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Capital Power said:
Listening for the first time, enjoying the show, will become a regular for sure :thumbsu:

One comment, Tom's mic seems much quieter than Dave's. Listening on the phone I'm having to change the volume a lot.

Also, do you guys have a dedicated thread for discussion? If not, are you happy to start one?
Click to expand...

discussion would be here
 
Capital Power said:
Listening for the first time, enjoying the show, will become a regular for sure :thumbsu:

One comment, Tom's mic seems much quieter than Dave's. Listening on the phone I'm having to change the volume a lot.

Also, do you guys have a dedicated thread for discussion? If not, are you happy to start one?
Click to expand...

Thanks for tuning in CP.

Yes, Tom has been spoken too about moving away from the mic. ;)

:maize::pear:
 
Tom and Dave will be back on the air Monday night at 6pm ( Adelaide time ) with a very special guest joining them on the show. Tune in through the Port Fan Radio network on your #spreaker app for some Port talk in these strange times.
 
It was touted as the “Showdown like no other” and from a Port Adelaide point of view it certainly was, a 75 point thumping of the cross town rivals a record winning Showdown margin for Port Adelaide, imagine if the quarters weren’t shortened! Should have gone back to 20 minutes + time on for this round.

Being lucky enough to be in the ground I was pleasantly surprised ( and I think the acoustics of the Oval roof system played it’s part here ) at the atmosphere created by just over 2000 people. When Adelaide kicked their second and the first two goals to start the night some 450 Adelaide fans started their “Adelaide *clap clap clap*” chant and you would have thought there was far more than 450 of them there. As it turned out they were barely heard for the rest of the night bar some mumbling of discomfort in not wanting to be seen to leave such an event early. They were made to squirm.

From the 10 minute mark of the first quarter when Todd Marshall kicked the first of two for the night Port Adelaide piled on 12 of the next 13 goals and 9 without reply from midway in the second to late in the third and the match was as one sided as that just sounded. 100 more disposals, 27 more I50’s, 10 more hitouts, 9 more clearances, 66 more marks, 16 more tackles. It was a belting. It was beautiful. Adelaide were listless for much of the second quarter as Port dominated forward half possession, some 80% of the second quarter spent in Port’s forward half. While the goals were coming this dominance was as a result of our back 6 being able to set up our defensive structure. I talk about this a lot in these reviews, it’s because it’s clear to see at the ground, it’s reflected in the stats and it creates our repeat forward 50 entries.

Granted it’s a small sample size and it’s against two sides touted to be in the bottom third of the ladder ( although Gold Coast may shake that tag, long way to go mind you ) Port have only conceded 9 goals in two games, 4 against Gold Coast and 5 on Saturday night against Adelaide and when the ball does make its way into our defensive half the plan is to get it out and get it out quick either by foot or with leg speed and the game plan for the first time in a few years appears to match our list profile. Long kicking from Bonner, Burton and Hartlett in defence, fast feet from DBJ, Amon and Duursma in the middle and the same from Boak, Motlop, Rozee and Butters in the high half forward / midfield roles. Forget the chip to position, it’s now run and gun. It’s fun to watch and looks like it’s fun to play given the looks on the players faces when it all clicks.

A couple of standout performances from Boak and Motlop with a very even spread behind. Dixon, Duursma and Westhoff with 3 goals, Marshall and Motlop with 2, Boak, Ebert, Butters ( and wasn’t it a ripper! ) and Rozee all with 1. 9 goal kickers and I haven’t mentioned the efforts of Byrne-Jones across half back, he’s fast becoming my favourite Port Adelaide player, he’s reliable, he’s bold and is set to be one of the leaders around our club for years to come. McKenzie controlled the deepest part of defence and Jonas enjoyed a night out watching Walker look for the footy. Yellow, has Sherrin written on it would have been my advice to the former Crows captain. Lug.

