Port - back to great depth

[Loyal2Port]

This has probably been covered but I was just looking through port's list and one thing stood out to me that I have not seen for a few years - real depth. Looking through our list there are 29-30 players who I would be happy to have in my side, these exclude the young draftees (with the possible exception of hartlett midway through the year)

Forwards

1. A contributing Warren Tredrea - who is moving quite good again.
2. Justin Westoff - put on some muscle, another consistent year you would think.
3. Daniel Motlop - one of my favourites, looks fit - an absolute star
4. Mega Head - ready to bounce back on a dissapointing 08
5. Matt Westoff - not convinced but another option
6. Robbie Gray - another one I love, hope he is fit, a great crumber with a great footy head
7. Salter - elavated - looking fit, looks committed, another mid to tall option
8. Rodan - could be in mid's but is dangerous around the goals and stoppages

Midfield

9. Boak - looks STRONG, heaps of talent, now with the body to match - another love child
10. S.Burger - captain? needs a great year of consistent four quarter footy - another love child
11. Carr - possibly my favourite port player 03-04, i cant wait for the first niggle but I want more out of him, I want niggle followed up with a 2nd effort/great tackle/ offensive movement
12 - Sal - this has to be his year, will need to miss a few games but should be in great form to go through and deliver a great year - was ports designated target finder last year
13. Pearce - has bulked up, hoping he has worked on his disposal, still like lightning and showed us last year that he does have a defensive side when he puts his mind to it
14. The Chad - enough said, been to training, he is a gladiator - captain?
15. Kane - gladiator jnr - will run all night and day, the new muscle will be important as he combats the tougher opponents
16. Marlon Motlop, I like him, will probably not be in the 22 at the start but I want him to develop - him or symes.........hmmmmmm tough one
17. Krak - on a wing, where is he at? still like him

Rucks

18. Lade - looks committed, backs his body - doesnt talk crap to the media and he is backing himself so that has always been good enough for me
19. Brogan - tough and hard, dragged the team up when chad etc were not there - earnt a lot of respect
20. Giles - this guy has an AFL body, hoping he can step up, maybe play 3 rucks on a dry day, let ladey go up front

Defenders
21. P.Burger - dont laugh, he is still a vital part of our team when on, if you watch pete, alot of, but not all of his mistakes are caused by a lack of movement further up the ground - i love you pete
22. Surjan - probably not in the 22, possibly overtaken, but still around the mark
23 - matty thomas - can the kid play, he has not done alot in the past few years, but his hardness is something I love
24. Tom Logan - respect to this guy, through his body in last year when few others were joining him, I hope choco remembers this, a crucial inside mid/defender to feed our quality
25. Carlile - looking like a tank, had a good year, have more confidence in him now
26 Chaplin - went backwards last year, important for him to lift, support Carlisle
27. Pettigrew - improvement has stalled, can run and carry, play on small/tall, needs some time up forward this year when things arent going our way
28. Farmer - like him, tough, has put on weight, lots of mongrel, want carr to tutor him
29. Stewart - looks fit, like him, should slot into 22
30. Hartlett - not AFL ready, maybe by mid year

This was probably a waste of time, but just want to highlight that, with tredrea holding up and doing his job, we have a very good side for next year........ people may dismiss us, but the comp is very very even next year, with the exception of hawks/cats

there is no reason why we cant push for 4-5th spot

I love our list, throw in trengove, banner/ broadbent / redden and I am excited about the future!

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Throw Lobbe in there somewhere either ruck or KP forward, he will be a depth player at the very least this year I would think. Those are probably are two weakest areas though.

 

[Loyal2Port]

oversight! forgot about lobbe, a fair few pple have raved about his body/capacity for movement recently. He should be pushing for back up status

edit.

31. Lobbe
32. Dawson

 

[Carnport]

Agree. Clearly this is what the plan as of the '06 rebuild was all about. That and another large and most promising group of kids this year and the addition of Josh for a bit of mongrel learnin' in said kids and I'm happy. Two really good years out of this squad might see us walk away from the upcoming "compromised" drafts in a stupidly good position.

 

[Loyal2Port]

and not to forget our little rookie show experiment of Danny Meyer, you know your doing well when a 1st round pick isnt in your best 32

 

[Peninsula Boy]

We do have an inordinate amount of young talent. No doubt.

