R1: Port v Geelong Review

A game of contrasting halves in the end. Dissapointing to lose but proud of how they fought back and really gave themselves a chance of winning. If only we coulda kicked straight in the last 10 minutes.

Almost had a tear in my eye in the first minute when Tredders took that strong grab and gave off to Ebo. It was the Monolith of old, and he performed as such as well.

After the game settled and we had kicked 3 goals, we only kicked 3 goals to 9 in the next 50 minutes or so. Our midfield were being spanked and our defence looked shaky as all hell. At halftime similar thoughts were going through my head as they were at halftime in our last meeting. If only Geelong had kicked straight we'd be thrashed.

Was a different side that came out after half time. Hawkins and Mooney barely saw the ball in the second half. Our midfield got on top, our forward line began to work again. We pegged them back and pegged them back and gave ourselves a real chance to steal it.

Abletts goal at the start of the last was a killer. I half expected us to drop our heads after that but we kept going and going and showed the doubters that we can fight a game out.

We certainly had our chances at the end there. Motlop, Ebert and Shaun all missed chances.

The handball out of defence looked a lot more composed than it did earlier this year. We tried to play through the corridor a fair bit. There was a notable added toughness to our game which was missing all last year.

Tredders was great. Led by example. Chad really worked into the game in the second half up forward. Paul Stewart, well done son, great debut. Carlile I thought was very very good in defence in the last 3 quarters. Boak had some slippery fingers but did a lot of good work. Sal was controlled. Thomas tough. Lade, another that led from the front.

The umpiring was laughable at best. Motlops report was as pathetic as ive seen...especially after Chapmans worse effort in the first quarter.

Whilst im never happy to lose, I was quite pleased at how we played out the game, and with a bit more work the signs are there that we could have another very good year this year.

Player Reviews:

Tredrea - Champion. Controlled the forward line. Led well. Marked well. Set his teammates up. It was the Tredrea of old. He looks super fit and ready to play. Well done Captain. One of our best.

Salopek - Liked his game. He marshalls the midfield. Gets the ball at the right time. Needs more pace

Motlop - Insipid first half. Really woke up after half time and added the spark up forward we needed. Needed to do more though

Lade - Controlled the ruck and was excellent around the ground. As usual, goals when we needed them.

P Burgoyne - Thought he was crap to be honest. Had a fair bit of it but his usage of the ball was very poor. Had his moments but again he was too loose in defence and turned the ball over at bad times.

S Burgoyne - Quiet, but seemed to bob up at the right time. Will improve on that.

Surjan - Up and down. His first half seemed quiet but he performed well on Ablett when on him. His second half was better. His disposal for the most part was an improvement on last year. Hope he can keep it up

Boak - Couple of slippery moments but he uses the ball well, has good pace and finds heaps of the footy. Will be a gun. Clever goal in the first quarter.

Stewart - Watched him closely and he played very well. Probably had the better of Gamble. Must listen cloesly to coaches as what I loved about his game was his willingness to work the corridor almost every time he got it. Would move outside, then jut back inside and dish off a nice handball. Fantastic courage, doesnt care whats coming behind him. Good skills and very handy pace and size. Will only improve. Has to get more games in coming weeks.

Rodan - Very quiet first half but was a spark in the second half when we needed it.

Pearce - Cant say I noticed too much of him. Didnt stand out at all.

K Cornes - Played very well on Bartel. Seemed to follow him everywhere. Typical A grade Kane performance.

Brogan - Rucked well. Not a lot around the ground

Cassisi - Thought he was slow to get rid of the ball and made a couple of bad errors but overall had a decent game. Should improve on that.

Carlile - Had a shaky start but he held both Mooney and Hawkins well when standing each. We looked worse off when he was off the ground.

Thurstans - Much tighter after half time but just cant seem to go with the bigger guys as well. Lacked pace.

Thomas - Added much needed toughness although he was pantsed by Chapman in the first half. Liked his game and he used the ball well.

Ebert - Great start, but faded a bit. 3 goals. Good to see him get some touch early in the season.

C Cornes - Thought he was largely unsighted for most of the first half but he really turned the game around in the second half when moved to the forward line. Some strong marks. Just needs to learn how to kick for goal.

