Review Rd 10 Port vs Collingwood

[Lagooner]

Needed a score after the siren to beat Carlton.
10 point scrap to get over Hawthorn...

Fair points but even including them it still feels like we’ve had more shithouse performances in 10 games this year compared with 19 last year.

We’ve done yet another U-turn and entered into a concerning downward trend and it’s pretty frustrating because this has been the cycle of Port Adelaide Football for the best part of a decade now.

 

[Tibbs]

If we are being honest about it, that we came back from 4 goals down this week was more the result of Collingwood's problems than our effort. While the last quarter (and parts of the third) was good, the rest of the game felt like one of those ones where all we could do was keep the margin at the first quarter deficit. Even the third, when we drew level, felt like the second quarter against the Dogs. The difference was Collingwood's lack of quality and inability to move the ball quickly, outside the first and last few minutes of the game.

Also, on our forward entries, while the forward line is awfully coached, the midfield has to take some of the blame. There was a moment early in the game where someone (I can't remember who) had the ball on the wing, Robbie led perfectly and had 5m on his opponent. The ball carrier kicked it over Robbies head to a contest. Gray gave whoever it was a real bake after that. Then there was Boak streaming out of the centre and blazing away to the square rather than spotting someone up.

I think you are TOTALLY underselling how good our defence was in repelling the repeat forward entries by Collingwood, essp in the first half. Rewatch that game and the incredible work of the defenders stands out. They made a number of mistakes that resulted in goals, but the pressure they were under was huge.

We slowly worked our way back in as Ladhams improved, and our mids worked harder to get clearances. A real point of concern was how in the 4th qrtr (i think it was) we had made 9 repeat forward entries without scoring a goal. Our forward line looked dysfunctional! And while you are correct in regard to delivery from the mids, the problem is that there is ZERO separation from our forwards! No one is presenting clear targets, and they compete against each other. When they do separate ... we inevitably score. They just dont do it often enough.

 

[Chewy316]

After reflecting on things last night and this morning my feelings are, winter has arrived, we always struggle after what I call the dry 8 first games of the season, injuries have been mounting up and we played a club under siege who haven't been bloody hopeless this year, they have just forgotten how to score and before yesterday they had an average losing margin of 21 pts in 7 games, biggest loss 30 pts, and threw everything at us, and Grundy being so dominant in the ruck, gave them a big advantage.

They were always going to make it a defensive grind.

Brisbane only beat Collingwood by 1 pt in Rd 3. So we are no better than Brisbane - we all knew that, right?

I looked up my 4 seasons in a season thread I started 2018 and looked at this post #33 where I split the season into 4 parts - the dry 8, 8 first games in dry weather, the 10 weeks or so in winter, the last 4 or 5 games in August and then part 4, the finals.

Ignoring 2020 which was such an out of whack season, 2021's 6-2 is the 2nd best start under Hinkley only behind 7-1 in 2014 in the first 8 weeks of the season.

The fact we are 1-1 in phase 2 of the season is consistent with the Hinkley era and expect yo-yoing thru the winter months. History suggests we will go 5-5 in the next 10 games.

Injuries are mounting up and having an impact. We are missing Butter's, spark everywhere he plays, Raz's zip in the forwardline, Duursma's gut running, Rockliff's high accumulation possessions around stoppages especially at his time of the year, Lycett's ruckwork, Clurey in defence, although McKenzie was very good.

Houston is playing injured, so rest him properly, Jones back after 6 weeks, McKenzie's first game back so they aren't at full output.

But we have to eliminate soft effort players at this time of year - Amon, Rozee, Burton, Bonner, Marshall etc the hopeless effort by DBJ and Hartlett. Hard to win when a third of your side aren't putting in 100% efforts/results.

Farrell showed what can be done, was soft on his attack on the ball early, but he improved and kept pushing himself and used his kicking weapons nicely. 5 contested + 18 uncontested is the way he plays but getting it 23 times means he is putting in a big effort.

