2018- What Went Wrong

[MrPortAdelaide]

we kept Boak as captain because he's a nice guy, now he should be traded

 

[GremioPower]

Where to really begin with what went wrong. I guess you need to look at what went right last year. We were able to score quickly, move the ball quickly, defend strongly against poor teams but it all fell apart against good teams. I think we were all expecting some light tinkering of how we played last year but what we saw was a pretty heavy handed change to our game style and it didn't work.

Defensively we were very impressive last year. The stats will show that we (bar Essendon kicking a huge score on Friday) will end this season with our best defensive season at AFL level. I guess thats a positive, I think.

Where it all went wrong was with our ball movement. Those who went to the members convention will know that how we played throughout the year was exactly how it was described at the convention. If we can't get through the corridor quickly then slow ball movement concentrating on maintaining possession. Minimal risk.

Unfortunately this failed for a number of reasons. We still don't have the skill to maintain possession of the ball coming out of D50. This is a huge problem. Houston can't do it all himself. Missing Hartlett and Broadbent for the year hurt in this regard as well. This also failed because we just weren't able to move the ball quickly enough. This allowed the opposition to set up defensively against us too many times leading to this boring brand of football that we forced ourselves to play.

Those at the convention would also know that soccer was brought up numerous times, especially in terms of defensive set ups. I feel we've tried to push this too far when it doesn't work. We've ried to play Mourinho style football - get an early lead, defend and shut down the game. Fine in a low scoring game like soccer, but it doesn't really work in a game like Aussie Rules. You need to be able to turn it on when you need to and it's something we have had trouble with all year. We've averaged 3 goals less per game this year which is a significant amount.

The best teams play with flair, take risks and are skillful. We are none of those. We actively coach flair and risk taking out of the team.

As I mentioned earlier, I feel we werent able to play our ultimate KPP lineup for almost the entire season. This was disappointing.

The most disappointing aspect though was the way that we were so easily shut down throughout the year. When teams like Carlton and Freo are keeping you goalless/scoreless then you really need to question what the hell is going on.

I still think we are close. I still think with some correct coaching, with a shift in focus, we can become a bonafide premiership threat next year. Whether we can do this under the current regime, i'm not sure.

Really good post, Macca19! I think this from Janus complements it well:

Here goes:

1. The tragedy of Todd Marshall: At the start of the year I said that Marshall needed to have a season like Westhoff 07 for us to win the flag. The reason for that was because it would have meant that he was taking advantage of the delivery from Watts and the double teaming of Dixon. It would have meant the forward system that we had spent the entire preseason working on was being used effectively.

2. Brendon Lade: I’m of the opinion that Keith Thomas is so apologetic when it comes to Ken because getting Lade was his idea. Then Richmond wins the flag, and will probably win another this year, based on forward pressure...which is what we were focused on in 2016. When you’ve got someone who doesn’t believe in the system, it creates a disconnect that becomes evident on the field. Our inability to score from repeat inside 50 entries rests solely with his inability to create any sort of system that creates separation for our forwards. Richmond had the same issue until he left and Hardwick could focus on full ground pressure like he wanted to. For everyone who wants to raise money to pay out Hinkley, maybe save some money and pay out Lade instead, because it will be ******* cheaper. As worse an appointment to the coaching panel as Matthew Primus was to head coach.

3. No preseason for Rockliff: Here’s a guy who has never once played finals, and so never had to condition his body for the event that he would. So it’s little wonder that he would fade in the back half of the season when the conditioning you do in the preseason should allow you to push through the grind. Hence the reason his TOG was so low in the last few games. Expected him to rotate with Gray up forward - never happened. Will get back to his best next year. Should go on a trip with Boak and do the training he did on his running in the offseason.

4. Inexperienced backline: For most of the year, due to injuries to Hartlett and Broadbent, we have been forced to play a defence that has 5 players who have played less than 100 games: Howard, Clurey, Byrne-Jones, Bonner and Houston. It’s little wonder that these guys weren’t providing the drive and impetus we needed on the break, and why the midfield didn’t really trust them and was always sitting on their heels. The lack of pressure on spots (look at Bonner coming straight back in) meant that poor performances couldn’t be punished.