Pettigrew - Up and down. Johnson didnt have a great game. Definate improvement on the GF. Ran and tried to create a lot.

Westhoff - Struggled. Has to be given more time in the next couple of weeks. Still kicked a goal but his output was minimal.

Logan - Tough. Thought he had a middle of the road game. Will never star but is a type of player we need.

POTY Votes:
10
9 - K Cornes
8 - Tredrea, Lade, C Cornes
7 - Thomas
6 - Salopek, Stewart, Ebert
5 - Boak, Surjan, Cassisi, Carlile, Logan
4 - Motlop, P Burgoyne, Rodan, Thurstans, Pettigrew
3 - S Burgoyne, Pearce, Brogan
2
1 - Westhoff

Some good points Macca.

Some observations related to your player reviews:

1. Agree with Sal lacking pace. Thought he played well and has just enough tricks to make space when he has the ball and is being pressured, but lacks that bit of leg speed to get to certain contests.

2. Pearce and P. Burgoyne - very crap! In a very big game, they both let us down badly. Stats mean nothing from their games. Rodan at least tried to make the play by really running hard to break the lines. Neither Peter nor Danyle did anything that was game-breaking tonight. Didn't work anywhere near hard enough. Our most disappointing 2 players IMO.

3. Tredrea was enormous! I love watching the play when he is near it and knowing at least he won't lose this contest. Ebert is the other player that applies to in our forward line. Warren was back to his best.

4. Brogan - did virtually nothing in defence did he? Yet his centre square work with Rodan got us back in the game.

5. Stewart and Thomas - Absolute keepers. Likewise, I liked the games of both Pettigrew and Carlile. Ironically our weakest two links in defence were Peter Burgoyne and Thurstans. The kids did well.

Stewart - Watched him closely and he played very well. Probably had the better of Gamble. Must listen cloesly to coaches as what I loved about his game was his willingness to work the corridor almost every time he got it. Would move outside, then jut back inside and dish off a nice handball. Fantastic courage, doesnt care whats coming behind him. Good skills and very handy pace and size. Will only improve. Has to get more games in coming weeks.

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That would be my buddy player. Finally might have made a good choice.

Great review, hard to argue with most of that.

I think the other benefit for both teams was the high quality pressure game they played.

They will both be better for the run and will be more prepared for the 2nd game compared to walking in the park with pansies (que Carlton theme song) lol

I don't think the pressure was all that great for most of the match, and the quality certainly wasn't.

Geelong looked like Port 2002-2004, in that they were prepared to let us control the ball and wait for us to **** up. Meanwhile their own delivery to their teammates was sloppy even under no pressure, plenty of kicks arriving on the half-volley.

agree with op.

couple of points i noticed...

mots kicking for goal... used to him missing but not making the distance from 35-40m?

p.burgoyne: usually racks up possesions across the backline, didn't stand out tonight, decision making really seemed average at best, even in the parts of the game we were on top.

stewart: was fantastic for a first gamer. that run through the middle in the last quarter was glorious. agree that he needs to be there next round.

boak: was really pleased how he got into the game, didn't really do that in the gf, will be great for his confidence and yes he will be a gun.

pearce: not only was he quiet, when he eventually got a touch he was useless. i couldn't believe how little he contributed.

brogan: thought he was good workrate wise. a couple of times he tried to palm it a fair distance (for a palm not a fist if that makes sense) and it went down the throat of a geelong player... what was that about.

pretty good game to watch. next 2 weeks will probably be scrapfests.

Let's not kid ourselves. If Geelong had kicked straight, we would have been pantsed tonight. That being said, there were some positive signs, most notably the fightback. And more importantly, there were a few indications that we could actually match it with Geelong when we applied ourselves.

I wouldn't be rushing to drop anyone out of the side just yet. After all, they ARE the reigning premiers, and the measuring stick for the competition. Let's see how we go against some middling opposition (Sydney, Adelaide) before calling for people's heads.

I'm not depressed like I was last September, but I am disappointed.

Nice review. I'll ignore the obvious biased stuff

You guys really could have won it in the second half, certainly had control of the game.

I think Motlop was reported because it was clearly intentional contact after the mark, and then he argued and swore at the umpire. Though there is no way he will be suspended. So more of a slap on the wrist I suppose.

