R11: Port v Carlton review

[jj1978]

I think you boys are under-estimating how close the game was the whole game. Sure we were 30 points down at 3/4 time, but some skill errors gave you a couple of easy goals and some silky work gave you the others.

Our defense played well as did our mids, and our forwards were struggling, but all in all I think we matched you well.

Just in the last quarter our whole group switched on and the Port boys switched off... or forgot that a footy game can sometimes be a marathon and not a sprint???

 

[Mr Magoo]

i think we lost the game at the selection table yet again. Playing so many talls in defense especially when the wet weather set in before the ball had even bounced, was always going to come back & bite us in the ass. It was Carltons midfield and half back line that won them the game in the last quarter they just kept on running & working hard for each other while a few of our players were looking for the loose/easy ball. It seems that once clubs restrict Rodans influence in the middle we start drying up. I can't blame Kane or Dom as they both battled hard against the odds & todays game showed why Judd is rated an elite player - he works so bloody hard all game.

I think chocco should start looking at exactly which players go missing when the heat is on that would be a start.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I got a bottle of vodka to drink now

 

[Ford Fairlane]

5 goals up at 3/4 time, opposition has kicked 3 goals, wet and slippery and we crashed and burned again. There are no excuses, there is no hiding from it any more. We choked on the biggest furball of all time. This is beyond disgraceful.

Get Thomson, Lower and Thomas in around the ball, stop coaching us to kick across goal every time we get around 50m out. Play another tall forward. This hurt us so often. Bite the bullet Choco and give some of the hard ball winners a game. Get Ebert and Shaun back. Start playing for next year.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

i think we lost the game at the selection table yet again. Playing so many talls in defense especially when the wet weather set in before the ball had even bounced, was always going to come back & bite us in the ass. It was Carltons midfield and half back line that won them the game in the last quarter they just kept on running & working hard for each other while a few of our players were looking for the loose/easy ball. It seems that once clubs restrict Rodans influence in the middle we start drying up. I can't blame Kane or Dom as they both battled hard against the odds & todays game showed why Judd is rated an elite player - he works so bloody hard all game.

I think chocco should start looking at exactly which players go missing when the heat is on that would be a start.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the defence held up pretty well. The ball was camped in the Carlton F50 for most of the last term. We were smashed again around the midfield and allowed them to get the ball in time and again, while the forward line, while it didn't see a lot of the ball, hardly gave a yelp.

 

[manureid]

Joke. Weak as piss. Deserve to be mocked. Have not heard Choco's presser, but i would assume more of the same head in the sand stuff. Anyway, the crowd numbers will contiue to dwindle if people keep getting fed that sort of tripe. You could see it coming about 5 minutes into the last. And any surprise that Kreuezer kicked 3 in the last?? Who was playing on him I wonder?? Gold card holder and useless c nut number 1.

 

[Burningleviathan]

I could tell from the first kick in in the last quater. None of the players were moving and made no effort to present. We turned the ball over, they got a goal and the rest is history. I don't understand why our players go out at after three quater time thinking the game is over or that they don't have to work anymore. It does come down to the players and the coaching group and how they prepare the players at 3 quater time.

I heard a couple of people saying they were not coming back to a game this season after that, and frankly i'm want to join 'em

 

[Willis]

Went in low for a contested ball (as they all do now that they stupid rule rewards players for it) and got crunched around the head/neck.

Didn't look good - hope it's just them being sensible and cautious though.

Couldn't believe they lifted him up and tried to walk him off without a stretcher/neck brace. Incredibly stupid.

Hopefully the kid is okay.

 

[Burningleviathan]

Yeah, Stewart didn't look good. i couldn't beleive when the ump called for play to resume just because he tried to stand up. he went straight back down again and the strecher was called. It was shcoking but atleast he made an effort for the ball that should have lead to a Gray goal. I have to admit i'm not so sure about Gray anymore. he seems really slow and can only kick 40 meters. Not really good when you are a forward pocket

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Couldn't believe they lifted him up and tried to walk him off without a stretcher/neck brace. Incredibly stupid.

