Review Round 3, 2024 vs Melbourne

[TeeKray]

Then they lack critical thinking skills which are essential if you want to be successful in any field.

Classic example was Boak with about 5 minutes left on the clock. We're 7 points down, he's got the ball about 75 metres from goal. Everyone is in our forward line, there is no prospect of finding a free player anywhere. So what does Boak do? He holds the ball up, wanders back a on his mark as far as he can and takes about 20 seconds to execute the obvious and only play. I have Craig McRae's words about valuing time ringing in my ears. You've got 300 seconds and you just burnt 20 in a way the team that was leading would've been proud to do.

 

[rogerjames]

Every player selected deserved their spot. Some of them did not justify their selection. The game plan was not the the issue, the ill-discipline, the stupidity and the lack of executing basic skills was the issue.

Blame the coach when he needs to be blamed but everything leading up to this game suggested that we would have too much class and firepower for Melbourne to handle at Adelaide oval.

The coach is always the one who cops it after a loss and that is not unreasonable at all and he has to wear the ineptitude of his players. What does he do now? Drop Ratugolea, Alir, Jones, Bergman, Farrell, Soldo, etc?

Well actually, our esteemed coach was suggesting how tough the game would be, a regular approach he takes before a game against a quality team. Look at our winning % against quality teams, it's crap. He should be saying we are looking forward to taking on Melbourne in front of our home fans. But he always talks up the opposition like the loser he is. Finals are scary Ken but only because we have a coach who is always sh*t scared when faced with a quality opponent.

 

[Poo Eckert]

Then they lack critical thinking skills which are essential if you want to be successful in any field.

Their job is to follow instructions, if they don’t they won’t play. From stories here, it’s Ken’s way or the highway

 

[GremioPower]

I go from listening to Jurgen Klopp pressers and being genuinely inspired and pumped for games, to listening to the buffoon talk and want to put my head through a wall.

Grêmio’s coach do pressers like a maestro. The journos are his musicians. It can be infuriating at times, but it mostly amusing.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Every player selected deserved their spot. Some of them did not justify their selection. The game plan was not the the issue, the ill-discipline, the stupidity and the lack of executing basic skills was the issue.

Blame the coach when he needs to be blamed but everything leading up to this game suggested that we would have too much class and firepower for Melbourne to handle at Adelaide oval.

The coach is always the one who cops it after a loss and that is not unreasonable at all and he has to wear the ineptitude of his players. What does he do now? Drop Ratugolea, Alir, Jones, Bergman, Farrell, Soldo, etc?

The idea that for 12 years the same things have happened repeatedly and its just the fault of all of those different invidual players would make Port the most unlucky sporting side in the history of the planet.

Also, to answer this question "What does he do now?"

Leave. Resign. Walk away. You've had 11 years. You don't have what it takes. Give someone else a go before even more careers are burned.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

I usually don't like reply to one of my posts because I heard a rumour on Bigfooty that you go blind but I didn't give the conclusion and impact of what I was trying to achieve with this post.

Basically if we did a few basics well, that is, defend the goal line and kick straight, there would have been a wanted to try and give some kind of impact. Out of the post, I'm going to leave out the Bergman kick for goal because it was the hardest out of the lot and my main point is that he didn't even register a point.

Just by those two skills alone, give or take how harsh you consider a good shot at goal, it would have been a 47 point differential to the score.

If you add Gawn sucking in Finlayson, then it creeps up more.

We should have trounced them.

And I'm not even going to mention medium defenders who can kick but can't defend.

Lets have a quick squizz at where we could've squeezed out some more points with finishing.

My conclusion is that all I can say is that we lost that game.
We've left a lot of points on the grass both offensively and defensively.

1st Quarter

Mead - 30 metres on a 45 degree angle. Doesn't make the distance.
Soldo - 35 metres out directly in front. Point.

2nd Quarter

Ratugolea - doesn't fist or mark the ball on the goal line. I will say that at least he was there.
Bergman - 40 plus metres out on the 45. Tough kick. Not even a point.

3rd Quarter

Dixon - 40 plus metres out on the 45. Tough kick. Hits the post.
Brown - no one on the goal line. Gawn credited with the shepherd of 3 blokes.
Gawn - free kick and goal. Gawn sucks in Finlayson with ruck craft.