Overall it was very exciting and had my nerves going from start to finish.

I rate you guys as the second best in the league easily. I would bet on us both being in the Gand Final again, but I'm poor.

Saw this opinion over on TPFP this morning and basically agree with everything said in it.

After having a chance to cool down and process last nights game, here are some of my thoughts

1. Geelong is good, but they aren't as good as many believe. They capitulated last night in the last quarter when we put FORWARD AND MIDFIELD pressure on. Had it not been for the laziness of the first half, some poor discipline regarding frees for 50 metre goals and poor set shots in the last quarter, we ran over the top of them.

2. Why the hell was Surjan taken off Ablett? He absolutely killed him in the first half then to be left wallowing from the goal square when Thompson worked out to take his run out of our rebound from the back half. Good coaching by Thompson, not so by Choco.

3. Turnover ball in the midfield killed us. I counted at least 5 Geelong goals from missed targets due to poor foot skills from our boys.

4. Tredders looks primed. Stewart was impressive.

5. Get rid of the zone and go man on man against Geelong in the next game!

6. We MUST beat Sydney next weekend.

7. We didn't fold when it got tough. This pleased me the most out of a frustrating game.

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You guys proved you are a top 2 side and not a lucky side. You guys wanted that win for many reasons , You went out there and came so close. Well done. Its only round 1 I know , hell we got thrashed round 1 last year by the bulldogs , but signs are there that both sides will continue where they left off last year. Top job power.

I thought Westhoff deserved more then the one point. He worked hard but couldn't shake Scarlett. I honestly thought his leads were ignored too often last night. I was sitting in the pocket and saw he clear a few time only to be ignored for a poorer option. May have something to do with his opponent. He did step up a bit in the last, thought he created some good play along the boudry and kicked that goal. Was a decent link man from outside 50. Probably a rating of 4. I'm not too disappointed in him.

Poor kicking in the third and fourth cost us dearly. I thought when we getting on top in the third we stuffed some simple shots and the same in the fourth when we had a chance. Someone has to talk to Motlop about his kicking again. Touched on the line then a bad miss. Nailed a good un from an angle outside fifty then seem to question himself in the last.

One thing i noticed was that whenever we have a chance in our forward line and we turn the ball over Geelong would go down the other end and goal. We have to be a little bit more aware of the rebound.

Our kicking from behinds was heart in mouth stuff and our play out of defense was shocking in the first half. I'm not sure on Thurstans kicking in, he often had players diving to mark it or reallty having to stretch when it wasn't needed to be put that far out in front.

We showed some strength and courage and that is what most of us were looking for. If we can play like the second half for four quaters we will be good this year. I am not as disappointted as i normally am when we lose a close one. I think there are some good signs for this year.

I thought Thomas was fantastic last night and close to your best. He went in hard and while Chapman got a way from him a bit early, a number of times it wasn't his fault. A couple of times he had to leave Chapman in the first quarter to give a contest elsewhere when other players were not working hard enough. Also he was off the ground when Chapman got one of his goals. A really good game.

I was impressed with Stewart and Logan as well. I'll admit I had written Treadrea off but if he can play like he did last night then he should have a good year.

P Burgoyne is the real concern for you in my opinion. He didn't get enough of it and when he did he didn't use it well. I also think he is just to lose in defence against good opposition. He has been a great player but with his pace dropping off in games like last night he might become a liability.

Thurstans is the other concern but he did have a good year last year so perhaps it was an off night.

You were only just beaten by the best team going around and that was after a few strange umpiring decisions in the first quarter so I still have you in my top four.

MY biggest disappointment was how feeble and loose we were in the first half. Surely a side that got absolutely thumped by their opposition in last year's grand final would come out fighting harder than that? Our disposal was absolutely shocking in the 1st half.

I honestly thought that Geelong ran out of legs in the last quarter which nearly let us steal a game we had no right to win. Good on the boys for the fightback, but I was bitterly disappointed with the effort. Geelong hit the post about 6 times I think which made the game closer than it should have been.

I reckon the scoreboard flattered us.

Tredrea – Good game by Tredrea. Has lost his closing speed and thus both he and Choco will need to readjust his game accordingly as he will not be able to apply the same defensive pressure that he used to. Other than that, he will do all the other things he used to from about round 6ish onwards.