 

[El_Scorcho]

The ruck stocks are the only part that worry me, although I haven't seen enough of Lobbe to comment on him.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

A highly rated KPP or two would be great along with another ruckmen. Apart from that, it's looking real good.

 

[Power King]

When it comes to depth, I tend to be a realist in terms of NOW, rather than an optimist in terms of the longer term future.

If Tredrea has a major injury, our forward structure is ****ed in my opinion. The ability to take a contested mark (or at least provide a contest amongst the gorilla backs of the opposition) around the 50 or just outside of it, seems to be underrated around here. Or perhaps people just haven't come around to discussing this. I really think Tredrea is the NUMBER ONE guy we need injury-free this season.

Midfield does have depth. As for Salopek and 'this is his year'. It's not an issue of consistency or needing to improve with him. It's pretty much a question of injury. His year will be the first year he actually manages to stay injury-free. Easier said than done with Sal.

Rucks - Giles' body seems to be of AFL size, but from training reports it seems as though strength-wise he still needs to make significant improvement. Lade had a big drop in form last year but came back toward the end. I have confidence that with his late-season improvement, marked with this being his final AFL season, he can become a solid ruckman again. Brogan = gun.

Defence - Big fan of Snr Burger, but he does not belong here. Add him to our midfield depth. Matt Thomas can play.

 

[*PAF]

You forgot Thurstans.
I know he is not one of the favourites on this board but is still in our best 22.

One thing to note is our midfield.
Boak, Sal, Hartlett, Chad, Carr and JB are all first rounders, with Junior being the only double digit number.

 

[P.A.F.C]

Interesting seeing that you put Marlon Motlop in the midfield. IMO he is the toughest player in our team to put into a positional category. Was hyped up early on as a rebounding half back flanker and there was a bit of a suggestion from the club that he would be groomed as a possible Peter Burgoyne replacement. I think I remember him playing off the half back flank in the NAB games last year, though I could be wrong. Played a bit up forward at North Adelaide and then with us and showed great goal sense similar to his cousins. But he'd also make a great midfielder imo and could become a real genuine inside midfielder in the Rodan role.

 

[Macca19]

I think my idea of a depth player is slightly different. Considering a numbers of players that would be classed as 'depth' players have played <10 games, I dont classify them as depth players just yet. We dont have great depth now. M Hoff isnt a great depth player. Guys like Marlon, Farmer, Lobbe, Giles, Salter arent great depth players yet.

 

[Power King]

You forgot Thurstans.
I know he is not one of the favourites on this board but is still in our best 22.

One thing to note is our midfield.
Boak, Sal, Hartlett, Chad, Carr and JB are all first rounders, with Junior being the only double digit number.

^Where would you put Thurstans into our 22?

For me, Carlile and Chaplin MUST be our two key position defenders in 2009.

Must.

With Pettigrew/Stewart as the third tall.

I can't see room for him in our 22 unless J Westhoff is injured.

 

[*PAF]

^Where would you put Thurstans into our 22?

For me, Carlile and Chaplin MUST be our two key position defenders in 2009.

Must.

With Pettigrew/Stewart as the third tall.

I can't see room for him in our 22 unless J Westhoff is injured.

If we are talking defense, then it's Chaplin, Carlile and Thurstans (EDIT: Trengove to take over eventually) for mine.
Followed by a mixture of Stewart, Lower, Logan, Thomas, Surjan, Farmer, and eventually Broadbent and JMotlop as well.

 

[Carnport]

I think my idea of a depth player is slightly different. Considering a numbers of players that would be classed as 'depth' players have played <10 games, I dont classify them as depth players just yet. We dont have great depth now. M Hoff isnt a great depth player. Guys like Marlon, Farmer, Lobbe, Giles, Salter arent great depth players yet.

Correct: "depth player" in terms of a real, hard, "30" that might threaten for the Premiership is probably correct, although I personally do not dismiss this prospect at all. The drafting of Davenport and Meyer defend against this risk. Project it forward and how are we going to fit in everyone who deserves to be in a "first 22"? The squad that we have is positioned very nicely to commit to a real run at the Cup, much like 2001, and almost as importantly, to maximise the entry of GC and to continue to build.

 

[P.A.F.C]

IMO with the current obsession with youth in the AFL, very few clubs have large amounts of genuine depth players.

