Review Preliminary Final vs Richmond

[FishingRick04]

Nail on the head.

We killed them in the clearances during the regular season and won comfortably in a scoreline that probably flattered Richmond. Their stoppage coaching for the prelim won Richmond the flag.

remember they had midfield outs when we beat them here

 

[shewho]

It’s not like 2001-2003 when the prevailing theory was we had a game style that would break down in finals. We have a finals proven game style. Just couldn’t execute it on the night.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I think our gameplan will hold up to finals for the most part but finals proven is a little rich, we won 1 game.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

I think our gameplan will hold up to finals for the most part but finals proven is a little rich, we won 1 game.

Out inability to convert clearances into quality inside 50's and goals is still an issue and will continue to cost us against the best teams in the biggest finals until it is fixed.

 

[JUSTWORK]

Out inability to convert clearances into quality inside 50's and goals is still an issue and will continue to cost us against the best teams in the biggest finals until it is fixed.

Not bombing the ball to Dixon close to every time we go inside 50 will help, he needs genuine support so Ladhams and second forward (be that Marshall or MG) needs to step up. If Dixon gets double teamed, those other guys should be having a field day.

Better quality ball use in the middle (more midfield time for Rozee and Butters) should help also.

 

[portly]

Nail on the head.

We killed them in the clearances during the regular season and won comfortably in a scoreline that probably flattered Richmond. Their stoppage coaching for the prelim won Richmond the flag.

Kingsley

On SM-G920I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Chewy316]

Champion Data’s analysis in today’s paper backs up mine:

“...Port Adelaide was dominant around the contest, winning the clearance count by five per game to be ranked number 1....After being such a dominant side across the season, the Power lost the clearance count by 12 in its preliminary final loss.”

You don’t need another explanation as to why we lost. The difficult thing is what do we do about it? The answer is probably “nothing”. Just tell our No 1 ranked clearance players to play better in the Prelim.

This was a problem all year. Whenever we lost the clearance battle we struggled. It's easy to say that we need to win the clearances (and more often than not, we do), but we need an additional strategy for when we do lose the midfield battle resulting in a poor clearance differential. Our defence held up well for the most part, but we really struggled transitioning the ball from half back in this game. We never got our run game going off half back and it was largely a game of ping pong down the line for considerable periods.

We don't need to tweak a whole lot. The expectations are manageable. No doubt that we can go all the way this season.