4th Quarter

Dixon - slight angle, 40 metres in front. Point.
Windsor - Pickett of all people shepherding the ball over the goal line. Burton seemed to be ball watching.
Finlayson - a tight angle close to goal. Point.

 

[tribey]

Hands up who when Rozee was appointed, felt like it was a default choice and he really isnt the type of player you have as a captain.

His mum wanting boo’ers cautioned by SAPOL after the 2021 Prelim has never filled me with confidence regarding mindset exposure (combined with Hinkley’s ‘we need luck/finals are scary/more important to be a fine young man’ bizarroworld approach), but the jury’s still out.

 

[Scodges]

True . If we’re not being limp in a few critical moments we win that game, we had the players ( 3 or 4 not real strong ) .
Melbourne did kick some ripper set shots to keep them in it but we didn’t put them away because of poor execution

And umpiring


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[Scodges]

We had 6 set shots from pretty much the same angles as Melbourne did in that 30-60 degree range on the left side. They nailed all but one of theirs for 5.1 (31 points) while we went 0.3 (3 points), with 3 not even scoring.

Melbourne goes a more realistic 3.3 (21 points instead of 31) (expected score from those set shots is 50/50) we win the game regardless by 3 points. We go a more realistic 3.3 (21 points instead of 3) and we win that game by 11 points. Both scenarios happen, and we win by 21 points.

As for the Brown goal - you mean this one where he blatantly pushes Aliir in the back?

View attachment 1946778
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If it wasn't Max Gawn, and it wasn't a Channel 7 live broadcast into Victoria where every goal equals advertising revenue, that's a free kick all day long. It wasn't 'great bodywork' by Gawn. It was unmitigated bullshit umpiring and should be called out as such.

What’s Alir doing playing in front in that instance ? He should be a couple of metres back from the goal line & wait for the flight of the ball, before going in for the spoil, or rushed behind.


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[RussellEbertHandball]

Shaun - "That's out by about two metres!". If that was out by 2 metres then there have been a few this year that have been out by 15.

 

[VineValerian]

Shaun - "That's out by about two metres!". If that was out by 2 metres then there have been a few this year that have been out by 15.


View attachment 1947441

Draw a line directly down from the part of the ball closest to Rioli's left hand, and the back is actually inside the line.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Draw a line directly down from the part of the ball closest to Rioli's left hand, and the back is actually inside the line.

Yeah I reckon it was in. Just flabbergasted at how Shaun could say 2m out when he didn't look at the slow mo or freeze frame.

 

[The Hobo]

You could point to expected scores and goal kicking differential and say if we played this game again 100 times we would win 96 times and move on quickly if this exact type of loss didn’t seem to occur multiple times every season (and mainly at night time against top 8 teams).

For whatever reason when we have howler nights in front of goal the opposition have no issue shooting the lights out from all angles and distances. Perhaps they smell the blood in the water with Hinkley’s pre game negativity and our mental fragility on the field and their confidence grows from there.

But it happened last year against Collingwood, against the hawks in the Russell Ebert match in 2022, happened in 2017 elimination final, 2014 prelim, and even our best season under Hinkley in 2020 we played a fringe top 8 team in saints on a Saturday night and they kicked 12.1 to our 6.8. And there have been plenty other examples, it’s not just bad luck if it happens regularly.


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Yup, we've had some extremely accurate games against us. People will point to giving up easy opportunities - however they were not easy at all.

Gawn's shot on 3/4 time siren was 50/50 at best.
Brown's shot from the boundary was 30/70, Fritsch had two shots that were both 30/70, tucked up on the boundary, and pretty sure ANB's shot was also a 40/60.

In comparison, Soldo, Dixon and even Finlayson's snap were far easier chances that we missed. That's not even factoring the shot by Meade that inexplicably didn't even score.

 

[Willsy10]

Yeah I reckon it was in. Just flabbergasted at how Shaun could say 2m out when he didn't look at the slow mo or freeze frame.

I'm flabbergasted Shaun is in the commentary team tbh.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Well actually, our esteemed coach was suggesting how tough the game would be, a regular approach he takes before a game against a quality team. Look at our winning % against quality teams, it's crap. He should be saying we are looking forward to taking on Melbourne in front of our home fans. But he always talks up the opposition like the loser he is. Finals are scary Ken but only because we have a coach who is always sh*t scared when faced with a quality opponent.