Dave's best – Motlop, Boak, Rozee, Byrne-Jones, Butters, Westhoff
 
Corn the Pear said:
Tom and Dave were both lucky enough to win a golden ticket for the Showdown like no other and from 6pm tonight on PortfanRadio they muster up the last remaining pieces of their vocal cords to dissect the 75 point thumping of the cross town rivals #spreaker #cornthepear
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Thank you...look forward to the podcast
 
Keen to devour some content please guys

That includes the FishingRick04 with special guests podcast
 

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When the news broke that an AFL player had tested positive to COVID-19 my first thought was for his and his close contacts welfare. Then when it became apparent I was not only going to be up past my bed time on Sunday night but drinking past my bed time on Sunday night I began to reflect on the choices that player had made and how he had not considered what this meant for me. Selfish.



Making our way onto Metricon Stadium it was clear the surface had just bear witness to a massacre, the ground was chopped up and looked sub-AFL standard. What wasn’t sub-AFL standard was the first quarter as some of the best footy of the weekend was played by Fremantle and Port, attack on the body and ball was good, 4 goals to 3, some of the big names on both sides showing glimpses that they were in for a good night. Things changed as quickly as you can say “Here comes a Gold Coast storm”. Didn’t it come down?



During the second quarter there was every indication a flood would take place and it wasn’t from the rain, the Fremantle back half called in the SES to help with the sand bagging across the half back line but it was to no avail, like a rusty gutter full of leaves it just kept coming in. Port absolutely dominated the second term like they had a week earlier against Adelaide. With 5 goals to nothing, at one point the I50 count was 20-0 until the Dockers saved some face with a couple of late sorties forward, the match was effectively over at half time.



After the first stanza it looked like a good contest was unfolding, only if you barrack for the good guys though. At quarter time I asked for a lift from Lycett, at that point Lobb was breaking even in the middle, was getting into the play around the ground and was helping Fremantle move the ball into attack. Lycett responded. I doubt he read my tweet at quarter time but stranger things have happened. In the second quarter Port dominated the midfield clearances, returning Wines got busy which was good to see, Boak kept up his stellar run of form going and Lycett got his big frame into the contest in the air and on the ground.



( Insert Dave banging on about defensive zone here ). As a result of this midfield dominance Port get the ball forward, the midfield lock it into the forward half, the backs get up the ground and press, press, press so any possession the opposition get is either deep in the bowels of their defence and the ball use reflects the work that organ does or it’s scrambling under pressure from the midfield numbers at half back and….back in it comes. Dixon clunks some soapy Sherrins, Westhoff uses all his experience, Marshall uses all his nous and he has plenty of it, Gray uses all his smarts over the back of the pack in the wet and Ebert marks and kicks truly. All of the forward half have a bit of fun in the mud while Jonas and Clurey killed any aerial attack and Hartlett, Bonner and the inform McKenzie thwarted any low level raids.



Not much to report on after half time to be honest, 1 goal for each side in each quarter in what turned out to be a largely uneventful half of footy. Soured for Port by the injury to Xavier Duursma that didn’t look good at the time. Given he is a running machine and is in just his second year of AFL footy I expect a very cautious approach will be taken with him.



Some of the positives from the second half, as with the first, was the form of Wines coming back in after a wretched 2019 that he’d rather forget. He looked hungry with and without the ball, his 25 touches, 6 clearances, 3 tackles and a goal was only better by ever green Boak on the night.



Some more positive signs with two good tests coming up starting with the Eagles who come off back to back losses this Saturday, well before bed time.



Dave’s best – Boak, Lycett, Wines, Westhoff, Ebert, Dixon
 
In the immortal words of Lloyd Christmas “I like it, I like it a lot”.



There’s plenty of positives that have come from the 2020 season so far for Port Adelaide and one that this column will focus on is the buy in from the players into pressuring the opposition when we don’t have the ball. This isn’t something that can be turned on and off during a game. Ball movement can, signals can be sent from the bench to slow things down if the on field leaders haven’t already made that call. On the flip side players can instinctively sense when you’re on top and your ball movement is working and you keep pushing. But pressure, pressure on the ball carrier, the intent to hunt the ball when in dispute, this doesn’t come and go. If it goes, it’s gone. It’s that simple. Right now though all Port players are all in when it comes to pressure on the opponent when we don’t have it and I am loving it. The best part is I feel this is being driven but some of the youngest members of our side, Butters, DBJ, Rozee, Marshall, SPP.