Big positive is that we came back from 4 goals down, after playing poorly, to get 2 goals in front away from home. Still pissed off that we let them get those 2 late goals relatively easily, but we killed 2.17 off the clock being up by a point and didn't fu** anything up. That is a positive which is good practice.

Our blue collar mids kept us in the game and then set it up, Wines, Boak, Drew, SPP and Ladhams 2nd half. The Herculean effort of Dixon in the last 3 quarters meant he provided opportunities in our forwardline and the gold bullion efforts and finishes by Robbie.

That Marshall kick to Robbie in the last quarter is how we have to feed Robbie more often. Kick it slightly to his advantage side when he is 1 on 1. Too often we kick it too high to him and the oppo especially when he has a bigger opponent can spoil, chop his arms etc. But give im a 50/50 or 55/45 situation and he will win it.

Motlop didn't get much of the ball, but it was noticeable on TV how much defensive running stuff he did yesterday like he has most of this season. It was Motlop hard running that kept high pressure on Darcy Moore in the last 90 seconds on 2 occasions to stop him setting up clear attacks for the Pies. Pity he doesn't hit the scoreboard a bit more.

Backline had 3 rock solid players all day Aliir, Jonas and McKenzie, with Jones being the only 4 quarter consistent flanker defender.

We must go better than 5-5 during the winter months if we are to have any chance of doing good late in the year. I'm not fussed if we don't finish top 2, but top 4 is a must if we are to contend.

So far we are 1-1 in your designated winter period, with games to come against the following:

Freo
Geelong
@ GC
Sydney
@ Hawthorn
Melbourne
@ St. Kilda
Collingwood

5 games against teams outside the 8, only 2 games against a team ahead of us currently on the ladder (and one of those is only ahead on percentage), and those 2 games in particular are both at home. We don't play any team currently in the 8 on the road in this block either.

Realistically if we are going to set ourselves for top 4, we need to be going at least 6-2 over the next 8 games, possibly even 7-1.

 

[finbarr]

We are really missing Lycett badly. The guy is just such a competitive warrior.

 

[PatientMental]

Dixon made Roughead look like the greatest defender of all time.



He needs to really stop losing so many 50/50 contests in the air, it's been happening all year and he's starting to get worse at it.

 

[Duckimus Prime]

Brisbane beat them by a point, Bulldogs by 16.

Yup, they're absolute dog shit on the attack, but their defensive setup is pretty decent.

 

[MrMeaner]

I think you are TOTALLY underselling how good our defence was in repelling the repeat forward entries by Collingwood, essp in the first half. Rewatch that game and the incredible work of the defenders stands out. They made a number of mistakes that resulted in goals, but the pressure they were under was huge.

We slowly worked our way back in as Ladhams improved, and our mids worked harder to get clearances. A real point of concern was how in the 4th qrtr (i think it was) we had made 9 repeat forward entries without scoring a goal. Our forward line looked dysfunctional! And while you are correct in regard to delivery from the mids, the problem is that there is ZERO separation from our forwards! No one is presenting clear targets, and they compete against each other. When they do separate ... we inevitably score. They just dont do it often enough.

I completely agree with you on our defence. As I mentioned in an earlier post, whoever was on Pendlebury (Drew, I think), did an awesome job.

 

[MrMeaner]

Dixon made Roughead look like the greatest defender of all time.

View attachment 1135940

He needs to really stop losing so many 50/50 contests in the air, it's been happening all year and he's starting to get worse at it.

Going up with two hands would be a start.

 

[PatientMental]

Going up with two hands would be a start.

Or even a fist will suffice.

 

[finbarr]

Yet no one has beaten Collingwood by more than 30...

Interesting point. It would possibly prompt a former Port coach to say something like "we're the best 2-8 side in history".

