AFL Premiership Round 2
West Coast V Port Adelaide
------ V ------
Saturday Night, 3rd April
SUBIACO OVAL
Forecast: Partly cloudy. Min 14-Max 23
________________________________________________________
West Coast V Port Adelaide
Saturday Night, 3rd April
SUBIACO OVAL
Forecast: Partly cloudy. Min 14-Max 23
________________________________________________________
West Coast
B: Sam Butler, Darren Glass, Brett Jones
HB: Scott Selwood, Eric Mackenzie, Shannon Hurn
C: Andrew Embley, Matt Priddis, Adam Selwood
HF: Luke Shuey, Mitch Brown, Beau Waters
F: Nic Naitanui, Josh Kennedy , Mark Nicoski
Foll: Dean Cox, Chris Masten, Daniel Kerr
I/C: Brad Ebert, Pat McGinnity, Matt Spangher, Tom Swift
Emg: Bradd Dalziell, Quinten Lynch, Will Schofield
In: S. Selwood, Spangher
Out: Mark LeCras (hamstring), Quinten Lynch
Port Adelaide
B: Jacob Surjan, Alipate Carlile, Troy Chaplin
HB: Nathan Krakouer, Chad Cornes, Steven Salopek
C: Danyle Pearce, Domenic Cassisi, Jason Davenport
HF: Matt Thomas, Warren Tredrea, Brett Ebert
F: Cameron Hitchcock, Jay Schulz, Justin Westhoff
Foll: Dean Brogan, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes
I/C: Jackson Trengove, Paul Stewart, Mitch Banner, Tom Logan
Emg: Jay Nash, Andrew Moore, Daniel Stewart
In: Chaplin, Logan
Out: Andrew Moore, Scott Harding
West Coast Injury List
Adam Cockie (knee) - 1 week
Tim Houlihan (foot) - 8 weeks
Ryan Neates (shoulder) - 1 week
Brad Sheppard (cheek) - 4 weeks
Koby Stevens (knee) - 1-2 weeks
Port Adelaide Injury List
John Butcher (back) - indefinite
Robbie Gray (back/hamstring) - test
Hamish Hartlett (hamstring) - test
Daniel Motlop (hamstring tightness) - test
Marlon Motlop (fractured foot) - indefinite
David Rodan (knee) - test
Wade Thompson (fractured eye socket) - 3-4 weeks
Last time they met in a match where teams can’t have 14 players on the bench
Round 15, 2009, AAMI Stadium
Port Adelaide- 6.5 10.8 15.9 17.10 112
West Coast- 1.1 3.3 6.5 11.10 76
Port Adelaide was in control for most of this game, after an excellent opening quarter kicking 6 goals to one. The Eagles kicked 5 goals to 2 in the last quarter to make the game look a little closer, but never really threatened to do a lot. The Eagles went 4-2 for the rest of the season, while Port Adelaide went 1-5.
Last time at Subiaco
Round 2, 2009, Subiaco Oval
West Coast- 4.3 10.6 16.8 19.11 125
Port Adelaide- 1.6 4.9 8.12 10.15 75
The Eagles had their first win of the season after a disappointing loss to Brisbane in the opening round, by crushing Port Adelaide. The midfield use was excellent, and up forward the Eagles were just too strong, with exciting games by several of their stars...by keeping this relatively vague, I can use it again when we smash Port on Saturday.
Preview
Subiaco Oval (for the time being) will play host to its first Eagles game of season 2010, when the Power repeat their trip over from Round 2 of last season, hopefully with a similar result for the Eagles fans.
The Eagles had a tough assignment last weekend, being the first team in the season proper to take on the Brownvola machine, and while it wasn’t quite calibrated properly, it still kicked 8.9 and had a real impact on the game in the last quarter. While the defenders worked hard to push the forwards wide, when the Lions midfield got on top in the last quarter, the quality and quantity of ball movement inside 50 was just too much to stop.