I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with some junior footy ranks as my son played through the grades and I’ve always tried to emphasise to the kids that from a personal level and as a team you need to set yourself standards and those shouldn’t be what you aspire to reaching one day, they should be the minimum standard you set out to achieve in every training session and every game and right now Port have set a new standard for pressure and this is the minimum. This level of intensity is the new bench mark.



As a result of that intensity we again dominate the inside 50’s ( despite getting carved up in the clearances around the ground and in the middle although I thought Lycett nullified Naitanui pretty well ) and have West Coast running at 66% disposal efficiency and they have 61 turnovers. 1 in every 3 of their possessions wasn’t effective. Pressure. 15 tackles inside our forward 50. Pressure. The coaching group must be thrilled with what they’re seeing. I am.



Now we get to the results of that pressure and turnovers, we get time and space ( not Pendlebury basketball style ) to move the ball into our forwards and didn’t the big bloke lap it up on Saturday! Finally the big hands clunked some marks in contested situations, he led into space created by the smalls moving to help him and he gets the rewards. Dixon cops his fair share for not hitting the scoreboard and at times this has been fair, at other times it’s been harsh as he brings players into the game around him but Saturday was his turn to fill his boots and he took it. Marshall again has an impact, just so keen for him to turn 8 touches and a goal into 15 and 4, but while we’re winning and all the forwards are contributing ( Westhoff again with 2 ) he’s playing his role.



Defensively the worst hair cut in the Port squad, Tom Clurey, did an excellent job both on the ground and in the air, he, like the other Tom do their best aerial defensive work on the ground. Watch them the next time they’re in a contest with a key forward, they get body on body well before the ball is in the area and get the forward off balance and between them they hold strong on the weekend and take 15 marks to 13 from the 4 West Coast stay at home forwards. Good job, Tom and Tom.



Behind Dixon I struggled to work out who was my best, the likes of Wines, Boak, Rockliff, Houston, DBJ, Amon, Motlop, Rozee, basically our whole midfield, all had moments and all came in and out of the game as did Butters who gets a special mention for two efforts in the last quarter. One was a one-on-one in the air with Jetta where Butters took the spoils with a sound mark and the other was when he crashed the pack taking out 3 Eagles to allow milestone man Brad Ebert a second goal in his 250th. What a warrior Ebert has been. What a warrior Butters will be.



This week ends clash with Brisbane shapes as a beauty, I can’t wait for Saturday night as this will be the best gauge of what season 2020 holds for us so far.



Dave’s best – Dixon, Ebert, Hartlett, Clurey, Westhoff, Boak ( honourable mention to Butters and Lycett )
 
It shaped up as the first genuine test Port Adelaide would face in 2020 and no, it’s not the hub, it’s the Brisbane Lions who are shaping up as one of the teams to beat this year. Given they’ll play most of their games in Queensland and the rest in Sydney they look cheery ripe to be a contender. I can’t say Port Adelaide were particularly disappointing on Saturday night, we barely had the ball enough to make a mess of it such was the pressure Brisbane applied when we had it and how clean they were with options aplenty when they had it.

I spoke about pressure on the ball and the ball carrier last week and the tables were turned on us Saturday night as the Lions upped the pressure. We had enough of the ball in the first quarter, enough to have had 7 scoring shots to 3 yet still trail by a point at quarter time. That pressure was up to start with, 16 tackles to 9 while leading clearances by 7 ( 11-4 ) and contested ball ( 29-22 ).
With our first 5 scoring shots registering behinds we didn’t get any reward at all for our work and there were some worrying signs that the Brisbane forwards were finding space to work in as they made it look much easier to kick goals. That’s how it played out for the rest of the night.

Defensively we had one of the worst nights our back 6 has had for some time. Brisbane isolated Clurey away from the aid of Jonas in the aerial contests and he got found out a couple of times, McKenzie didn’t have much of an impact as he too was drawn out of the play and with the talls failing to bring the ball to ground the likes of Hartlett and DBJ were given very little opportunity to make the ball move out of defence quickly while Bonner mounted a case to have Burton take his place in the side. Brisbanes 3 talls were too mobile and simply too tall for our back line, particularly when the midfield for Brisbane didn’t have the pressure applied that we would normally want to see.

