Review SF: Port v Geelong Review

[Macca19]

Bugger. Very proud of what we achieved this year and how far we’ve come but still plenty of work to do in the off season to improve on this and grow into a genuine top 4 side.

The genuine excitement at half time of how well we were playing and how many mistakes we were forcing Geelong into was quickly removed 30 seconds into the third quarter. The scuttle butt around the Port supporters in our bay was we just have to come to play in the third quarter, we can’t allow the opposition to boss us, we have to kick the first goal. To allow Geelong to goal 30 seconds in, and then level the scores 5 minutes later just wasn’t acceptable and really really disappointing. Its frustrating how we can turn from switched on to just making farcical decisions at the flick of a switch. Our midfield freezes completely (needs to be worked on), our defence makes baffling decisions and our inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 when we don’t have momentum is plain awful. Our skill level is what needs most work in the off season. Fix that, we win that game. Comfortably.

But, we kept at it. We weren’t disgraced. We gave it absolutely everything and very nearly could have come away with the win in the last few minutes. I can’t be at all unhappy with what we’ve done this year, and whilst losing this one has stung a lot this morning, you can’t help but feel we are onto something special in coming years.

Player Reviews:
Westhoff - Thought he was just about our best player. After an ordinary game last week, it was great to really take a final by the balls at times throughout the game. And that goal. Unbelievable.

Boak - After a bit of a downer last week he came to play tonight and was probably our best. Kept working and was one of our only mids trying to regularly create something.

Moore - UP and down. Had a top first quarter and a bit, then made a number of mistakes. Middle of the road.

Ebert - Has been the star of the finals. Terribly underrated for what has been an outstanding season and another very good game last night.

Lobbe - Thought he was well beaten. Was getting this hands on the taps but was regularly going straight to Geelong players. Wasn’t as good around the ground as last week.

Hartlett - His first half was electric. Thats where it ended. Couldn’t find it after half time. Still, was very good at times.

O’Shea - Thought he was BOG at half time, playing an incredible game. Wasn’t as good after half time, but he’s just about the best in the business at the moment at that 3rd tall in defence role. Incredible season and 2 very very good finals.

Broadbent - Got plenty of it and thought his attempts to create something was handy, but he was given a bath defensively by a couple of players last night. We have too many players in defence who can’t actually defend and its a problem.

Cornes - Thud. Regularly turned the ball over and that free in the last quarter, what on earth were you thinking.

Gray - Looking forward to a big pre season so he can attack the ball properly, not flop about looking for frees and not try and push his opponent under the ball every single time he goes near it.

Logan - Reasonable. Didn’t do much wrong but wasn’t as good as last week.

Monfries - Loved his lead up work in the first half and he worked so so hard to create options, often unrewarded due to mistakes further up field.

Wingard - Didn’t think he was as bad as some are saying. Just wasn’t given any time at all to work his magic. Geelong played him well by blocking his space and making sure he had no time to run and carry.

Cassisi - Another who struggled throughout the night to have an impact.

Colquhuon - Thought his first half was very good, but at times with the ball he seems confused as to what option to take and gets caught holding the ball instead

Jonas - Solid. Thats all.

Schulz - Quiet for most of the night until the last quarter when he kicked a couple.

Trengove - Fantastic defensively again and reasonable with the ball. High in our best

Carlile - Did alright on Hawkins for most of the night and was ok with the ball in hands

Wines - Quieter than last week though I think a lot of his great work in close went unrewarded.

Pittard - Really enjoyed his first half but gave us absolutely nothing in the 2nd half when under the pump, both defensively and with anything resembling run.

Young - Thrown into the middle but just couldn’t impact

POTY Votes:
10
9
8 - Trengove, OShea, Westhoff, Boak
7 - Ebert
6 - Monfries, Hartlett
5 - Carlile
4 - Wines
3 - Pittard, Jonas, Colquhuon, Cassisi, Wingard, Logan
2 - Schulz, Gray, Moore, Lobbe
1 - Cornes, Broadbent
0 - Young

 

[BIG MATTY T]

You are right macca about ebert....