5. Slow ball movement in offence: I vehemently disagree with the concept that ball retention predicates slow movement of the ball. Maybe in shit soccer leagues it does, but we want to be playing Guardiola style football, not Mourinho style football. Bassett was on record saying that it was time to start playing properly out of defence, and over the past few weeks we’ve seen some much faster and more explosive play, which is how we should be moving the ball. The problem is that without Dixon it’s far too easy for the opposition to push up the ground because they don’t have to worry about a contested marking threat.

I never once heard anyone at the convention use the word “slow”. They said our focus was on retaining possession because if we have the ball, it’s the best form of defence.

6. Ryder injury: Ryder coming off the ground against Fremantle and West Coast cost us both games. Both his tendinitis and his hip flexor are related to one another. It’s all right here: https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20838733/if-you-have-achilles-pain-look-to-your-hips/

“Seventy-five percent of the time, if not more, runners with Achilles problems have coinciding hip and core limitations,” Frey says. “Poor hip flexibility, specifically extension, leads to poor gluteal recruitment and an overload of the calf complex, leading to Achilles problems. So, underlying biomechanical deficiencies in the hip often precede Achilles problems.”

Ryder isn’t cooked. He does, however, need to strengthen his hips with exercises during the off season.

7. Not using Watts correctly: This stems back to the disconnect between Lade and the rest of the coaches. If during line meetings one coach is saying you need to work on one aspect of your game, and the head coach is expecting to to work on another, it can get confusing. His best role has always been to start in the forward line and be the link up between midfield and forward.

8. Lack of effort: “It’s not winning contests when you should win contests. It’s not working hard enough to outnumber a team, and that’s what we weren’t doing. When you get in that space you can look pretty poor. When you don’t work to outnumber in defence you feel it on the scoreboard. But if you don’t work to outnumber in offence, you don’t get momentum, you don’t get drive, you don’t get an opportunity to attack the scoreboard...when you work to get there with each other and help each other, each other play well. But if you leave it in isolation to one or two, one or two probably hold their heads up, not many.”

There is another good post I would like to highlight — this one, from CharlieKelly:

Where to begin?

* Todd Marshall, before the tragic death of his father, so soon after losing his mother, he was in amazing form, contender for Rising Star, since his return his form wasn't the same and then his season-ending injury in the SANFL.
* Sam Powell-Pepper, until he decided to sexually harass a woman in a nightclub, he was in good form. This is something the club should've dealt with, instead the AFL weighed in, he was never criminally charged with anything. His form was never the same after his return.
* Hamish Hartlett in career best form and then injuring his ACL at training.
* Paddy Ryder getting injured three times, especially after his All Australian and B&F season last year, him playing injured yesterday despite Billy Frampton waiting in the wings didn't help and shows how shallow our ruck depth currently is.
* Other players having season ending injuries, we're not talking Crows level soft tissue injuries all year, season ending injuries to Matthew Broadbent, Sam Hayes, Joel Garner, Willem Drew, Charlie Dixon, the list goes on
* Even when we were winning, as great as some of our wins this year have been, some of them were complete shit shows, the games against Brisbane at AO, Gold Coast in China, Carlton at the MCG and St. Kilda at Adelaide Oval were just awful to watch. Stark contrast to last year when all we could do was beat the shit out of bottom sides.

I'm not on the sack Hinkley bandwagon, because I don't know who should replace him that wouldn't put us into a worse position. I think he needs better support staff, we haven't been the same team since losing Alan Richardson and Phil Walsh, and now Brett Ratten is looking for a new job, I think he'd be great for us as a senior assistant. Martin Mattner would be a great addition too.

 

[MrPlow]

Where to really begin with what went wrong. I guess you need to look at what went right last year. We were able to score quickly, move the ball quickly, defend strongly against poor teams but it all fell apart against good teams. I think we were all expecting some light tinkering of how we played last year but what we saw was a pretty heavy handed change to our game style and it didn't work.

Defensively we were very impressive last year. The stats will show that we (bar Essendon kicking a huge score on Friday) will end this season with our best defensive season at AFL level. I guess thats a positive, I think.

Where it all went wrong was with our ball movement. Those who went to the members convention will know that how we played throughout the year was exactly how it was described at the convention. If we can't get through the corridor quickly then slow ball movement concentrating on maintaining possession. Minimal risk.

Unfortunately this failed for a number of reasons. We still don't have the skill to maintain possession of the ball coming out of D50. This is a huge problem. Houston can't do it all himself. Missing Hartlett and Broadbent for the year hurt in this regard as well. This also failed because we just weren't able to move the ball quickly enough. This allowed the opposition to set up defensively against us too many times leading to this boring brand of football that we forced ourselves to play.