The second quarter had the game won at half time, 6.5 to 1.1 and if not for some smart work by Butters just before half time we would have gone goalless for the quarter. While we’ve added some pace to our midfield most Port fans would say playing both Wines and Rockliff at the same time makes us look slow, we certainly did look that on the weekend. And one dimensional, Brisbane have a few 190cm midfielders who can run, they’re a very damaging unit.

Clearances were in our favour ( 36-32 ) but they were 13-5 to Brisbane in the centre square and those we did win were often snuffed out by our poor execution of the next possession. Those who are normally fairly clean in Amon, Byrne-Jones, Rozee, Bonner, Houston and Farrell were all around or under 70% disposal efficiency. When we did have it we didn’t do anything with it.

Night mare of a night for the forwards and none of them, bar Butters and Ebert in patches could be satisfied with the ball delivery or the way they used it once they go it. We were simply outplayed by a better unit on the night who played some exciting football. I hope we get to face them again, it will mean we’re playing finals if we do because they sure as hell will be.

Dave’s best – Boak, Butters, Houston, Ebert.......Wines.

Changes – Given Burton is fit I expect he’ll replace Bonner who has been a little quiet, Lienert could be an option behind the ball as GWS play Himmelberg, Cameron and Finlayson forward. I’d like to see Rozee spend some more time in the midfield as he’s been down for a couple of weeks and that might mean a Rockliff or SPP make way, perhaps Sam Mayes could find himself on a wing with Farrell playing more forward.
 
Corn the Pear said:
It shaped up as the first genuine test Port Adelaide would face in 2020 and no, it’s not the hub, it’s the Brisbane Lions who are shaping up as one of the teams to beat this year. Given they’ll play most of their games in Queensland and the rest in Sydney they look cheery ripe to be a contender. I can’t say Port Adelaide were particularly disappointing on Saturday night, we barely had the ball enough to make a mess of it such was the pressure Brisbane applied when we had it and how clean they were with options aplenty when they had it.

I spoke about pressure on the ball and the ball carrier last week and the tables were turned on us Saturday night as the Lions upped the pressure. We had enough of the ball in the first quarter, enough to have had 7 scoring shots to 3 yet still trail by a point at quarter time. That pressure was up to start with, 16 tackles to 9 while leading clearances by 7 ( 11-4 ) and contested ball ( 29-22 ).
With our first 5 scoring shots registering behinds we didn’t get any reward at all for our work and there were some worrying signs that the Brisbane forwards were finding space to work in as they made it look much easier to kick goals. That’s how it played out for the rest of the night.

Defensively we had one of the worst nights our back 6 has had for some time. Brisbane isolated Clurey away from the aid of Jonas in the aerial contests and he got found out a couple of times, McKenzie didn’t have much of an impact as he too was drawn out of the play and with the talls failing to bring the ball to ground the likes of Hartlett and DBJ were given very little opportunity to make the ball move out of defence quickly while Bonner mounted a case to have Burton take his place in the side. Brisbanes 3 talls were too mobile and simply too tall for our back line, particularly when the midfield for Brisbane didn’t have the pressure applied that we would normally want to see.

The second quarter had the game won at half time, 6.5 to 1.1 and if not for some smart work by Butters just before half time we would have gone goalless for the quarter. While we’ve added some pace to our midfield most Port fans would say playing both Wines and Rockliff at the same time makes us look slow, we certainly did look that on the weekend. And one dimensional, Brisbane have a few 190cm midfielders who can run, they’re a very damaging unit.

Clearances were in our favour ( 36-32 ) but they were 13-5 to Brisbane in the centre square and those we did win were often snuffed out by our poor execution of the next possession. Those who are normally fairly clean in Amon, Byrne-Jones, Rozee, Bonner, Houston and Farrell were all around or under 70% disposal efficiency. When we did have it we didn’t do anything with it.