Next year chucking a hundy on him for brownlow

 

[_Christoh_]

great write up Macca

I was really disappointed with Lobbe. I would love to know how to look up a % of his season stats of hitouts to advantage cos I cant believe how many times he gets his hand to it only to hit it to a spot where we dont have a player or he hits giving the opposition momentum heading toward their goals.

 

[Noobz0r]

Lobbe was also killed in the air by Vardy, he took some big grabs both offensively and defensively last week but struggled this week.

 

[PatientMental]

Bit rough on Young. He came into the game when the umpires had complete and utter dominance, was never going to get near it with that happening.

 

[manureid]

Bit rough on Young. He came into the game when the umpires had complete and utter dominance, was never going to get near it with that happening.

The one where he was being tackled when he didnt have the ball, then tried to make the play by picking it up and was pinged holding the ball summed up the last qtr Mcinerney show.

 

[BIG MATTY T]

The one where he was being tackled when he didnt have the ball, then tried to make the play by picking it up and was pinged holding the ball summed up the last qtr Mcinerney show.

I was ropable at that decision ..the guy had a hold of him before he picked it up then he picks up and apparently its prior opportunity wtf..

 

[PJ Power]

great write up Macca

I was really disappointed with Lobbe. I would love to know how to look up a % of his season stats of hitouts to advantage cos I cant believe how many times he gets his hand to it only to hit it to a spot where we dont have a player or he hits giving the opposition momentum heading toward their goals.

Lobbe was down last night. Really down. Shame.

 

[2121]

lobbe might have been down last night but what a year he played as a sole ruckman. hopefully redden can come back fit as next year those two will be two of the best ruck combinations in the league

 

[charcolechaddy]

I was ropable at that decision ..the guy had a hold of him before he picked it up then he picks up and apparently its prior opportunity wtf..

His version of prior opportunity is thinking about what you would do with it.

He has the same idea with advantage .

 

[vinum coupe]

Bad luck guys.
What a crap game. And the umpiring was even worse.

Well done on a bloody good year though. You've successfully pulled yourself out of the gutter.
I can only see more improvement next year.

Good luck.

 

[Janus]

Lobbe was down last night. Really down. Shame.

Rucking pretty much the entire last half of the year will do that. That's why losing Redden was a huge blow.

What I don't want us to do is think it's going to just happen next year. It won't. These guys have to work TWICE as hard in the preseason on skills and mental application, because there is no Cinderella story next year. People will know what to expect from us. There won't be any miraculous comebacks on the back of superior fitness.

I see similarities between Geelong of 2005 and our performance this year. We all expect them to make the next step, but unless they all recommit to each other and tell some home truths about how things are going, we'll end up like Geelong 2006 (which isn't so bad when you consider what happened the year after) or worse, the Crows of...well, forever.

Take a break, rest, recharge and be ready. These finals games, especially this one against Geelong, were invaluable for our development. They've experienced the highs and the lows without being disgraced and feeling that they didn't belong on the same park as the Cats. I expect new sponsorship deals in the off-season, a tough preseason with a focus on skills, then to come out of the blocks hard next year.

 

[PJ Power]

Can't help but feel that having Redden available for some of the games in the second half of this year would have been huge for us. Bring on 2014.

 

[Us against the rest]

I know that the cats applied heaps of pressure after half time but those turnovers killed us again. All in all a great season by the boys and i hope we can grow even more next year. A game we could have won, that's the disappointing part. A word on the umpiring, F*** me, as soon as Geelong looked like they could actually win the the game, they got looked after by the maggots, oh well the AFL got their block buster game, Cats v Hawks after all.

 

[Turbocat]

I just thought id drop in , to congratulate you on a fantastic year and great performance last night . Had me worried thats for sure.
Id also like to pass comment on your game style. Perhaps a bias is showing but I though was terrific to see a side be positive and not over negative. Your young kids have big future. Wines , Winguard , Harlett , Pittard etc (you know this better than me ).