Absolutely. He has no grasp of basic psychology. Focus on "how good they are" and "how tough the game will be", and that's exactly how it will turn out.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Yeah I reckon it was in. Just flabbergasted at how Shaun could say 2m out when he didn't look at the slow mo or freeze frame.

He's there as the "ex-Port" guy, but rarely says anything favorable to Port.

 

[Northalives]

The idea that for 12 years the same things have happened repeatedly and its just the fault of all of those different invidual players would make Port the most unlucky sporting side in the history of the planet.

Also, to answer this question "What does he do now?"

Leave. Resign. Walk away. You've had 11 years. You don't have what it takes. Give someone else a go before even more careers are burned.

I have said it in the past and I'll say it again, Hinkley should not be our coach but for the moment, he is and no amount of raving and ranting and hysterics is going to change that.

On the weekend, the players f***ed up, not the coach. What's he going to do, kick the set shots for them? Punch the ball from behind? Mark the ball in front of the goal line? Take the simple marks that an under 16 lad would take but dropped by league footballers? Stick tackles for them?

We are three games into the season and every team loses football matches. We lost by 7 points and you want to burn the place down?

I get the frustration but for f**k's sake, get a grip.

 

[Northalives]

Well actually, our esteemed coach was suggesting how tough the game would be, a regular approach he takes before a game against a quality team. Look at our winning % against quality teams, it's crap. He should be saying we are looking forward to taking on Melbourne in front of our home fans. But he always talks up the opposition like the loser he is. Finals are scary Ken but only because we have a coach who is always sh*t scared when faced with a quality opponent.

The players reflected Hinkley's nervousness in the finals last year.

Port has set the bar low and it starts right from the top. We hear Koch saying that Hinkley has a "great win loss ratio". What the f**k has that got to do with winning flags? We play Australian Rules Football, not Association Football.

Hinkley should have been replaced years ago but he hasn't. I have said on numerous occasions that I am not a fan of his but he has, for some reason, been reappointed and he is doing his best which, as we have learnt, is not up to the Port standard. We can freak out at him and curse and cuss at him but it's the f***ing hierarchy that appointed him that needs to be roundly criticised.

 

[Schulzenfest]

On the weekend, the players f***ed up, not the coach. What's he going to do, kick the set shots for them? Punch the ball from behind? Mark the ball in front of the goal line? Take the simple marks that an under 16 lad would take but dropped by league footballers? Stick tackles for them?

The players reflected Hinkley's nervousness in the finals last year.

How do you make these two posts consecutively and not see the link?

Our players don't make those mistakes because they're not talented enough to take uncontested marks and kick simple set shots. Most U16's would have held some of the marks Lachie Jones was dropping on the weekend. They make those mistakes because they lack confidence. They lack confidence because their coach fails to instil confidence in them.

 

[Northalives]

How do you make these two posts consecutively and not see the link?

Our players don't make those mistakes because they're not talented enough to take uncontested marks and kick simple set shots. Most U16's would have held some of the marks Lachie Jones was dropping on the weekend. They make those mistakes because they lack confidence. They lack confidence because their coach fails to instil confidence in them.

I am saying that Hinkley should have been dismissed at the end of last year - I would have preferred a number of years ago.

Players do reflect their coaches but during the home and away minor rounds, he has always backed his players. It's in finals where he is a nervous rabbit and has shown that the occasion is just too great for him and he should not be the coach because of it. The hierarchy have reappointed him and that is not his fault. It smacks of that drunkard Robinson saying to Malthouse, "are you coaching for the right reasons?"

When we kick straight and kick many more goals than points in games, where is the kudos for Hinkley because going on what you and others are saying, then Hinkley must also be responsible for the outstanding goalkicking when we kick straight and responsible for the great confidence that was on display when we were untouchable in 13 games last year.

I find the knee jerk reaction to losing a game of football by 7 points early in the year astonishing; just as astonishing as you and others blaming Hinkley for Jones not being able to hold marks that under 16's would have.

I get it that we don't want Hinkley but for f**k's sake, what's with all of this throwing the skirts over the head and carrying on like the season is over? We lost by 7 points to a side that played at their best and we played well below ours.

Jones dropping simple marks is not normally the case. Aliir playing stupid, dumb football is not normally the case and neither is it the case that players who you would bet on sticking tackles not sticking them. It is way, way too simplistic to blame the coach for that sort of thing when we know that the players we have are not prone to making idiotic, underage mistakes. That's all I'm saying: I am not rallying around Hinkley but I am certainly not using the disappointing performance by a number of players who we don't normally associate with dumb, amateur league type mistakes as an excuse to attack the coach.

