Preview 2023 Semi Final : Port Adelaide v Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm ACST (7.40pm AEST)

[Giant Strides]

In Saturday night's clash between the Power and the Giants at Adelaide Oval, Charlie Dixon comes in for Jeremy Finlayson, while coach Ken Hinkley has also named Trent McKenzie (ankle) and Todd Marshall (hip), who had both been under injury clouds.
Former skipper Travis Boak comes into the 22 after being last week's sub and Dylan Williams, who suffered a hamstring injury last week, has been left out.

Finlayson and Williams have been named as emergencies so could come in as the sub.


And congrats to Dan Lloyd on making the 100-game milestone!

 

[Colonial]

Xoh to miss. Haynes more versatile.

X very unlucky though.

A great problem to have.

 

[JC100]

Very surprised they have left out Finlayson. Always has the potentially to kick a bag and very handy backup ruckman for them. Agility that could trouble Briggs in small patches. Briggs will take care of lycett without too much trouble.

 

[Gigantic]

Very surprised they have left out Finlayson. Always has the potentially to kick a bag and very handy backup ruckman for them. Agility that could trouble Briggs in small patches. Briggs will take care of lycett without too much trouble.

Yeah I could see Finlayson lifting against us.

Still think he'll likely be their sub.

 

[GWS Goose]

Have we ever been this healthy at this time of year? It must be a first.

I honestly don't think we have been this healthy at any time of year since 2016

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

I have often been accused of (and rightly so) of being out of touch, but can someone explain to me what the hell is this “tear the pear” I keep seeing?

 

[Giant Strides]

I have often been accused of (and rightly so) of being out of touch, but can someone explain to me what the hell is this “tear the pear” I keep seeing?

I must be like you - I could ask my wife (from Adelaide) but she's gone to bed already, so I googled it, and got this:

AFAIK, the PAFC marketing team started it as pisstake at those who don't annunciate "Power" correctly, so they started using the Pear emoji in Twitter feeds. They then added the Pear logo to PAFC merchandise etc.

The "Pear" reference then grew in popularity as a catchphrase.

 

[Battlepants]

And now our match up is the Orange Vs the Pear

 

[Giant Strides]

 

[MelbourneGWS]

Yeah I could see Finlayson lifting against us.

Still think he'll likely be their sub.

Might explain Finlayson’s omission - poor guy has a lot on his mind

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/jeremy-finlayson-axed-for-afl-semi-after-admitting-wifes-cancer-battle-is-taking-its-toll/news-story/941a5491fd7b4534b66047de94623c8c

 

[GWS Goose]

Might explain Finlayson’s omission - poor guy has a lot on his mind

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/jeremy-finlayson-axed-for-afl-semi-after-admitting-wifes-cancer-battle-is-taking-its-toll/news-story/941a5491fd7b4534b66047de94623c8c

Some things are more important than football

 

[Giant Strides]

Some interesting stats and thoughts from this article on where teams did well or poorly in last week's finals games, and a little 'so what' for the upcoming game:

Playing to their strengths: The KPIs that could decide the semis

The first weekend of finals saw games decided by teams doing, or not doing, the things that have got them this far

www.afl.com.au

Greater Western Sydney

A record of 10-2 since round 13 suggests the Giants have no issues getting games on their terms, and that was the case again in their elimination final against St Kilda. They used an above AFL average pressure rating (183) as a foundation, with Tom Green

12

Tom Green

Age

23

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

3star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

5star

(81), Brent Daniels

16

Brent Daniels

Age

25

Ht

172cm

Wt

75kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.9

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

6.5

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.9

4star

G

0.4

3star

D

10.3

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

6.0

3star

M

1.9

2star

T

1.9

3star

G

0.0

1star

D

9.0

3star

K

3.6

2star

HB

5.4

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

3.0

5star

G

0.8

4star

(73) and Josh Kelly (49) their top three contributors on that measure. Their kick forward percentage dipped slightly but was still high at 90 per cent, while corridor use from rebound 50s was down from 19 to 13 per cent. The unexpected win when it came to controlling the match was flipping the script on scores from centre clearances. Ranked 15th during the home-and-away season and against the sixth-ranked Saints, they won the indicator 19-6. Continuing that trend against a Power team that lost centre bounce scores (-8) against Brisbane will be part of the Giants' plans this week.

Port Adelaide

No team lost access to its strengths more than the Power in week one of the finals. The AFL's No.1 team for time in forward half, they lost this indicator in a season-worst result against Brisbane (-11:19) and couldn't get their strong forward-half game going as a result. The Power's forward-half intercepts were down from a season average of 32.8 to just 17, and forward-half stoppages dropped from 22.3 to 13. The result was just 25 points from forward-half chains, down from a season average of 55. Despite winning the clearances (43-39) and shutting down Lachie Neale

9

Lachie Neale

Age

31

Ht

178cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

27.0

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

15.5

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.7

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

28.3

5star

K

13.9

5star

HB

14.4

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

, the Power lost the scores from stoppages indicator (-42) in a season-worst result. The centre bounces went 15-12 in the Lions' favour and the Power need to find a way to get the territory game back in their favour against Greater Western Sydney.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

We're playing with house money - made finals and won a final on top of that. A win will be most excellent but we're already on Cloud 9.

Port went into last week feeling pretty good but now feel like that even if they win this they're up for embarrassment in the next fortnight. There's only doom and gloom in their future and they're awaiting its arrival.

I don't think this is true really - the Port forum is filled with so much depressed sarcasm and in-jokes its sometimes hard to decipher.

The Port forum on here has been largely doom and gloom since Ken's extension was confirmed to be signed in early August with any positivity about the streak that led up to that point just about snuffed out. People honestly don't seem that worried about this finals series at all, they're much more worried about having to make it through another 2 years of treading water (13 years total) before we can finally get a change in coaching and culture, and the careers that will be wasted in that time.

Anyway hope for a good game this weekend as both sides can play pretty exciting football, and for the record if you do knock us off, I think most Port fans will be rooting for you guys (especially Kingsley) in the last couple of games.

 

[Drummond]

Just got my tickets! Let’s go!!

 

[Land of the Giants]

Just got my tickets! Let’s go!!

Any word on the crowd?

 

[Drummond]

Any word on the crowd?

Still a reasonable amount of tickets available. I think it’ll end up around 42-45k. Hoping there’s lets of orange!

 

[Orange crush]

Can't expect both top 4 teams to go out in straight sets ... go Dees

 

[Land of the Giants]

Still a reasonable amount of tickets available. I think it’ll end up around 42-45k. Hoping there’s lets of orange!

I think we were allocated about 6 bays.

 

[Drummond]

I think we were allocated about 6 bays.

Wow that’s incredible. Man I hope I’m amongst them, don’t want to be around the Power fans.

 

[JeffreyCC]

Good Luck Giants!!!

 

[Giant Strides]

Gameday thread is up! Game Day - 2023 Semi Final: Port Adelaide v Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm ACST (7.40pm AEST)

Let's go GIANTS!