Well done on the revitalisation of the Port Adelaide Football club and Im sure you will be looking forward to Adelaide Oval .

 

[raman]

 

[Portmanteau]

It's going to take a while to get over that limp showing at the start of the third. How many times have we conceded a goal in the first minute of the second half? Need to look at the likes of Sydney at their best who could really just shut the game down when they needed to. I guarantee this will be a focus for players and coaches in the preseason. It would have been so sweet to get one over the team that has tormented us so much since 2007, featuring all the usual suspects.

Then, you look at the inside 50 numbers and scoring shots (late in the game they had kicked 18 behinds to our 17 total scoring shots) and we easily could have been walloped. So, it does show we are at least made of stern/kern stuff. Particularly Cam O'Shea - take a bloody bow, son. Huge finals series and most improved player, certainly at the club, maybe league wide.

We're a couple of pieces away (Butcher? Polec?) but then so are a few clubs. We'll need to use up all of the character we showed this year, and more, to stay ahead of the Joneses.

 

[rellim]

O’Shea - Thought he was BOG at half time, playing an incredible game. Wasn’t as good after half time, but he’s just about the best in the business at the moment at that 3rd tall in defence role. Incredible season and 2 very very good finals.

I didn't think I'd ever read something like this about O'Shea but such an incredible year and finals series.

 

[crafty_bernardo]

The amount of marks O'Shea took as the 3rd tall in defence last night.

 

[Macca19]

He really has improved out of sight. Our best finals player. Who'd have thought we'd be saying that last year. Sky is the limit for O'Shea. So ridiculously fit, reads the play so well. Is he our new Chad Cornes? #nopressure

 

[Schulzenfest]

Our best finals player. Who'd have thought we'd be saying that last year.

Last year I'd be happy enough to have a best finals player at all, let alone it being O'Shea

 

[FishingRick04]

They have 6 months to pontificate over this and make them even hungrier which I think they will.

 

[Chrizzt]

great write up Macca

I was really disappointed with Lobbe. I would love to know how to look up a % of his season stats of hitouts to advantage cos I cant believe how many times he gets his hand to it only to hit it to a spot where we dont have a player or he hits giving the opposition momentum heading toward their goals.

He's not the greatest with HOs to adv. Was rucking at 21% last night compared to Vardy's 29% which means Vardy had 5 HO's to adv. while Lobbe was 6. But it certainly is an area Lobbe needs to work on, rarely gets past the 25% mark in games. He seems to go the safe, negating option in centre bounces a lot by starting head-on then shuffling around to come in from the side (along the centre-line) which I find is a good way to get your hand on it, but makes it very difficult to control the angle of the tap. Hopefully he can get some good confidence from his season and start being more pro-active instead of reactive in the ruck next year.

Thought Wines was a beast in the mid, didn't get heaps of the ball, and wasn't able to use it very effectively but attacked every contest like a man possessed and was able to out-muscle 2 Geelong midfielders on numerous occasions to spill the ball out of a pack. Great to see a first year player look at home in that sort of pressure.

I actually thought that we should have chucked Logan in the guts after Geelong scored their second goal of the 3rd quarter. We just needed someone to hit the contest, even if it meant a string of ball-ups just to stop Geelong's momentum. Had Cassisi, Moore, and Wingard on ball for one of those centre bounces which I thought wasn't a great idea against the super-experienced and on fire Geelong midfield, but I guess it's good to see Hinkley trying out different options instead of just sitting in the box doing nothing.

The 2 extra in defence for us also meant that we should never have been kicking to Schulz, so many time he was caught out 2 on one and even 3 on one in several occasions. Would have been a great game for Neade actually.

 

[Puddy]

He really has improved out of sight. Our best finals player. Who'd have thought we'd be saying that last year. Sky is the limit for O'Shea. So ridiculously fit, reads the play so well. Is he our new Chad Cornes? #nopressure

I was thinking that last night. Plays alot like Chad did

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

Every Player rated:

http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2013-09-14/every-power-player-rated