 

[Ebert80]

Yes, we've covered ourselves fairly well for the imminent entry of the 2 new clubs, a lot of potential, but at this stage, a significant portion of our squad could be summarised in that manner (ie as having great potential). At least one more tall would have been handy, would have been nice to pick up Cahill when we had the chance (even if the Cougar is seen as a talent) because he is a kpp prospect. All in all the recruiters have done a good job though, so now its up to the players and coaching staff to do their thing.

 

[power09]

the depth looks really good especually in the midfield. but the rucks are a problem, i saw this coming a couple of years ago (i never had confidence in Deluca) when lade and brogan are both fit and in good form it is the best ruck duo in the competition but if one gets injured everything goes to sh#t. Lobbe will eventually solve this problem but not this year.

 

[PJ Power]

I have a slightly different view of analysing our list, although I'd be hesitant to call it "depth" assessment..

I look at how many of our players can I definitely not see as contributing to a premiership side - in other words how many are deadwood needing to be cut away.

At the end of 2008, I would have had White, Bentley, Lonie, DeLuca in that category - and they all got the chop.

Now with so much turnover, we have alot of unproven, young talent so they of course are excluded from the analysis. But of the other guys, there aren't any for whom I cringe at the thought of them getting into our 22. I'm even willing to have Toby in there if he is used as a backup ruck / tall forward and not a regular tall back.

Right now, the only player whose AFL future I have serious doubts about is Giles - purely because of the slowness of his development. But he was taken as a bottom age and could still be serviceable.

If you want to talk about our squad's ready-made depth, I have to agree with Macca - we do not have depth in any of the tall departments.
No ruck depth, no tall forward depth and limited tall back depth.

I think the best way of maximising the potential of our list is to do everythin possible to make sure Trengove makes it as a bona fide CHF. If he does, our forward line could look bloody good in 3-4 years
Westhoff J at FF
Trengove at CHF
Lobbe / Redden as ruck / forwards.

If Matt Westhoff and Salter add something, wacko.

Re the backs, I'd love for Martin to become a Ben Rutten and thrive from the rookie list and claim a key defensive position.

Then we'd have some real depth.

I'm bloody excited about a Lobbe / Redden ruck/forward duo.

 

[tribey]

the depth looks really good especually in the midfield. but the rucks are a problem, i saw this coming a couple of years ago (i never had confidence in Deluca) when lade and brogan are both fit and in good form it is the best ruck duo in the competition but if one gets injured everything goes to sh#t. Lobbe will eventually solve this problem but not this year.

Would've agreed with you wholeheartedly last year, but to be honest, I think our ruck division is the strongest it's been since 2003-4 when Lade led the line with a young(ish) Brogan while Primus was in rehab and Ackland was at Port Magpies.

Provided Lade can provide something in his final year by leaving nothing in the tank and Brogan leads the line with distinction again, we have solid backup in Giles who is a solid body with premiership experience at Centrals and Lobbe, who by all reports finally has the frame of a healthy adult male and could be in the reckoning by halfway.

Chuck in Thurstans whose ability as an emergency ruckman is sorely underrated and underutilised and we're far from crisis mode, bar the obvious catastrophe of losing both Lade and Brogan for an extended period.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

With all due respect I don't know how you can make the statement "back to great depth."

Apart from Carr and Hartlett all those players were on the list last year. Some are older and a bit slower others have games under their belt and ok all are a year older. I'm not sure if those who only played 3 or 4 games have added that much depth yet.

We played our best players in the first 4 weeks last year, apart from Wilbur, but we lost all those games with our supposed best 22 available. And apart from Chad we didn't have any other serious injures as at Rd 11 when we were 3 and 8 and couldn't win the close ones.

Yeah it's great to hear that we have built up strength, the photo's from training look good and the noises coming out of Alberton sound good, but so do those coming out of most other clubs.

The use of the word great is excessive. Well at least until we have seen them do something on the field in the first half of the year.

Yes its nice to be enthusiastic. Yes there are some nice positive signs. But great depth means we can replace match winners relatively easily. It doesn't mean we can just replace player A with player B. We didn't have too many match winners last year.

You know, great depth was when we were able to cover Lade for 2 years, Wilbur for 2 years, Francou for 2 years, Stevens leaving for nothing, Primus for 2 years, Paxman for a year, James for a year etc etc many of these all at once and we still kept on winning.

