Gold Coast, GWS, Fremantle. Who will breakthrough?

[Yellow Feathers]

Butters decided not to show up last night. Put it on him.

 

[Better Loosen Up]

Obviously the players shouldnt be absolved of their proportion of blame, however last night it was clear from the opening minutes the Cats had a clear plan how they were going to defend the corridor, apply the required pressure and expose a fragile team. On the other hand Port came out like they did every final, scared, nervous and zero idea how to handle the pressure or execute fluid ball movement when they couldn't use the corridor. The amount of panic hack kicks (the type normally reserved for B grade local footy) was staggering. If that was a once off, then fair enough but we've seen this movie in every final's appearance since 2017.

To his credit, Ken has never lost the playing group which is almost unheard of after 12 years as coach, so i wouldnt be surprised if we bounce back next week. But even in the event that did happen we would falter in the prelim like always which would have to signal the end of Hinkley at PAFC.

For who? Carr? He was the one sitting up in the coaches box last night calling the shots. At the end of the day, I don't care what your club chooses to do but to me, last night was on the playing group just not being up for the fight.

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

Yes in the 12 years, multiple iterations of forwards, midfielders and defenders and all the players that have come through the club, they just all happen to be the types that go missing.

Seems unlikely. What is likely is the 1 single common denominator. He can’t motivate or prepare the team for finals or big moments.

Prior to 2020, its not a bad record though. So it is really only the current crop

 

[jakson68]

The best part was when I flicked over to the footy in the last and Geelong had the ball and Rozee was giving chase and my wife said to me "What a piss poor effort by the guy in number 1"
When I stated that he was their captain, she just laughed and said "enough said as that explains it"

Hinkley cant give effort and a skier doesn't have to try as hard going downhill.

 

[FrankDrebin]

For who? Carr? He was the one sitting up in the coaches box last night calling the shots. At the end of the day, I don't care what your club chooses to do but to me, last night was on the playing group just not being up for the fight.

Well ideally it would be a full process to find the best person for the job, that could be Carr but i'd be worried that many of the same elements would remain if they just gave it to the 2IC. Although it worked at Hawthorn with Mitchell so you never know.

You cant keep going back to the well though. Surely it's time to see if with someone different they install some confidence and a gameplan that when the stakes are at their highest they can and will deliver. Because I'm certain no-one in a port jumper felt that way as soon as the ball was bounced last night.

And ideally it wont be someone who goes into a finals campaign by telling everyone "finals are scary".

 

[Mr Meow]

Do you think that one finals series for one loss in 5 seasons 2015-19 was unlucky?

No, but losing by less than a goal to two battle hardened, champion teams in the middle of dynasties was unlucky.

The last 5 finals as a collective have been unacceptable. There's no dancing around that fact. They haven't played well in the finals since the 2021 QF.

 

[JimmyBC]

They play scared and sweat off the contest whenever there's expectation & that's completely on the coach.

 

[Shanghaistu]

Haven’t won a knockout final since 2014. Won’t next week either.

Pushing Essendon territory

you’re welcome to it but you’ll probably still have to add a whole lot of dysfunction and staggering incompetency to get to our level

 

[Toump Ass]

Can't blame Kenny that his team is full of bed-wetters.

 

[blackdiamond]

Haven’t won a knockout final since 2014. Won’t next week either.

Pushing Essendon territory

We are like Essendon on steroids, the finals version.

 

[Mofra]

Amazing stat - Crows haven't played finals for 7 years and still have more finals wins in the past decade

 

[SC_Power]

Amazing stat - Crows haven't played finals for 7 years and still have more finals wins in the past decade

Not that amazing to us.

You all just haven’t been listening, thinking we’ve been fickle for wanting Ken out.

 

[Lunchtime]

Overall, since being in the AFL, Port Adelaide have played in 30 finals matches for 13 wins and 17 losses, a strike rate of 43.3%

 

[GastevsBeard]

last night is easily the worst finals performance I have ever seen by any team in the modern era

Port literally have no excuse (you could argue 2007, 2019 losing GF teams were cooked, and Ports 21 prelim against the dogs we can perhaps excuse as a mulligan the side could learn from)

It was clear from the opening minutes that Geelong were settled, executing their game plan to perfection (kudos). But port were equally as 'rattled' in their execution - fumbling, missing targets, missing tackles, poor defensive efforts

On exposed form we know both teams are 'good', so what happened? My only conclusion is that from a mindset & execution perspective, Scott has absolutely trounced Hinkley in the fortnight leading up to the game to get his team 'optimal' for the big game

I have been defending Hinkley but in 120m their performance has completely reversed my opinion

 

[Lunchtime]

last night is easily the worst finals performance I have ever seen by any team in the modern era

Port literally have no excuse (you could argue 2007, 2019 losing GF teams were cooked, and Ports 21 prelim against the dogs we can perhaps excuse as a mulligan the side could learn from)

It was clear from the opening minutes that Geelong were settled, executing their game plan to perfection (kudos). But port were equally as 'rattled' in their execution - fumbling, missing targets, missing tackles, poor defensive efforts

On exposed form we know both teams are 'good', so what happened? My only conclusion is that from a mindset & execution perspective, Scott has absolutely trounced Hinkley in the fortnight leading up to the game to get his team 'optimal' for the big game

I have been defending Hinkley but in 120m their performance has completely reversed my opinion

Like I keep saying - the real season starts in September - Finals footy. It's a different kettle of fish to Home & Away footy. Forget Brownlows and All Australians.....the pressure is higher and the stakes are higher in Finals Footy.