Hopefully the kid is okay.

I was so angry seeing that. 1800 - un____ingbelievable

 

[Powerade 08]

Time for a Thurstans avatar Dyertribe I want to see the nothing players out and the fringe players getting a chance.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

One of the most stupid things I've ever seen... and how about the umpires not stopping the game. I was and still am quite worried for Paul. Any Word?

 

[true_blue_69]

not in here to brag about the game.....
just wondering if anyone has heard about Stewart's condition.....
hate to see that happen to any player from any team.....

Hope the young kid is ok.....

 

[PJ Power]

Thurstans apparently has done his medial knee ligament - probably out for a month.

Lower and Thomson really need to come into this side, and when he's ready Thomas.

Wilbur, thanks for the memories mate. We need to start working towards next year and that means finding a replacement for your wonderful, physical presence. Got to give Lower and Thomas those opportunities.

Likewise, time for DeLuca to get a go. We keep winning the taps but not the clearances. Ladey, move aside big fella.

Our senior players are responsible. They might not have made the blues at the crucial time, but they don't lift when we need them.

 

[Schism]

5AA was right. Francou,Primus,Carr,Hardwick,Montgomery stood up. We have nobody like this left. They were right about Chad too, and i've been thinking it for a long time. He is played all over the place to the point of having no effect on the game. Couple possies here, couple there, a mark on the goal line, so on and so forth seems to be how he is used. Put him at CHB or CHF and leave him there, permanently.

A caller on 5AA after the game said we should get Carr back, as even though he is past his best he would still be 10x better in and under than anyone we have now. Sadly, this is correct.

Softer than fairyfloss,and not a single quality hard player coming through the system, and we need 3 or 4.

 

[ruscy002]

Couldn't believe they lifted him up and tried to walk him off without a stretcher/neck brace. Incredibly stupid.

Hopefully the kid is okay.

Some of his team mates need to look at that effort and attack on the ball. Stewart did the same thing in the Brisbane meltdown, still cracking in to the end.

Hope he's ok and the clash doesn't affect the way he plays his footy. He's packing grapefruits where some of his buddies (and too many in the AFL overall) have chickpeas...

 

[Natman]

Very disappointing to come back home and witness another collective fade out by all associated with the team. We now thoroughly deserve the tag of a mentally weak team that cannot handle one-on-one pressure.

The Carlton change of tactic of the long kick to the goal square was not covered by the coaching tactics and badly exposed our major weakness - tall defenders. Also smashed in the mid-field in the last quarter - 14 to 4 clearances at stoppages.

Lade and Wilson - try their hardest, but are now off the pace and sadly will struggle for the rest of the year. Collectively the worst games played by Chad, Sal, Boak and Motlop.

We can now officially play for next year, and must try Cockshell, Lower, Marlon, DeLuca and Farmer when fit, and possibly even Salter.

 

[Burningleviathan]

I also thinking choking is the wrong word for it. We are not wilting under pressure, in fact if the scores were close at 3 qt i think we would have won. It's a matter of not seeing out games and believing we have it won. the ability for our players to switch off is emence. Players will find it hard to stand up at the death if they are mentally already in the locker room.

 

[finbarr]

lets get thomilf, thomas and lower in the side, christ i'd even have lonie in there thats how annoyed i am at the moment

Nah, they don't play the Williams way. Let's delist them all and draft some more useless Krakour's.

 

[PJ Power]

I also thinking choking is the wrong word for it. We are not wilting under pressure, in fact if the scores were close at 3 qt i think we would have won. It's a matter of not seeing out games and believing we have it won. the ability for our players to switch off is emence. Players will find it hard to stand up at the death if they are mentally already in the locker room.

That is B___S___T!

We were one point up with two minutes to play and they finished with a two goal win.

