Autopsy A great effort is when you win. (vent)

[Ford Fairlane]

A great effort is a great effort. A great result is when you win.

 

[Trewth]

This would sit well with me if we were employees of the club, but as supporters we have every right to be proud of how far we've come in such a short space of time. We left everything out on the field and only lost due to some errant kicking in front of goal. If just one of those points went through the big sticks we'd be preparing for a Grand Final right now.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be no pats on the back, no feeling proud, no taking eyes off the prize in the inner sanctum of the club. There's still work to do. But us supporters have every right to sit back and acknowledge how amazing our improvement has been, how entertaining this team is to watch and how proud we are to be supporters of this club. It's been an amazing season.

 

[I Dont Care]

I feel so empty inside. We were better than Hawthorn, for large periods that game...no mean feat...we nearly came back from the dead at the end. But we kicked ourselves out of a GF. Empty.

 

[grumbleguts]

Great performance by port. I thought after their dropoff half way through the season that they'd be pushovers in the finals. They proved they will be a force to be reckoned with in the next few seasons. Looks like it'll be up to you guys to win it for the moral majority in the next couple of seasons.

Who'd have thought after the 165 point drubbing that ten of those same players would be holding their own against the same opponent 3 seasons later.

 

[Jello_B]

Absolutely gutted, spat the chips last night. Should have won the game, there is no guarantee next season we will be in a prelim so the opportunity has to be taken.
They played really well and gave their all no doubting that, but we had to win.

 

[BIG MATTY WHITE]

People got pissed off with me when I used to vent on this board....

It was only because i felt we were capable of so much more then a 9 point win to GC ....loss to collingwood etc...


Yeah I am still pissed because right now watching the tv all the swans and hawks build up....it really should be us...

Were we beaten by the better team yesterday.....nope....

 

[QPower]

The match was a microcosm of the season- missed opportunities and the inability to convert dominance into results.

Forward of centre transition and goal kicking need a lot of work.

 

[bacharach]

This would sit well with me if we were employees of the club, but as supporters we have every right to be proud of how far we've come in such a short space of time. We left everything out on the field and only lost due to some errant kicking in front of goal. If just one of those points went through the big sticks we'd be preparing for a Grand Final right now.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be no pats on the back, no feeling proud, no taking eyes off the prize in the inner sanctum of the club. There's still work to do. But us supporters have every right to sit back and acknowledge how amazing our improvement has been, how entertaining this team is to watch and how proud we are to be supporters of this club. It's been an amazing season.

My exact thoughts. I agree with the OP has said BUT I’d like to think this sentiment resinates within the playing group / coaching staff. I’m sure a few of the boys have spent the last 12 hours catastrophisng about how their mistakes cost them the game.

I was massively proud of what the boys have achieved this year. I’m proud we never roll over.

THB, I thought we’d loose by more yesterday. Lets be real, Hawthorn are a great, consistent team full of mature, finals hardened men, who were rested, on their turf, at full strength. We’re still in a development stage, as signified by our rate of improvement, and I think we are only starting to get a sniff of where our ceiling is at. Just imagine when we hit it and play that way consistently.

Although we lost, I leave this year feeling more confident about our future than ever before.

 

[edgie]

Hawthorn were the better team yesterday, because they took their chances. If this were any other sport where you don't get a point for missing, we wouldn't have got within coohee of them. The effort was there, the endeavour was there, but the best teams execute. Geelong won a grand final by executing. Hawks won a grand final by executing. St kilda drew a Grand Final by executing. Not many teams win big games by kicking more behinds and less goals.

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[PayFL]

Hawthorn were the better team yesterday, because they took their chances. If this were any other sport where you don't get a point for missing, we wouldn't have got within coohee of them. The effort was there, the endeavour was there, but the best teams execute. Geelong won a grand final by executing. Hawks won a grand final by executing. St kilda drew a Grand Final by executing. Not many teams win big games by kicking more behinds and less goals.

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I'm gutted too, as I was cheering for Port (I love Ken obviously, and our local boy Boaky too). In fact I've been depressed since the game finished, Port maybe didn't execute, but ffs they deserved to be in the GF. They travelled from Perth last week while Hawks had the week off, that is a massive disadvantage.

