Deserves it.

[mal]

As much as I hate Port, listening to 5AA on the way to work and the bloke who hip and shouldered the crackhead on the weekend and Koch organising President Lunch tickets to their first round was very good. Even I clapped.



Going for a shower now, dirty.

Not to be outdone Mali is hosting him for the Gather Round match v Hawthorn.

give him a membership for year.

Deserves it.

News to me

[Crackity Jones]

Retro Showdown Medals to be awarded

https://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/ ... spectively

In the Port wins I'll go:
97 Game 1 - Lyle
98 Game 1 - Kingsley
99 Game 2 - Francou

[Booney]

Hearing some bad things about Zerk-Thatchers back injury.

[Brodlach]

Hearing some bad things about Zerk-Thatchers back injury.

Rumour on 5AA a couple of weeks ago that it was season ending, got knocked on the head by TG

[Booney]

This weekend Travis Boak will play his 392nd match for the Port Adelaide Football Club ( There are 371 AFL premiership games and 20 official competition matches from pre-season tournaments such as the Ansett, Wizard, NAB et al cups.) and will equal the record currently held by Russell Ebert.

At Adelaide Oval next week when ( all going well ) Boak runs out for his 393rd official match for PAFC he will become the new games record holder for the club entering it's 155th year.

With the redevelopment to come at Alberton Oval there's no denying Travis Boak deserves some recognition that will stand forever at Queen St, Alberton.

[The Bedge]

This weekend Travis Boak will play his 392nd match for the Port Adelaide Football Club ( There are 371 AFL premiership games and 20 official competition matches from pre-season tournaments such as the Ansett, Wizard, NAB et al cups.) and will equal the record currently held by Russell Ebert.

At Adelaide Oval next week when ( all going well ) Boak runs out for his 393rd official match for PAFC he will become the new games record holder for the club entering it's 155th year.

With the redevelopment to come at Alberton Oval there's no denying Travis Boak deserves some recognition that will stand forever at Queen St, Alberton.

Geez I hope he gets to 400 AFL games.. long shot but deserving person.

[mots02]

I see the locals decorated the Port Rd sign a little earlier this season

[Booney]

Where do you start?

So much has been written about the Port Adelaide off season from the loss of Dan Houston in the trade period to the announcement of the succession plan with Hinkley handing over to Carr at seasons end (?) then an injury interrupted start to the year being covered ad nauseam. It’s widely acknowledged that ducks need to line up and planets drop into formation for a club to contend and even more needs to go right to hold the cup aloft at the end of the year. By any measure the happenings at Alberton from October last year to the start of season 2025 were hardly ideal, none of that matters though when the ball is bounced for season proper but it’s hard to put any of that aside when what was dished up Saturday night is to be reviewed.

The first thing that comes to mind is effort. A summer spent preparing a new game plan with new personnel and the promise of an attacking game plan to a mobile forward line means nothing if there isn’t the effort put in to make this come to fruition. You’ve had 4 months to set yourself for the opening game of your season and you don’t bring effort? I’ll excuse forward line chemistry, it’s a work in progress. Beyond that there’s nothing that could be said by way of explanation to satisfy questions surrounding the effort on Saturday night. It was unacceptable.

Media types jump the shark in a matter of moments and the “too old, too slow” Collingwood bashing after round 0.5 was premature even by the fickle standards of AFL shock jocks as they were over run by a slick GWS unit, they won’t be the only ones. Less than a week later and the wave of Collingwood run from the back completely destroyed Port on the expanses of the MCG where old and slow should have been vulnerable to the slick new ball movement under the Hinkley/Carr regime. Instead it was Collingwood who looked like a group of fleet footed youngsters willing to take the game on and run at the opposition, sadly that opposition offered little by way of resistance.

With new recruit Jack Lukosius opening his account with the first goal of the match inside the first minute the opening couldn’t have been better for Port, from there it couldn’t have been worse. Collingwoods midfield took complete control of the contest and while Drew was watching Daicos closer than Elon Musk was government spending the attacking weapons of Rozee and Horne-Francs were completely outgunned. By the end of the first term the game was effectively over, goals to Sweet and Rioli kept the margin to 21 points but the damning numbers around the ball meant the contest wasn’t one at all. 17-6 clearances gave the home side a 21-9 inside 50 advantage and some howlers in defence from Jones (3 in 5 minutes), Finlayson and Evans had their heads down adding to being under the pump.

Ports stand out for the night, Travis Boak who equalled the clubs game record of Russell Ebert on 392 games on the night opened the second term with the first major but that was it, from here on it was only a matter of time before the oddly subdued home crowd burst into chorus and the stadium filled with that horrid sound. Clearances started to even up as Rozee got moving but the ball lived in Ports back half, so much so that they registered 31 uncontested marks in the back half alone in the first half. What does that tell you? It tells you there was no run and gun, there was (here we go again) no effort from the midfield to offer avenues out of defence or from the forwards to create a contest and bring the ball to ground. Old habits die hard and the long down the line bail out kick to Charlie Dixon who isn’t there anymore filtered back in and the likes of Maynard, Moore and McInnes took control of the air and like we needed to have it demonstrated to us how good Dan Houston is he controlled the half back line for his new club just as he did his old. Strong in the air, brilliant with ball in hand. Gut churning stuff.

The run of 10 goals either side of half time was built from the pressure, dare I say effort, the Collingwood side showed. 12 tackles to 4 in this time and 7-0 inside 50. Port were defenceless to the attack and nobody, bar Boak and to an extent Wines, were willing to show the effort required to turn that around. With the margin beyond 10 goals at ¾ time there was only one way this was headed and that was a mauling. Spectators outside the fence were as active as some of the spectators inside the fence who simply watched on in the last term and if not for the heat in the air and the heat coming out of Collingwood late the 91 point thrashing, the largest of Ken Hinkleys coaching tenure, could well have been far more.

I mentioned jumping to conclusions too early and I won’t fall victim to that here and now, those who wrote Collingwood off 7 days ago won’t admit to it but they’d be wiping the scrambled off their faces this morning. In turn I’ll wait to see how this group responds on Saturday afternoon but given the off field happenings at Alberton in summer any loss will compound the “When?” and everyone has the right to ask that question. You get what you deserve?

Boon’s best – Boak, Wines, Rozee, Sweet

[Brodlach]

Good read, agree it’s only round 1.

4 of your starting 23 didn’t play although 2 may not return this season.

Not sure if smashing Richmond would be a good thing as it may wallpaper some cracks

[Trader]

It's not all bad news, we've settled nicely into the top 18 and we are only 2 wins and 110% behind GWS after 1 round.

[Booney]

Good read, agree it’s only round 1.

4 of your starting 23 didn’t play although 2 may not return this season.

Not sure if smashing Richmond would be a good thing as it may wallpaper some cracks

4?

Butters and Zerk-Thatcher are most certainly in there but I'm not sure Marshall and Ratugolea were walk up starters, Marshall probably was but I'm about 80% on that. Ratugolea got through yesterday's SANFL trial so I'd say he's in this weekend. Not sure that's ideal, either.

[Brodlach]

Esava I thought would play down back instead of Finlayson who is terrible in defence

[Lightning McQueen]

It's not all bad news, we've settled nicely into the top 18 and we are only 2 wins and 110% behind GWS after 1 round.

Rome wasn't built in 12 years.

[whufc]

Great write up Booney.

Wish 99% of the media could stop trying to headline grab and just give us a solid and objective article like you've done.