That is choking.
When it is your turn to put the head over the footy or gut run to position, and you fail to do it, you choked!

Any one of those players tonight could have stood up and made a stand and out of 22, very, very few did. Those who did not, choked!

We are so bloody sensitive about others using that word about our precious show pony, downhill skiing footballers, that we have excused them for the ultimate sin in sport - fragility.

Chokers, mental saps, outsiders, downhill skiiers.........all of those terms sum up Port Adelaide under Mark Williams. End of story.

 

[Burningleviathan]

Choking simplfies the problem. If we never let them kick those goals to begin with, they never would have got into the position. We didn't come out playing at all in the last quater. Same thing happend against Brisbane. I noticed the same problem at the ground with our kick ins of players just not bothering to present. it's indictive of our play in both those last quaters.

Momentum is a hell of a thing. We needed to score when we had the chance around the 29 minutemark but just couldn't do it.

We deserve all those tags at the moment but to say we just wilt under pressure under plays all the problems we have mentally.

 

[Malibu#27]

Could see it coming late in the third quarter. Needed to kick the first in the last, but we didn't.

I don't think it is ass clear cut as just choking, I think it revolves around our centre square. As good as Chad is (and hes carrying an injury) he is simply not a centre square player. He isnt a natural clearance player in that situation and plays better when he can see the ball coming to a contest and he can attack it - as opposed to a stop ball contest. Kane is good but had a job to do, so is focussed on that - that left us with one player in the square to try and clear the ball, and tiring ruckmen.
I preferred it earlier when Wilbur was in there rather than Chad, while for much of the last quarter players like Rodan - who can clear the ball were sitting at half forward.

Josh Francou hit it on the head - we dont have inside players in the middle. So once our rucks tired (yes they were still getting taps, but they were pretty neutral) Carlton was able to dominate the square.

Basically in the last quarter Carlton had a couple players in the middle eho could clear it, we had next to none.

Its also pretty clear that mentally we are expecting the other side to come and not coping well.

For mine - if all fit, Chad to CHB, Chaplin to the third tall role, with Thurstans out with that knee. Shaun back in with Kane, and the others moving through there. Peter to a wing, and if that means a Salopek or Cassisi falls out to a back flank then so be it. IF we are too top heavy, then Pettigrew spills out to a wing also.

Oh ..... and we somehow snare Natinui .... he looked like he was running half pace, but still covered the ground like it was a basketball court. He is going to be something.

 

[PJ Power]

You're right - the one thing we definitely can't do is undersell anything.

Too often, we repeatedly fail to win the ball at contests despite winning the hit-outs. Who the hell is under those contests?

Everyone is talking up Logan and Wilson's toughness......where are those guys?

Where's Cassisi and Kane?
Chad and Peter?

The list goes on. If these guys are as great as we think they are, why the hell do they let the opposition run amok like that.

Are there not some of them that have a spine?

It ain't all Krakouer and Pearce's fault, although selecting them ahead of Thomson and Lower will always be wrong IMO.

 

[Schism]

Let choco go to Essendon, and take half the team with him. I don't like where we are heading, and i don't care that we won the flag 4 years ago. I don't see a silver lining at the moment. Rebuild around a few key players, starting at the top. Losing games because your team just isn't good enough (Ess,Rich etc) is one thing. Consistently losing from big leads because of mental and even physical weakness is anothing thing entirely. It is a cancer that has been growing for a while and needs to be cut out at the end of the season. Not in 2 years or 4 years, but this year.

Get a new coaching staff, point at Sydney and say "we must play football like that club plays football".

 

[jarmanagic]

What do you guys make of the decision to play Chad? He just looks about 20% right. Can't believe that Thomson wouldn't be better at the moment and the injury more likely to heal with a break

Confidence and self belief are such fragile things. I never thought in the last quarter you would lose that final vs West Coast last year because you just believed you would win those games in 07. Same players 15 games later, different self belief. Amazing game football