Salopek – Star in the making. The only thing that will stop him being an out and out super mega star is his speed. Can’t have it all hey? Pity.

Motlop – Choco has boxed him in just like he did with Shaun Burgoyne circa 2003 when everyone on here was calling him lazy. C’mon Choco he is way better than just a stay at home HFF.
When he was given a bit more freedom in the third he was one of the main reasons we got back in the game. Yes, I am a big fan of young Daniel.

Lade – No Ottens but hey you can only beat who is out there and he not only beat his opposition but absolutely killed them both in the ruck and up front.

P Burgoyne – Yeah, well, box of chocolate type game and we need to get used to it. He is not a defensive player by instinct however we need his run out of defence. Depending on the opposition coach, some weeks he will look like a superstar and other weeks he will look the opposite. It is up to Choco to move him about when things aren’t working. Another one of them boxes.

S Burgoyne – IMO JB and Motlop should rotate more often during a game. One has dash and forward drive the other toughness and heaps of defensive pressure. Both are highly skilled.
Opposition coaches cannot leave the same player marking both of them as they are markedly different, nor can the player marking say JB in the midfield be go with him up front. JB will embarrass them. Same goes for Motlop.
Rotating them will thus force the opposition to reshuffle their midfield and backline hence potentially breaking any momentum they may have.

Surjan – Had some good moments but overall much of a muchness just like last year.

Boak – Not overly impressed with his skills today but got into the game like a potentially good young player should. He will be some player no doubt but at this stage Selwood >> Boak. Long term who knows.

Stewart – He must be given every chance to be in our best 22 next year. If that means playing him ahead of a player that may be in front of him at this stage, say Pettigrew or Surjan, then so be it. If tonight is a real indication of the sort of player he is, then "Choco you've done it again", found another potential gem.
22 games and will be a fair chance at a rising star nomination if not more.

Rodan – We know what we get with Rodan and we also know that he will not hesitate to try and change the pattern of the game by taking them on when no one is expecting him to. That sort of stuff can change games when it works.

Pearce – Dunno. No defensive pressure at all. At least not what is expected from an AFL player.

K Cornes – Seemed to be playing as a non tagging midfielder to start with and Aaaargh his skills and decision making killed us. Went back to his normal role and blitzed as per usual.

Brogan – Not one of his better games (nor his worst) but given the fact he almost didn’t come up it was to be expected.

Cassisi – Dunno about this game. Some solid stuff and lots of ... well … Meh type stuff.

Carlile – He will be our FB for many many years. Good game and like every other game of his, an improvement on his previous start. Quickly becoming a big fan of his.

Thurstans – He will always struggle against big fast forwards that have good midfielders delivering the ball to them. Who doesn’t. The real question if it happens too often is, why isn’t someone else filling the hole?
However he will always leave his man to help others (as good as Chad was in this respect) and thus make other talls seem like they had a better game than they actually did.
Provides good run out of defence not by being a link in a chain (they are the ones that seem to get all the credit around these parts) but by getting the ball out of tight spots and moving it on quickly to another player. Our best defender IMO.

Thomas – Like like like. Nuff said. No, nowhere near enough. Like like like.

Ebert – Again, good at finishing but needs to find some extra closing speed to apply defensive pressure, plus go down field to help out a bit more. Either that or average 4 goals a game. Harsh? No just how good he is and thus should be. Perhaps he doesn't quite realise it.

C Cornes – Like always he gets better as the game wears on. Big big reason we got back into the game. Looks bigger and stronger than last year.
Overall our best player I thought but Lade’s 4 quarter effort edged him out of top spot.
If Chad Cornes can start games as well as he finishes them, then hello Mr Brownlow for a few years in a row.

Pettigrew – Do not understand what the fuss is about. Wing or HFF perhaps, but not KP defender.

Westhoff – If for some reason we stop being a chance for the premiership at some stage during the year, then send him to the gym as his lack of strength is all that is stopping him being a top shelf forward.

Logan – Tommy Gun
No team is happy less they got one

I agree with you about Tobes *PAF. I thought he was our best defender over 4 quarters. He battled really hard against enormous odds I thought. Was also pleased with Bob's perseverance as he could easily have dropped his head but kept going and finished the game well.