Night mare of a night for the forwards and none of them, bar Butters and Ebert in patches could be satisfied with the ball delivery or the way they used it once they go it. We were simply outplayed by a better unit on the night who played some exciting football. I hope we get to face them again, it will mean we’re playing finals if we do because they sure as hell will be.

Dave’s best – Boak, Butters, Houston, Ebert.......Wines.

Changes – Given Burton is fit I expect he’ll replace Bonner who has been a little quiet, Lienert could be an option behind the ball as GWS play Himmelberg, Cameron and Finlayson forward. I’d like to see Rozee spend some more time in the midfield as he’s been down for a couple of weeks and that might mean a Rockliff or SPP make way, perhaps Sam Mayes could find himself on a wing with Farrell playing more forward.
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Thanks for the synopsis and comments
😟😭
 
Given the boys were at Alberton at 5:30am for a 6am flight I thought I’d go out in sympathy by sleeping until 9 before a leisurely brunch on Semaphore Road. Sure, my morning wasn’t as hectic as theirs but I prepared as best I could for the match and despite the fly in/fly out nature of the fixture it looked like our boys had prepared well as again we started well.



The first quarter wasn’t one for the highlight reels but anytime your team is on top you take it and keeping the potentially lethal ( more on this later ) GWS forward line goalless in the first quarter showed we had the game on our terms and our zone was setting up better than it had against Brisbane last week. 4 scoring shots between the two sides on a ground that was clearly feeling the pinch of consecutive weeks of multiple AFL matches being played on it. With more footy to come on Metricon and the Gabba expect to see more players losing their feet.



After quarter time it was a little more entertaining as Amon snapped truly on his right, Gray popped his nose into the contest for the first time in several weeks when he did some Gray things on the boundary after some clever touches from Rozee set him up and when Motlop snapped one just before half time we went to the break 11 points up but it didn’t feel like we were on top. GWS had started to get the ball more in the midfield and had 6 shots to 5 for the term. Powell-Pepper was busy but wasteful, Jonas clunked a few marks instead of going the boundary line kill and Lycett was taking no crap from Mumford. I feel for those people who are around Shane Mumford on his birthday every year, being forced to sing Happy Birthday to him even though they don’t mean it.



The third term felt like we were keeping the wolves at bay. The Giants are ranked 17th for I50 entries, both of their fans must be frustrated by how wide they go when Finlayson, Cameron and Green are there waiting for opportunities to score. Mid way through the term I thought we were shot, Coniglio, Hopper, Perryman and Whitfield all started to get their hands on it, luckily for us they’re only new to kicking a football. Some of the foot skills from both sides were dead set ordinary, lucky for us Farrell ( highly rated by this punter ) had his best day at AFL level and along with Houston and Burton gave us some polish with ball in hand and Dixons late mark to put us back in front came at just the right time. Hinkley had been using Marshall to draw GWS’s Nick Haynes away from the contest, he’s their third tall and where Marshall would normally be in Dixon’s space it was Westhoff yesterday playing closer to goal and he didn’t quite work as well in Dixon’s space. All good.



Finlayson opened the last term with a goal for the Giants and with the momentum well in their favour through the third I thought we might have been cooked. No, we weren’t. After taking a good grab on the 50m arc Butters handed off to the smooth moving Farrell who launched from inside the centre square and you don’t think the boys lapped that up? Almost to a man they got around him and within the next 10 minutes Motlop had fed Marshall one, Butters marked courageously going back with the flight and copped clip with the 50m penalty taking him to the goal line and it was all over then as we went out to a 22 point lead. Some behinds and late major the them left us 17 points for the good come the final siren.



For the third win in a row there really hasn’t been a stand out for who I thought was best, Farrell had his best game, Houston his best game for a month, Gray his best game for the year, Amon another solid outing, Boak kept doing Boak, Powell-Pepper had some moments, Wines albeit wasteful kept doing the grunt work and you expect more errors from someone in and under, Byrne-Jones, Burton and Hartlett looked more of a trio in defence with Bonner out and Lycett had a game high 8 clearances helping us to win that stat 41-25. Ebert will come under some scrutiny from the MRP and Sutcliffe has pinged a string so he’ll certainly been out.