I felt last weekend that the Eagles had a few too many passengers, through both poor form and injury. Swift, Cox and LeCras all had games they would be disappointed with, although none looked very fit, and LeCras has been ruled out for this week. Swift might have been a little lucky to retain his spot, with Matt Rosa expected to come in, but the change was not made. Quinten Lynch ahs been dropped, a little surprisingly, after a quiet performance, leading to Josh Kennedy taking the FF position and Mitch Brown getting a shot at CHF. Brown had a couple of games up forward in the pre-season and looked capable, kicking 3 goals against Carlton.
Scott Selwood apparently tackled everyone within sight in the WAFL, opposition or otherwise, and was rewarded for his hard work with a spot back in the side, where he can hopefully add pressure to the ball carriers in the Port midfield and attack, and area that was lacking against Brisbane. Matt Spangher has also been included after his WAFL performance on the weekend, while Bradd Dalziell has been named first emergency for the second week in a row, and may get the chance to make his Eagles debut.
As for Port Adelaide, they travel over to Subiaco after a solid win against the Kangaroos at home. While being in control for most of the match, the Kangaroos closed the gap in the last quarter to ultimately only go down by 14 points. Still, a win is a win, but both the Eagles and Port faded in the last quarter of their Round 1 games, and with the game being played at Subiaco Oval, might give the Eagles the edge in that regard.
This game is an important one for Port Adelaide, with upcoming fixtures of Brisbane, St Kilda, Geelong, Adelaide and Essendon (A), they will be looking at this game as one they should be able to win, and given their history on the ground and their pre-season performance, it isn’t out of their reach. A few changes to the team that one last weekend, with Chaplin and Logan coming in, and Moore and Harding out. A few surprising selections in that lot, but Subiaco is a quite unique ground in the AFL and makes selection trickier, as well as providing the home team with a decent advantage. They are still waiting on the fitness of key players like Robbie Gray and Daniel Motlop, who played very well against the Eagles in the clash in Round 2 last year, but Cameron Hitchcock showed plenty through the pre-season and kicked 2 goals in his first league game, while other forward options Tredrea and Ebert obviously have a history of being able to kick goals, with Tredrea set to play his 250th game.
Port had a disappointing end to the year in 2009, losing their last 4 games, and was erratic and a bit unpredictable for the majority of the year. They should be more focused and determined this season, and certainly have a group good enough to play finals football. They also have a fancy new jumper. While they would prefer to have some of their injured players out on the field, they have a strong midfield and racked up an excellent 86 tackles against the Kangaroos last weekend, and that kind of pressure again would cause problems for a young Eagles midfield, with a rather different forward set up to most weeks.
Key Matchups
[strike]Lade v Seaby[/strike]
[strike]Burgoyne v Staker[/strike]
Brogan/??? Vs Cox/Naitanui- While Cox was down on form against the Lions, he is still a very damaging ruckman when given space, as he gets the ball inside 50 more often and has more goal assists than any other ruckman (2008 and 2009 averages). And then you have the other end of the scale, a ruckman who plays like an inside mid, with excellent vision and handball skills and tackling speed that is just not very fair for a guy his size. But give Naitanui a run up instead, and he’ll just jump on your head. Taking on this tough challenge will be Dean Brogan, a ruckman who had the best hitout to advantage % in the league last year, and has plenty of midfield options around him to give it to. But who will ruck with him? The Eagles have the resources to really attack any second ruckman, so Brogan will have a lot to do. Naitanui will need to be sure not to let Brogan wrestle him out of the contests too often, should be a good experience.
Jacob Surjan v Mark Nicoski- This would be a smart move for the Port coaching staff, if Surjan can stick to Nicoski and force him onto his right side. Really would be able to attack from the backline with Surjan, who is a quality player. Nathan Krakouer also tore the Eagles up last season and needs to be watched by the Eagles forwards, who must be accountable and lock the ball inside the forward 50.