Also, Geelong fans cans empathise. Yesterday was your version of our 2008 GF. Nothing is worse than having more scoring shots in a final and losing, especially to the *#@&%ing Hawks in 2008 who forced an AFL rule change by cheating with rushing behinds non-stop.

But don't despair Port fans. Yesterday was NECESSARY. I know that sounds crazy, but you don't just arrive and win premierships. Port are progressing as planned, and are on track for a premiership next year (and also in the next 5 years after that). Geelong didn't spring up overnight in 2007 (we went through a lot of pain and reality checks before making GF in 2007, including not winning a GF since the 1960's ffs, and losing 4 GF's in 7 years between '89 and '95, neither did Saints in 2009/2010 (took Saints from 2002 to develop stars like Riewoldt Goddard Hayes etc into being a premiership chance, nor Collingwood (it took Malthouse almost 10 years to deliver pies a premiership)).

Look at it this way. Next year, the following will happen:

Hawks: On the slide - best players getting older and slower. Still a premiership chance however.

Swans: Will improve overall slightly (Cunningham, Parker, Bird etc).

Freo: Hard to tell, prob stay same threat.

Port: DRAMATIC SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT

Cats: Slide down the ladder.

Collingwood: Stay same, no threat.

Richmond, Carlton, Essendon: LMFAO.

North: Down.

Gold Coast: Dramatic improvement.

GWS: Dramatic improvement.

The rest: Irrelevant for next year at least.

So, IMO, next 5 years Port will be #1 side, with only worries being Hawks (but only for next year), Swans and eventually Gold Coast.

 

[PayFL]

P.S: The look on Roughead's face after the siren yesterday when he was interviewed by Ling said it all. He was shocked at Port's comeback and their crazy fitness. And he even said, in not so many words, that Port will be the team to beat next year and beyond...

 

[El_Scorcho]

Think you are allowed to be proud of a side who leaves nothing left in the tank and gives you an opportunity to win.

Sometimes you will fall short but you can still congratulate them.

El_Scorcho wondering, did you jump on any electronic media that players might read and hang shit on them for not winning?

Or do you hold your head up high, congratulate the victors and look forward to next season.

I for one hold my head high thank the players for their efforts and look forward to 2015.

No, only this thread.

As I've said, this kind of thing is purely because our best football has given me very high expectations. These guys have everything they needed to win the flag this year, except maybe the pain in the gut of losing when they had it all in front of them.

This thread is a call for them to remember that pain in the gut and dominate the next several years of football. We are good enough.

But I very much doubt the players need to hear it. They'd be feeling what I am times 1000. This thread was me venting in response to what I felt was a bit too much positivity after losing a game we should have won IMO.

But at the same time everyone grieves differently and I have no issue really with people being positive. We have a LOT to be positive about going forward.

 

[Portmanteau]

I have a foot in the both positive and negative camps, but consider this: how would you feel if we put the cue rack, as we easily could have, and petered out to a 5 goal loss? All we'd be left with would be a wasted first quarter opportunity and a pretty disappointing, ignominious exit. We put the competition on notice last night and continued the development of belief to win from impossible situations. Who, team or supporter, is going to be comfortable against us unless they are 7 goals up with 10 minutes to go?

 

[Steven Gerrard]

If at any point in 2012 a fortune teller told you that Port Adelaide would lose a prelim final at the MCG in 2014 against the reigning premier by 3 points after having no week off, you would have bitch slapped her, took your money back and left. I know that doesn't make the feeling of the loss any better, but it goes to show just far we have come in just 2 years. It has been a metamorphosis. We are still on the journey. This was the preliminary final loss we had to have, a gut wrenching loss that will burn in the players' guts for 12 months. Way better than 119. I take heaps out of last night's game and you can bet Hinkley and the players have as well.

 

[rogerjames]

And 2 trips to Perth in the last month. An amazing performance re recovery and fitness. Most teams would have been written off in those circumstances. Fantastic effort by Burgo and other fitness and medical staff. And there was no talk of how hard we had it, just tried to get the job done. We better not travel to Perth in round 23 next year though. Will be ropeable. Give it to Sydney or the Hawks you AFL sucks who have no clue about a fair competition

 

[Macca19]

I agree with the premise of this thread. Whilst its great to be known as 'we never give up' etc. we really need to turn the 4-5 honourable losses by a kick we had this year into 'ruthless victories' next year. Simple as that.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I agree with the premise of this thread. Whilst its great to be known as 'we never give up' etc. we really need to turn the 4-5 honourable losses by a kick we had this year into 'ruthless victories' next year. Simple as that.