Dave’s best – Farrell, Houston, Lycett, Boak, Powell-Pepper, Amon



Changes – I think Ebert will get a week so we’ll need to bring in two with Sutcliffe missing a few with a hamstring. I doubt Duursma will be back just yet so Bonner may come back into the side across half back / wing, Ebert’s replacement will be harder to pick, perhaps Dylan Williams could make his AFL debut or Sam Mayes come in for his first game in Port colours. That will be one to watch.
 
What a finish! Let’s talk about the 4 quarters played before that though.



Without doubt one of the most entertaining opening halves of footy for the year as Port and Carlton threw the ball around and some express movement from the middle for Port and from defence for Carlton saw the two sides kick 11 goals for the first half between them.



Port’s early start was, again, on the back of some inspired work from Travis Boak, early clearances and a ripping snap from 40m out to get the scoreboard ticking over, a sensational start. 2 minutes later Dixon has one on the board and before you could open another beer Butters hands over to Motlop who kicks truly and Port have 3 on the board in the blink. It was one way traffic, clearances, possessions and I50 all pointed to Port being well on top. However, this Blues line up has some more dare about and some more belief about it and at ¼ time they go in with the narrowest of leads after kicking 4 unanswered goals on the back of some scintillating ball movement. From half back they were willing to take Port’s zone on and they got out the back on a couple of occasions, mind you a big pack mark from Betts got them going and a very good one-on-one win to McKay over Jonas ( not an easy ask ) gave them reason to believe they could transition and score.



The 2nd quarter was a little more benign, Betts turned nothing into something before both sides wasted some opportunities. Napping on the mark Simpson hadn’t got the memo about Farrell’s left foot and when Dixon handed off to him he slotted truly from outside 50 for the second time in two weeks, throw in a major to the ever improving Zak Butters after being dished one up by Marshall and Port take a 1 goal lead into half time. About now I thought we had staved off their best efforts and we should not hold them at bay. Not so.



Something happened to both sides at half time though, they both slowed the play up behind the ball and the 3rd quarter was an arm wrestle, 1.2 a piece and it’s the big blokes at either end, McKay making the most of limited opportunities and Dixon making the most of plenty, the commentators were surprised a move wasn’t made on Dixon and despite kicking 3.4 on the day Dixon was the difference between the two sides. Port set up behind the ball, Carlton slowed down their run from the back half and the game started to resemble many in 2020, a bit hard to watch. Ports defence was led by McKenzie deep and while Carlton had plenty of play in the third on the back of Cripps getting his hands on it Jonas was controlling the airspace in the back half, he took over from here on.



The Blues got back in front as Walsh kicked a beauty ( Boak being held? ), then Newnes followed suit and I thought the fly in fly out Port boys looked cooked. Again it was Jonas who took an intercept mark, pumped the ball inside 50 and on the way out Houston gets a shot on goal. Point. Port’s zone holds the ball in the front half, Houston pumps it in long and Dixon again leads Jones to the ball to mark right in front, 20 out. Point. Uh oh.



Jacob Weitering, impressive all day just got some panic about him, fair enough, in a one-on-one with Gray and we’ll be right from here. Point. What the….? Inexplicably the next piece of play saw Butters hand to Gray who hands to Marshall and from the top of the square he squirts it wide and it looked game over. Enter Tom Jonas.



After some faffing about at half back with under 1 minute to play Carlton go long down the line to Casboult, McGovern and McKay all in a pack right on the boundary, surely they kill it. Nope. Jonas makes some early body contact ( mentioned in here in previous write ups ) and pushes the whole pack under the ball, he marks and hands off to the agile Ladhams who hits up Butters. The Mayes kick and Gray mark can’t be under stated, the last 30 seconds of play from the Jonas mark, the Ladhams kick, the Mayes kick, the Gray mark could only end in one way.



You can bet your house if Gray was 20m out right in front he misses, but 45m out on the boundary? Never. Freaking. Missing. I went nuts. My wife came out to the rumpus room to see if I was ok. Ok? You ****ing bet I am!