 

[tribey]

You know, great depth was when we were able to cover Lade for 2 years, Wilbur for 2 years, Francou for 2 years, Stevens leaving for nothing, Primus for 2 years, Paxman for a year, James for a year etc etc many of these all at once and we still kept on winning.

Francis leaving for nothing is another one that gets forgotten. He was a freak in his final year and turned just 28 in the 01/02 offseason.

Would've been first 18 for at least the next couple of years.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

^ Mea Culpa. Not the first time I've done that.

 

[Educse]

This has probably been covered but I was just looking through port's list and one thing stood out to me that I have not seen for a few years - real depth. Looking through our list there are 29-30 players who I would be happy to have in my side, these exclude the young draftees (with the possible exception of hartlett midway through the year)

Forwards

1. A contributing Warren Tredrea - who is moving quite good again.
2. Justin Westoff - put on some muscle, another consistent year you would think.
3. Daniel Motlop - one of my favourites, looks fit - an absolute star
4. Mega Head - ready to bounce back on a dissapointing 08
5. Matt Westoff - not convinced but another option
6. Robbie Gray - another one I love, hope he is fit, a great crumber with a great footy head
7. Salter - elavated - looking fit, looks committed, another mid to tall option
8. Rodan - could be in mid's but is dangerous around the goals and stoppages

Midfield

9. Boak - looks STRONG, heaps of talent, now with the body to match - another love child
10. S.Burger - captain? needs a great year of consistent four quarter footy - another love child
11. Carr - possibly my favourite port player 03-04, i cant wait for the first niggle but I want more out of him, I want niggle followed up with a 2nd effort/great tackle/ offensive movement
12 - Sal - this has to be his year, will need to miss a few games but should be in great form to go through and deliver a great year - was ports designated target finder last year
13. Pearce - has bulked up, hoping he has worked on his disposal, still like lightning and showed us last year that he does have a defensive side when he puts his mind to it
14. The Chad - enough said, been to training, he is a gladiator - captain?
15. Kane - gladiator jnr - will run all night and day, the new muscle will be important as he combats the tougher opponents
16. Marlon Motlop, I like him, will probably not be in the 22 at the start but I want him to develop - him or symes.........hmmmmmm tough one
17. Krak - on a wing, where is he at? still like him

Rucks

18. Lade - looks committed, backs his body - doesnt talk crap to the media and he is backing himself so that has always been good enough for me
19. Brogan - tough and hard, dragged the team up when chad etc were not there - earnt a lot of respect
20. Giles - this guy has an AFL body, hoping he can step up, maybe play 3 rucks on a dry day, let ladey go up front

Defenders
21. P.Burger - dont laugh, he is still a vital part of our team when on, if you watch pete, alot of, but not all of his mistakes are caused by a lack of movement further up the ground - i love you pete
22. Surjan - probably not in the 22, possibly overtaken, but still around the mark
23 - matty thomas - can the kid play, he has not done alot in the past few years, but his hardness is something I love
24. Tom Logan - respect to this guy, through his body in last year when few others were joining him, I hope choco remembers this, a crucial inside mid/defender to feed our quality
25. Carlile - looking like a tank, had a good year, have more confidence in him now
26 Chaplin - went backwards last year, important for him to lift, support Carlisle
27. Pettigrew - improvement has stalled, can run and carry, play on small/tall, needs some time up forward this year when things arent going our way
28. Farmer - like him, tough, has put on weight, lots of mongrel, want carr to tutor him
29. Stewart - looks fit, like him, should slot into 22
30. Hartlett - not AFL ready, maybe by mid year

This was probably a waste of time, but just want to highlight that, with tredrea holding up and doing his job, we have a very good side for next year........ people may dismiss us, but the comp is very very even next year, with the exception of hawks/cats

there is no reason why we cant push for 4-5th spot

I love our list, throw in trengove, banner/ broadbent / redden and I am excited about the future!

I'm salivating just looking at that list. With the amount of talent we have (which would surely have to be the best in the league), I think we're in for an excellent year in 2009. We will make the Grand Final again and prove that 2007 was no fluke. Bring it on I say!

 

[Loyal2Port]

maybe great was excessive, i am just excited though, hanging out for the first showdown