Alipate Carlile v Josh Kenendy- I like Carlile a lot, he is a very promising player. Played 54 games now and is 23, matching up against a promising forward in Kenendy, who has payed 46 games and is 22, and looks set to have a breakout year very soon, hopefully in 2010. Kennedy is a strong one on one mark and an accurate kick for goal, although he has an unusual kicking style, and with Lynch out of the side should play most of the game at CHF. Has a big engine as well, but needs to stick close to goal in the absence of other talls for the Eagles.
Where the game will be won
While you can say that Brisbane got on top of the Eagles because of their key forwards last week, and that is partly true, the clearance work of the Lions engine room just tore West Coast apart in the last quarter, and gave the forwards plenty of chances to mark and have shots inside 50. Again the midfield work will be crucial for this game, because looking at the teams I would say that both defences look stronger than the forward lines they will be against. Both team especially have a lack of smaller options up forward, with Gray, Motlop and Rodan out for Port and LeCras and McKinley out for the Eagles, so it really will be a case of just getting the ball inside 50. At Subiaco, and with the ruck combination of Naitanui and Cox, the Eagles need to back themselves to win this contest. Daniel Kerr starred in the Round 2 matchup last year, but is unlikely to get as much space as he was afforded that day. While Adam Selwood and Matt Priddis are excellent at clearing the ball, the Eagles need to have good users of the football on their outside to get quality inside 50s, with a rather different forward set up to normal. Young players like Luke Shuey and Chris Masten are capable of delivering the ball well and should be given that chance. Other like Embley, Nicoski and Waters need to make smarter decisions when kicking inside 50 or the Port Adelaide defence will clear the ball time and time again.
With fatigue being a possible factor in the last quarter fadeouts of both teams in Round 1, being in front early should be a priority. With Subiaco being such a large ground you can get chopped up if you are off the pace, as teams just run the ball through and loose men appear all over the ground. Conditions should be fine for the Saturday night game, less humid than up in Brisbane and good conditions for football.
Who will win?
West Coast at home would have marked this game down pre-season as one they should win, but Port Adelaide have the 250th of Tredrea and play Subiaco well, and they have the pre-season game as some experience for the Subiaco dimensions, although the teams playing on the weekend will be quite different to that game.
I’m going to give it to West Coast, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.
West Coast by 23 points.
And I want to see all of you down at Subiaco Oval on Saturday night to make our first home game massive. 40k plus please. GO YOU EAAAAAAAGGGGGLLLLLEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!
The Port Perspective - from The Smaller Warrior
AFL Premiership Round 2
Port Adelaide vs West Coast Eagles
A couple of weeks ago, our boys were on a plane to head across to Subiaco. They were coming off a terrific win against the Adelaide Crows and went in very confident about the West Coast Eagles.
Both teams were slightly undermanned, and were filled with youth. We went away from that game beating the Eagles by 78 Points and headed to a Final against Premiership Favorites the Bulldogs (Which we lost by less than a goal.)
This week it is different though, this week has the prize of 4 points up for grabs.
We go into this game off another win, albeit less convincing than our win against the Crows. We played in wet conditions and dropped off in our second half (though many teams did in the first round) and let the Kangaroo's come back from a massive deficit to only win by a few straight kicks, if we do this against a better time in West Coast we may not be so lucky.
Both teams are undermanned again though most would say Port's list is a little worse off than the Eagles:
Eagles Injury List:
LeCras
Houlihan
Sheppard
Stevens
Cockie
Neates
Port Adelaide Injury List:
D Motlop
Butcher
Hartlett
Gray
Rodan
Thompson
M Motlop
Put simply, this game is going to come down to a few things.
Everything the Light Touches, is our Kingdom
Put simply, Subiaco is pretty big.
Last time we used our speed and agility to win the game and we will need to do this again. Having a young side will help us to complete this, though we need to ensure we do not drop off at all throughout this game.
The Adelaide Crows trained for several weeks at Elizabeth Oval (Similar to Subiaco) to prepare for Fremantle last week and we all know how well that paid off.
We play well at Subiaco, perhaps better than most other teams and we need to ensure the Eagles do not get a large advantage from this factor.