In retrospect the Dixon, Gray and Marshall misses probably meant we should have won by two or three goals but we’ll take the 4 points and head home.



Dave’s best – Dixon, Jonas, DBJ, Ladhams, Burton, Butters



Some changes ahead, Motlop with an ankle, Burton with a quad, Lycett perhaps not quite right yet.



Out – Motlop, Burton



In – Ebert, Bonner
 
At least one reader will attest to this, I told them St Kilda 16.5+ was great value. Port haven’t played 4 quarters for a month, the loss to Brisbane, the win over GWS and the win over Carlton all had a quarter where the opposition had total control and so it was on Saturday night when St Kilda piled on 5 goals to nothing in the last quarter. A worrying trend.



The first half was a good wrestle, Port saw a snap shot of the future as Georgiades marked and kicked truly before taking a good contested mark on the wing and delivered it to Marshall (who was in the same contest and worked back to mark I50, the coaches would have loved that) who also converted. These two are the next generation of the Port forward half along with Rozee, Butters and Farrell. The future looks ok, but back to Saturday night.



One of the key takeaways from the night was the job done by Jack Steele on Travis Boak, Boak can play inside and outside in the midfield and Steele prevented him from switching between the two which became an issue for Port as the first possession inside mids were getting beaten. Wines and Houston had 5 and 4 respectively, Ladhams had 4, but that’s where any clearance advantage was lost and like the Carlton game it meant Port couldn’t win the territory battle and set up the zone to gain repeat I50 entries.



In the breakdown St Kilda won the clearances by 10 (41 to 31) and the inside 50’s by 5 (41 to 36), therein lies the win. Port were down on season averages for both stats, St Kilda up on season averages for both stats. 4 points to the Saints.



With the first touch mids quiet the second touch outside mids of Amon (15), Duursma (12), Rozee (12 and clearly hampered by his foot), Farrell (8) and Butters (7) were all denied the opportunity to pump the ball inside 50 and lock it in. Carlton used the same recipe. Really need a lift from Rozee, Duursma and Butters this week, they offer plenty of spark in offence and pressure in defence and need to do more of both this week.



One young gun continues to shine though, Darcy Byrne-Jones was runner up to Travis Boak in last year’s BnF, right now he’s be in the same spot behind the same bloke. His speed is seriously underrated, off the back of the square DBJ gets into the centre ball ups and creates another option at ground level, he’s rarely beaten in one-on-ones and has moved into the high half back role, I expect some midfield minutes for him soon and I’ll be bold, he’ll one day wear the #1 at Port Adelaide as the captain. You read it here first.



The Saints have got something about them at the moment, after some years in the darkness the likes of King, Howard, Hill, Jones and Ryder make them instantly better and the likes of Marshall, Gresham and Billings are coming of age. Ratten can coach and the club looks to be enjoying its new found spirit. Some nights you think you had a bad night, some nights you feel like you just got beaten. For 3 quarters I thought we were having a bad night, the last quarter we just got beaten.



Some work to do with Marshall sidelined for 6 weeks with a broken thumb, Burton a TBC with his quad, Motlop’s ankle is going to keep him out for another 2-3 weeks and Lycett needs to prove his fitness on a short turn around while Rozee was rumoured a late change last week I think he might need a spell and Westhoff earnt a reprieve after McKenzie tweaked his back. I’ve tweaked my back recently, too, but I did mine taking my dressing gown off, *insert old man yelling at cloud here*. I expect few risks will be taken given it’s Thursday then Monday football for Port and we might see some debutants.



Dave’s best – Byrne-Jones, Wines, Ebert, Houston



Changes –



Out – Marshall (thumb), Westhoff ( omit )



In – ( If fit ) McKenzie goes back to replace Westhoff, Lycett into the middle and Ladhams goes forward to replace Marshall and offers a second ruck option against Gawn.



If McKenzie and Lycett both fail to come up I’d bring in Leinert to play back and move Westhoff forward and he could consider himself lucky. Outside the conventional Woodcock could replace Rozee if he’s rested, Buzza may be an option to replace Marshall and if Bonner isn’t 100% Garner could make his way in.
 

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