This might go in the "unpopular Port opinions" thread but I have no idea how we've kept this sparkling reputation for being a last quarter finishing team.

We've been awful in that regard this year IMO. We've lost a lot of games from positions where we should have won.

2013 was the opposite, we snuck into the 8 by willing ourselves over the line. This year we couldn't do it and it cost us a top 4, possibly even a top 2 spot.

 

[Macca19]

We are 3-9 in games decided under 10 points across the AFL & SANFL this year so its a club wide issue. Maybe its to do with a young squad but its amazing how similar we were across both leagues in kicking ourselves out of games and unable to kick clutch goals in the final 5 minutes of matches.

 

[Forzaport]

We are 3-9 in games decided under 10 points across the AFL & SANFL this year so its a club wide issue. Maybe its to do with a young squad but its amazing how similar we were across both leagues in kicking ourselves out of games and unable to kick clutch goals in the final 5 minutes of matches.

Really doesn't feel like we should be sitting at 3-9 for close games. I think this year we've often been too far back and had to do too much to win in the final 5-10 minutes as opposed to repeatedly just falling short or wilting under pressure. It's not often that we're holding a lead and another club overruns us.

 

[BIG MATTY WHITE]

If at any point in 2012 a fortune teller told you that Port Adelaide would lose a prelim final at the MCG in 2014 against the reigning premier by 3 points after having no week off, you would have bitch slapped her, took your money back and left. I know that doesn't make the feeling of the loss any better, but it goes to show just far we have come in just 2 years. It has been a metamorphosis. We are still on the journey. This was the preliminary final loss we had to have, a gut wrenching loss that will burn in the players' guts for 12 months. Way better than 119. I take heaps out of last night's game and you can bet Hinkley and the players have as well.

did she ask the question before or after we were on top of the ladder 2 games clear?

 

[crazee_peet]

Okay, so it's taken me a little while to totally understand how I feel about this year and our finals run. I am endlessly proud to be a Port Supporter and proud of the players, coaches, administration and all the invisible individuals who have pulled together to get our great club where they are, from where they've had to come from. I am also significantly disappointed to not see my team playing in the GF this year. I don't remember being this disappointed at the end of a year, since maybe 2003. I cannot ever remember having been so keen to get into the next year, as I was yesterday morning. I completely feel that we have unfinished business. I really strongly hope and believe that the players, feel the same way. I really can't wait for the 2015 season. Bring it on!

 

[Capital Power]

There is no shame in recognising the efforts of everyone involved - from the youngest fan right through to the President & CEO. No-one is sitting down and patting themselves on the back - they've all said "we need to be better".

At the game my wife at 3Q time said that the guys looked so spent, they'd worked so hard. They willed themselves back into the contest, but couldn't land the killer punch. I was proud to join the ovation, it was important that the boys saw the appreciation of the fans

Yeah we missed some kicks, yeah the umpiring was "inconsistent", yeah we had players drift in and out of the game. But not once did I see a lack of effort and commitment. "Never give up" could have been just something Ken said to keep the boss of his back, but geez it's become the absolute underpinning of our game. Ken's right - if that's the way you like your footy, then jump on.

 

[Port01]

We've had close losses, however Hawthorn, Freo, Essendon were all games we fell short in comebacks and really lost the game in the first 3 quarters, probably lucky in the end to get so close.

 

[Doctor Feel]

All these people on suicide watch after the game need some perspective.

My facebook has been a contrast of depression and happiness for the season just been. The depressed ones are hilarious, it's as if they have lived sheltered lives.

 

[Andre]

This might go in the "unpopular Port opinions" thread but I have no idea how we've kept this sparkling reputation for being a last quarter finishing team.

We are a fast finishing side, but this year it's been too many times as we've pissed away dominance early and/or let the opposition get easy goals early. Our problem are not the finishes, it's the starts of games. Be level pegging or ahead in these games at 3 quarter time and convert our great last quarters into 'junk time' smashings of the oppositions in 2015, instead of frantic catch up efforts.