The Twin Towers
One of the best ruck combo's currently in the AFL.
A mature, well built and fast ruckman with huge ability and the apprentice.
Cox has done it all, and is a huge part of the Eagles team. NicNat is the favourite for this years NAB Rising Star award and shows us week after week why he will be one of the best players in the AFL in years to come.
Our Boeing 767s
Perhaps the worst header in the history of game threads, but its 2am and I found it amusing. I am also incredibly drunk.
Eventually we will have two Ruckman, until that point we have somewhere in the vicinity of 12,000.
Each of our Ruckmen (behind Brogan who is our definate Number 1) have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Last week one of the worlds leading rocket scientists spent 38 hours researching who would line up against North Melbourne in our rucking department.
38 Hours into the affair he decided he was not worthy of living in this cruel cruel world if he was not able to answer such a question. RIP Sir Edward Whitikar.
I have no idea who will be our second ruck this week, so im just going to say it will be Dean Brogan with Mattson Westloke.
Armour Pearcing
If Danyle can break his (almost certain) tag this week, it will be crucial for us winning this game. Many have stated that Boak, Gray, Salopek and Hartlett should all have big years. But what about poor Danyle?
Nominated best first year player in 2005, winning the 2006 NAB Rising Star (with 43 out of a possible 45 votes), winning the Gavin Wanganeen Medal in 2006 and is also the fastest player in the AFL (100 metres at 10.87 seconds) Danyle is almost 24 and is set for a huge season.
Playing at Subiaco, he should dominate.
Um, Cameron Hitchcock
My creative genius is drying up, and that was the best I could do.
Cameron is constantly showing us, and the other 15 AFL sides exactly why we strategically picked up him in the Rookie Draft. He and Mitch Banner have probably shown the most for our youth so far this year, and he loved playing over at Subiaco just a few weeks ago.
We need our quicks, and our young guns to step up this week and Hitchcock is almost bound to do it. His first quarter last week was one of his best yet, and if he could continue that for 3-4 Quarters he could almost be BOG.
He's not the Messiah, he is just a naughty boy.
Take a bow Warren, after 249 Huge Games, you deserve it.
Put simply, our best player ever in the AFL.
Put even simpler, if we dont win this one for you we are a disgrace.
The Teams:
Port Adelaide
B: Jacob Surjan, Alipate Carlile, Troy Chaplin
HB: Nathan Krakouer, Chad Cornes, Steven Salopek
C: Danyle Pearce, Domenic Cassisi, Jason Davenport
HF: Matt Thomas, Warren Tredrea, Brett Ebert
F: Cameron Hitchcock, Jay Schulz, Justin Westhoff
Foll: Dean Brogan, Travis Boak, Kane Cornes
I/C: Jackson Trengove, Paul Stewart, Mitch Banner, Tom Logan
Emg: Jay Nash, Andrew Moore, Daniel Stewart
In: Chaplin, Logan
Out: Andrew Moore, Scott Harding
West Coast
B: Sam Butler, Darren Glass, Brett Jones
HB: Scott Selwood, Eric Mackenzie, Shannon Hurn
C: Andrew Embley, Matt Priddis, Adam Selwood
HF: Luke Shuey, Mitch Brown, Beau Waters
F: Nic Naitanui, Josh Kennedy , Mark Nicoski
Foll: Dean Cox, Chris Masten, Daniel Kerr
I/C: Brad Ebert, Pat McGinnity, Matt Spangher, Tom Swift
Emg: Bradd Dalziell, Quinten Lynch, Will Schofield
In: S. Selwood, Spangher
Out: Mark LeCras (hamstring), Quinten Lynch
Weather:
Saturday - Partly cloudy - Min 15 - Max 23
Final Verdict
We should win, once again we need our youth to step up, and I think they can do it. If we can sneak a win it will really be a strong guide as to where our team sits this year (and it also means two wins in a row which was a rarity last year.)
If we only win one more game this year it should be this one, for Tredders.
Port by 31.