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

We must go better than 5-5 during the winter months if we are to have any chance of doing good late in the year. I'm not fussed if we don't finish top 2, but top 4 is a must if we are to contend.

So far we are 1-1 in your designated winter period, with games to come against the following:

Freo
Geelong
@ GC
Sydney
@ Hawthorn
Melbourne
@ St. Kilda
Collingwood

5 games against teams outside the 8, only 2 games against a team ahead of us currently on the ladder (and one of those is only ahead on percentage), and those 2 games in particular are both at home. We don't play any team currently in the 8 on the road in this block either.

Realistically if we are going to set ourselves for top 4, we need to be going at least 6-2 over the next 8 games, possibly even 7-1.

We went 5-3 then 7-3 in 2018 but finished up with a 0-4 in August to miss finals. That is our best result in what I call the wet 8/9/10 as I always leave all home and away games played in August + first week of September in its own category.

If we want to win the flag, we have to go 4-0 or 3-1 in August and only lose to the Doggies at Docklands. Even in 2014 when we were flying we went 5-4 in winter and had two close loses by less than a goal. Premiership sides usually go undefeated in August or occasionally drop the last game as their mind is on September.

A 6-2 + 6-4 + 3-1 season gets us to a 15-7 and probably 4th spot. 16-6 pretty much guarantees us a top 4 spot.

 

[Powerade 08]

The thing with Marshall (and I understand the criticism) is when he gets the ball anywhere near 80-90 metres to goal it feels like we have a good chance of scoring.

In my opinion the smart forwards are the ones that kick a lot of goals. the ones that get less than ten disposals, drop easy marks and have little impact are not so good.

 

[PatientMental]

In my opinion the smart forwards are the ones that kick a lot of goals. the ones that get less than ten disposals, drop easy marks and have little impact are not so good.

You must think Walker and Fogarty are the smartest forwards of all time since they don't do anything but kick goals.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I completely agree with you on our defence. As I mentioned in an earlier post, whoever was on Pendlebury (Drew, I think), did an awesome job.

Yeah Drew sat on Pendlebury for most of the day. I have seen Collingwood a few times this year and I think time has caught up with Pendlebury, or at least he no longer seems to stop it, Matrix style, like he has for most of his 15 year career. He is racking up clangers per game at a faster rate than in previous 10 years.

 

[Brian McGee]

DBJ reversed free kick was one of the best viewings of an umpire who is bigger than the game.

I'd back him to stand up like that every time. The umpire just should of handed us the ball regardless.

Agree completely. The stupid part about it is Taylor Adams gets rewarded with a shot on goal for being the absolute aggressor in a situation. It’s ridiculous. Grandstanding ray just had to take centre stage. He is a w***er!

 

[JakeNeadeFan]

Bassett in his presser is saying we played like trash and the only reason we won was because Collingwood are trash-er. Or words to that effect.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I was going to watch the replay just now.

I’ve decided to punch myself in the balls instead. 100% less painful.

Hammer and nail time?

 

[PatientMental]

 

[FishingRick04]

After reflecting on things last night and this morning my feelings are, winter has arrived, we always struggle after what I call the dry 8 first games of the season, injuries have been mounting up and we played a club under siege who haven't been bloody hopeless this year, they have just forgotten how to score and before yesterday they had an average losing margin of 21 pts in 7 games, biggest loss 30 pts, and threw everything at us, and Grundy being so dominant in the ruck, gave them a big advantage.

They were always going to make it a defensive grind.

Brisbane only beat Collingwood by 1 pt in Rd 3. So we are no better than Brisbane - we all knew that, right?

I looked up my 4 seasons in a season thread I started 2018 and looked at this post #33 where I split the season into 4 parts - the dry 8, 8 first games in dry weather, the 10 weeks or so in winter, the last 4 or 5 games in August and then part 4, the finals.

Ignoring 2020 which was such an out of whack season, 2021's 6-2 is the 2nd best start under Hinkley only behind 7-1 in 2014 in the first 8 weeks of the season.