Those at the convention would also know that soccer was brought up numerous times, especially in terms of defensive set ups. I feel we've tried to push this too far when it doesn't work. We've ried to play Mourinho style football - get an early lead, defend and shut down the game. Fine in a low scoring game like soccer, but it doesn't really work in a game like Aussie Rules. You need to be able to turn it on when you need to and it's something we have had trouble with all year. We've averaged 3 goals less per game this year which is a significant amount.

The best teams play with flair, take risks and are skillful. We are none of those. We actively coach flair and risk taking out of the team.

As I mentioned earlier, I feel we werent able to play our ultimate KPP lineup for almost the entire season. This was disappointing.

The most disappointing aspect though was the way that we were so easily shut down throughout the year. When teams like Carlton and Freo are keeping you goalless/scoreless then you really need to question what the hell is going on.

I still think we are close. I still think with some correct coaching, with a shift in focus, we can become a bonafide premiership threat next year. Whether we can do this under the current regime, i'm not sure.

Wait, are you serious?

Always joked we seemed to park the bus after being a few goals up, but that was legitimately our game plan?

Please tell me our entire coaching department can’t be that dumb. Please.

 

[Magus]

So the gameplan involves keeping possession of the ball. Interesting stuff.

Would there be a team in the league that doesnt have a plan of maintaining possession of the ball? What's the alternative?

It was so obvious the whole year that the players were terrified of turning the ball over. They've had "maintain possession at all costs!" drilled into them so they chipped it around with dinky kicks and then tried to hit up targets in the 50 that weren't there. Oppo coaches must have been laughing their asses off at us.

 

[Mr5014]

Couldn't disagree more.

Port's biggest problem is one that pre-dates Hinkley, Thomas, Davies, Burgess, and Koch. Our list isn't very good at kicking and handballing, and it hasn't been for a long time. We have some supremely skillful players, like Gray and Wingard, but the list overall is poor.

Generally, you fix a team that lacks skill through the draft, trade, and free agency. You get better ball users into the club, and move the poor ones on.

Sometimes, you can fix it by drilling skills at training, but, often, unskilled (or underskilled) players are a turd you can't polish.

We inadvertently, and temporarily, fixed the problem when we signed Burgess. We got the jump on the rest of the league when he got us super fit.

Super fitness meant we could outwork opponents - an unskilled player who couldn't hit a target in 2m of space now had targets in 5, 10, sometimes 15m of space instead. We also fatigued less than opponents, meaning our skills deteriorated less over the course of a game.

This paired remarkably well with the run-and-gun brand of football we were playing, but, when the rest of the league started to catch up to us, the space dried up, and our relative ability to run out games was diminished.

We are fixing this - we've brought in and blooded some better ball users - and we have other problems (ruck depth, KPF depth, forwardine structure, set up at stoppage, ...), but the 2014 gameplan would not have won us a flag after 2014, because it relied on a fitness advantage that evaporated over the 2014/2015 offseason.

Boak
Broadbent (inj)
Ebert
Hartlett (inj)
R Gray
Wingard
Pittard
Westhoff
Jonas

That's all that's left from 2012. Three All Australians, three B&Fs (and possibly a third on there), two injured. Of that group Pittard, Boak and Ebert have gone backwards, Jonas, Westhoff have gone upwards; Gray and Wingard have plateaued.

Of that group Boak, Westhoff and Gray are entering their last five seasons max. At least Boak should be traded (if he doesn't retire first).

You can't pin 2018 on Primus and co. This is now Ken's list, and Kochie and KT's club.

 

[GremioPower]

So the gameplan involves keeping possession of the ball. Interesting stuff.

Would there be a team in the league that doesnt have a plan of maintaining possession of the ball? What's the alternative?

The alternative is objective attacking; that is, moving the ball solely offensively. When without the ball, a team can choose if it defends deep up field (parking-the-bus and counter-attacking), applies "half-field" pressure; or pressures deep down the field. Still, once it gets the ball, it goes straight for the kill.

Possession football is a defensive strategy.

 

[Magus]

The alternative is objective attacking; that is, moving the ball solely offensively. When without the ball, a team can choose if it defends deep up field (parking-the-bus and counter-attacking), applies "half-field" pressure; or pressures deep down the field. Still, once it gets the ball, it goes straight for the kill.