Players either thrive during Finals or they turn to water.

 

[SC_Power]

last night is easily the worst finals performance I have ever seen by any team in the modern era

Port literally have no excuse (you could argue 2007, 2019 losing GF teams were cooked, and Ports 21 prelim against the dogs we can perhaps excuse as a mulligan the side could learn from)

It was clear from the opening minutes that Geelong were settled, executing their game plan to perfection (kudos). But port were equally as 'rattled' in their execution - fumbling, missing targets, missing tackles, poor defensive efforts

On exposed form we know both teams are 'good', so what happened? My only conclusion is that from a mindset & execution perspective, Scott has absolutely trounced Hinkley in the fortnight leading up to the game to get his team 'optimal' for the big game

I have been defending Hinkley but in 120m their performance has completely reversed my opinion

Welcome to our world.

 

[sobrave]

last night is easily the worst finals performance I have ever seen by any team in the modern era

Port literally have no excuse (you could argue 2007, 2019 losing GF teams were cooked, and Ports 21 prelim against the dogs we can perhaps excuse as a mulligan the side could learn from)

It was clear from the opening minutes that Geelong were settled, executing their game plan to perfection (kudos). But port were equally as 'rattled' in their execution - fumbling, missing targets, missing tackles, poor defensive efforts

On exposed form we know both teams are 'good', so what happened? My only conclusion is that from a mindset & execution perspective, Scott has absolutely trounced Hinkley in the fortnight leading up to the game to get his team 'optimal' for the big game

I have been defending Hinkley but in 120m their performance has completely reversed my opinion

You can't have been paying that much attention, the background and lead in to the 2021 prelim made that performance equally as unexplainable.

 

[Conan Troutman]

Overall, since being in the AFL, Port Adelaide have played in 30 finals matches for 13 wins and 17 losses, a strike rate of 43.3%

Not sure how often Port finished H/A in 3rd or 4th, but worth keeping in mind that for teams finishing H/A in 3rd/4th, the expected outcome is to finish 3rd/4th after finals, meaning they would have 1 win and 2 losses (33.3% strike rate).

 

[SC_Power]

Not sure how often Port finished H/A in 3rd or 4th, but worth keeping in mind that for teams finishing H/A in 3rd/4th, the expected outcome is to finish 3rd/4th after finals, meaning they would have 1 win and 2 losses (33.3% strike rate).

9 top 3 finishes in 28 seasons,
Only 2 GF’s is a pathetic return really.

 

[Lunchtime]

9 top 3 finishes in 28 seasons,
Only 2 GF’s is a pathetic return really.

Yep. When it truly matters most - they have failed.

 

[Taper]

Haven’t won a knockout final since 2014. Won’t next week either.

Pushing Essendon territory

Essendon haven't won a final since Port won a flag.
Port have finished top 4 in four of the last five seasons, and have finished above the Crows for the last seven consecutive years.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

Essendon haven't won a final since Port won a flag.
Port have finished top 4 in four of the last five seasons, and have finished above the Crows for the last seven consecutive years.

No one gives a shit if you finish top 4 if you get no where.

Did you know that the Crows have won more finals than us in the past decade despite not making finals for 7 years and us top 4 in 4 of the last 5 years?

Heck they at least gave themself a chance at a gf as well.

You love comparing the two SA clubs. How do you justify that? Pretty embarrassing really.

Stick your Ken love where the sun doesn’t shine as that’s where it belongs.

 

[melanChronic]

Ports 21 prelim against the dogs we can perhaps excuse as a mulligan the side could learn from)

The '21 prelim was the most inexplicable and shameful finals loss imaginable. Home final, week off, Port had smashed the Bulldogs less than a month previous, and the Dogs had since been on a merry go round finals tour of Tasmania, Brisbane and Adelaide without being able to return to their beds in lockdown Melbourne. The crowd in Adelaide would also be more partisan than usual for a final due to said lockdown.

Port's list was perfectly healthy and had ideal preparation. Despite this they failed to rock up at all and let the Dogs kick the first 5 goals of the game to snuff out the crowd and any hope within 15 minutes. The mindset of every Port player was completely off, it was almost like they'd been told to take it easy because they already had the prelim in the bag. It was the most WTF thing I can remember watching in football.

Any club worth it's salt would've sacked Hinkley directly after that game. Instead it was barely talked about or addressed at all, the same problems were present in the straight sets exit last year and last night's game was just a violent reprise of that disaster in 2021.

 

[Rotayjay]

They are 2-6 since the 2014 finals series. Says it all really. Maybe it's a hoodoo that's infiltrated the players' minds, despite the turnover in players. They know the club's finals record is crap so it fosters a lack of belief.

 

[Greasyrhys]