The fact we are 1-1 in phase 2 of the season is consistent with the Hinkley era and expect yo-yoing thru the winter months. History suggests we will go 5-5 in the next 10 games.

Injuries are mounting up and having an impact. We are missing Butter's, spark everywhere he plays, Raz's zip in the forwardline, Duursma's gut running, Rockliff's high accumulation possessions around stoppages especially at his time of the year, Lycett's ruckwork, Clurey in defence, although McKenzie was very good.

Houston is playing injured, so rest him properly, Jones back after 6 weeks, McKenzie's first game back so they aren't at full output.

But we have to eliminate soft effort players at this time of year - Amon, Rozee, Burton, Bonner, Marshall etc the hopeless effort by DBJ and Hartlett. Hard to win when a third of your side aren't putting in 100% efforts/results.

Farrell showed what can be done, was soft on his attack on the ball early, but he improved and kept pushing himself and used his kicking weapons nicely. 5 contested + 18 uncontested is the way he plays but getting it 23 times means he is putting in a big effort.

Big positive is that we came back from 4 goals down, after playing poorly, to get 2 goals in front away from home. Still pissed off that we let them get those 2 late goals relatively easily, but we killed 2.17 off the clock being up by a point and didn't fu** anything up. That is a positive which is good practice.

Our blue collar mids kept us in the game and then set it up, Wines, Boak, Drew, SPP and Ladhams 2nd half. The Herculean effort of Dixon in the last 3 quarters meant he provided opportunities in our forwardline and the gold bullion efforts and finishes by Robbie.

That Marshall kick to Robbie in the last quarter is how we have to feed Robbie more often. Kick it slightly to his advantage side when he is 1 on 1. Too often we kick it too high to him and the oppo especially when he has a bigger opponent can spoil, chop his arms etc. But give him a 50/50 or 55/45 situation and he will win it.

Motlop didn't get much of the ball, but it was noticeable on TV how much defensive running stuff he did yesterday like he has most of this season. It was Motlop's hard running that kept high pressure on Darcy Moore in the last 90 seconds on 2 occasions to stop him setting up clear attacks for the Pies. Pity he doesn't hit the scoreboard a bit more.

Backline had 3 rock solid players all day Aliir, Jonas and McKenzie, with Jones being the only 4 quarter consistent flanker defender.

If were smart we would isolate our small forward with the worst defender. I think all our talls and smalls 1-1 can do very well alot of the time. We need more courage.

As a collective group I have been slightly disappointed with our small forwards for their forward pressure. However this must be a coaching formation issue.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

More like the law doesn't like me.

You fought the law and the law won?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

If were smart we would isolate our small forward with the worst defender. I think all our talls and smalls 1-1 can do very well alot of the time. We need more courage.

As a collective group I have been slightly disappointed with our small forwards for their forward pressure. However this must be a coaching formation issue.

Our forwardline has functioned very poorly at critical times many times this year. Individual brilliance has saved us on some of these critical times.

 

[PowerBaz]

I feel like if we could play our tall key defenders in the forward 50 arc we'd take marks and kick good scores.

 

[Alberton Proud]

Compare the pair

Boundary throw in early in the first
Ridiculously short
Grundy takes advantage and snaps a goal
Commentators erupt into joyous rapture

Boundary throw in late in the last
Ridiculously short
Dixon clever tap to Wines for a goal
Commentators slam the ump and effectively ask for a recall

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I feel like if we could play our tall key defenders in the forward 50 arc we'd take marks and kick good scores.

That's what if feels like, but in modern footy, intercept defenders take lots of marks because of shit kicks coming inside 50 and they are in better position to mark the ball than the forwards they play on.

They move to the forward lines, they will the ones having to try and mark shit inside 50 kicks in the wrong position.

 

[Alberton Proud]

Our forward line is so dysfunctional at the moment it is beyond ridiculous