Possession football is a defensive strategy.

My comment was slightly tongue in cheek. Whatever the gameplan is, it involves in having possession of the ball. No-one plans on not having possession, it sort of goes without saying.
Maintaining possession in itself is not a gameplan. Its what you do with it when you have it that's important.

 

[GremioPower]

My comment was slightly tongue in cheek. Whatever the gameplan is, it involves in having possession of the ball. No-one plans on not having possession, it sort of goes without saying.
Maintaining possession in itself is not a gameplan. Its what you do with it when you have it that's important.

But that is precisely it. When someone says that intends to keep possession of the ball, it is affirming that it will use the ball defensively. If your opponent doesn't have the ball, it cannot score.

 

[Magus]

But that is precisely it. When someone says that intends to keep possession of the ball, it is affirming that it will use the ball defensively. If your opponent doesn't have the ball, it cannot score.

Gross.

 

[GremioPower]

Gross.

Gross or not, it is what it means.

Still, it all boils down to execution. Bad footy is always ugly, but if it is done well, it can be nice to see.

 

[charcolechaddy]

Our system is nonexistent our game plan is out dated and just plane dumb.

Selections don’t allow for any system to be even relevant.

Considering we wanted to play a clearance type game why then would you have one capable ruck?

With no return this year from China I’m even starting to question this.

 

[charcolechaddy]

Our system is nonexistent our game plan is out dated and just plane dumb.

Selections don’t allow for any system to be even relevant.

Considering we wanted to play a clearance type game why then would you have one capable ruck?

With no return this year from China I’m even starting to question this.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

We politely waited for the opposition to set up their defence while we chipped the ball around in the backline.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Smithy7]

we kept Boak as captain because he's a nice guy, now he should be traded

Travis is signed up until the end of 2019 ... he is not going anywhere ..

 

[Magus]

Gross or not, it is what it means.

Still, it all boils down to execution. Bad footy is always ugly, but if it is done well, it can be nice to see.

I'm on board with what you're saying but this way of thinking doesnt translate to AFL football. I'd have any of our coaches talking soccer tactics marched straight out the door.

 

[GremioPower]

I'm on board with what you're saying but this way of thinking doesnt translate to AFL football. I'd have any of our coaches talking soccer tactics marched straight out the door.

Basketball and soccer are translatable into footy, but it is necessary a proper adaptation. Otherwise, it is ridiculous.

 

[Smithy7]

We politely waited for the opposition to set up their defence while we chipped the ball around in the backline.
Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

This is one problem we have ... many a time a player makes position up forward but the ball is bloody held on to while the player with the ball works out if to pass it forward or back ..

 

[Macca19]

Wait, are you serious?

Always joked we seemed to park the bus after being a few goals up, but that was legitimately our game plan?

Please tell me our entire coaching department can’t be that dumb. Please.

I never said the club said they want to park the bus. But its obvious in how we played this year.

 

[Marmozet]

What a feeling waking up this morning knowing you’re not making the 8 after being 11-4.

 

[Mangus Onfries]

Kochie on AA now.
Saying comfortable with signing Ken.
Comfortable with ruck situation.
Its just how AFL is. Very close comp.
Same ol' same ol'

 

[GremioPower]

Kochie on AA now.
Saying comfortable with signing Ken.
Comfortable with ruck situation.
Its just how AFL is. Very close comp.
Same ol' same ol'

At some point, we will be forced to simply thank Koch for all his good work and give him "good bye." Doesn't it seem he has reached his plateau?

 

[Adz2332]

Our midfield is to one paced and lack foot skills.

Wines
Ebert
SPP
Rockliff

To slow together and still get belted in clearances anyway

Add boak to that whos being played forward whos not a forward and again slowish

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

This is just plain depressing and a sign of how far we have dropped

 

[Portmagpies36]

Our list depth is crap especially key position and ruck stocks. Rely too much on Dixon in the forward line and Ryder in ruck.
When we start blaming injuries just have a look at GWS and Collingwood how they have coped with a huge injury list, at the end of the day if our players had the composure to win close games we would be sitting in 4th spot this morning, end of story.

 

[Portmagpies36]

View attachment 546117 This is just plain depressing and a sign of how far we have dropped

Yep, spot the odd team out.