When he needs to be attacked, then I don't hold back. It's just that the incendiary assault on him this time is way, way out of proportion and unfair.

Don't get me wrong, I hate losing but we cannot just apportion the blame solely on the coach - not f****ng this time.

 

[dirty2]

**** that. I blame Hinkley.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I find the knee jerk reaction to losing a game of football by 7 points early in the year astonishing; just as astonishing as you and others blaming Hinkley for Jones not being able to hold marks that under 16's would have.

A knee jerk reaction? Christ.

This couldn't be less of a knee jerk reaction. This is the polar opposite of a knee jerk reaction. Every single Port supporter, even the most deluded happy-clapper Hinkleyphiles, know that we lose games in exactly that manner on a regular basis. We've all seen ourselves kick ourselves out of games. We've all seen us roll out the red carpet for intercept defenders. This has been going on for a decade.

The season isn't over because we lost to Melbourne in a groundhog day game, the season is over because we've still got the same coach who doesn't know how to fix the problems a full 7 years after he should have been fired and with a mountain of evidence to confirm what we've all known for years.

Individual wins and losses are meaningless at this point. We aren't winning the flag with a coach who is incapable of fixing our mentality issues.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

I have said it in the past and I'll say it again, Hinkley should not be our coach but for the moment, he is and no amount of raving and ranting and hysterics is going to change that.

On the weekend, the players f***ed up, not the coach. What's he going to do, kick the set shots for them? Punch the ball from behind? Mark the ball in front of the goal line? Take the simple marks that an under 16 lad would take but dropped by league footballers? Stick tackles for them?

We are three games into the season and every team loses football matches. We lost by 7 points and you want to burn the place down?

I get the frustration but for f**k's sake, get a grip.

Honestly comparing your post and mine Id say yours seems much more hysterical.

Im just being realistic about the situation. Its not about a 7 point loss, its about the path we are on as a club. This is just the latest of 251 examples that show he isnt up to it.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

Classic example was Boak with about 5 minutes left on the clock. We're 7 points down, he's got the ball about 75 metres from goal. Everyone is in our forward line, there is no prospect of finding a free player anywhere. So what does Boak do? He holds the ball up, wanders back a on his mark as far as he can and takes about 20 seconds to execute the obvious and only play. I have Craig McRae's words about valuing time ringing in my ears. You've got 300 seconds and you just burnt 20 in a way the team that was leading would've been proud to do.

Definitely. What you've picked up is something subtle but it points to a larger signs of a poorly coached football team.

That's why I really enjoyed watching the Magpies last year when I got a chance. They were so just well drilled. I was going to end that one with a joke but I'm going to leave it.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Players do reflect their coaches but during the home and away minor rounds, he has always backed his players.

Overly simplistic. Hinkley is excellent at consistently beating non-finalists in the home and away season. He's arguably one of the best coaches in AFL history at that. But Melbourne aren't a non-finalist.

Read the Hinkleyball thread. We choke like this against good sides at Adelaide Oval under Hinkley in night games all the time, and we have been for the last decade. There was absolutely nothing new or unexpected about Saturday night's performance from a Hinkley coached side, and it has been consistent across a playing group that bar Boak and Wines is entirely different from the playing group that would lose matches the exact same way in the mid-2010's.

I find the knee jerk reaction to losing a game of football by 7 points early in the year astonishing;

Unlike you I have a memory beyond that of a goldfish. It's not a knee jerk reaction to a loss after 3 games. It's a reaction to a loss after 11 years and 3 games. And it's the exact same loss we've seen over and over again and we've never learned from. You could have chucked on a replay of the Richmond game in 2019 and aside from the jumpers you wouldn't have noticed a difference.

Go read my post in the first page of the gameday thread. I basically predicted the last quarter of this game down to a tee before it had even started. That's the Hinkley effect. 'Knee-jerk reaction', **** me.

I get it that we don't want Hinkley but for f**k's sake, what's with all of this throwing the skirts over the head and carrying on like the season is over?

The season is over. In fact, the 2025 season is over too. They have been since August last year. If you want to delude yourself into thinking year 12 under Hinkley will somehow be different, be my guest, but you're only setting yourself up for more disappointment.