I'm not sure if P Burgoyne is not up to the midfield anymore but I would have thought that as a gamebreaker there still need to be times where he is chucked on the ball or thrown forward to create. I know that his role has become one similar to the backline quarterback but I'm not sure if he is being used 100% effectively.

Liked our hardness at the contest- certainly hurt a couple of cats.

As for Pearce.....Sturt have their first game next week

Nice review, macca, although I agree with burninglevi that you're being a little harsh on Westhoff, and I also agree that Thurstans played pretty well.

All in all, I'm pretty encouraged by our performance. We were under a lot of pressure to take it up to Geelong after such a bad loss in the grand final last year. Whilst we were sloppy at times, you couldn't fault Port's endeavour.

You don't like to use the term "honourable loss", but I actually think last night was just that. I didn't think we would win and we did get very close. Now we just have to take that same endeavour to Sydney next week. We get a nice break before then, so no excuses for not winning in Sydney.

The Motlop report was a joke surely. Think he could be in trouble for another late hit he gave in the 2nd quarter it may have been, down infront of the Member stand. Cant recall who it was on.

I think as someone posted above, while Port played much better in the second half, had Geelong's 4 or 5 posters been goals, the outcome could have been much different. I thought Chad Cornes looked ok up foward also. Westhoff also surprised me, he didnt appear (to me anyway) to get many touches, which is much different to the impact he had last year.

Pearce is really starting to s*** me off.
Where's his defensive pressure??

Was very impressed with Boak last night.
Did slip up a bit, but thought he played alot better than some of the others out there (Pearce, Burgoyne etc).

I agree with Burninglevi. Westhoff was ignored more than once, but Scarlett was to good for him. He needs some gym work..... badly.

Chad and Kane were good, as always.

Thought the umpiring was very, very poor. Us on the outer wing were really pissed off with that display of umpiring.

Motlop shouldn't have been reported. IMO that was a joke. The player that should of been reported was the clown who nearly ripped Tredreas head off.

Thurstans had his good moments. For the last 1.5 quarters he was good, created some drive and defended well. Before that though he was terrible. There was a couple of moments in the 3rd quarter where he happily stood 5 metres behind Hawkins, despite the ball being only 30 metres away. Hawkins marked 10 metres in front of a very lazy Toby both times. Once he had a shot and missed, the other he passed to Johnson where a very annoyed Pettigrew let him know about it. You cant afford to give any forward that much head start.

Westhoff, I gave him 1 because of his goal. He did one or two other nice things and got into the game a bit in the last 1/4 but by then it was too late. He barely touched it to 3/4 time.

Macca19 said:

Thurstans had his good moments. For the last 1.5 quarters he was good, created some drive and defended well. Before that though he was terrible. There was a couple of moments in the 3rd quarter where he happily stood 5 metres behind Hawkins, despite the ball being only 30 metres away. Hawkins marked 10 metres in front of a very lazy Toby both times. Once he had a shot and missed, the other he passed to Johnson where a very annoyed Pettigrew let him know about it. You cant afford to give any forward that much head start.

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Thurstans was Bassettish circa 2003-4 last night.

Forced to play in a genuine key post he's majority awful, allowed to play third-up he returns to being highly effective (not AA effective like Bassett though, obvs).

Highly obvious to say, but with Chaplin back both Tobias and the rest of the defence as a whole will look much better.

Macca19 said:

Thurstans had his good moments. For the last 1.5 quarters he was good, created some drive and defended well. Before that though he was terrible. There was a couple of moments in the 3rd quarter where he happily stood 5 metres behind Hawkins, despite the ball being only 30 metres away. Hawkins marked 10 metres in front of a very lazy Toby both times. Once he had a shot and missed, the other he passed to Johnson where a very annoyed Pettigrew let him know about it. You cant afford to give any forward that much head start.

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Tobes also took a lovely grab in the third quarter.

On the Motlop report, it looked like a very sloppy late hit to me. He'll probably get off with a warning, maybe get a week if he has form.

*PAF said:

Lade – No Ottens but hey you can only beat who is out there and he not only beat his opposition but absolutely killed them both in the ruck and up front.

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lade was awesome
almost bog

he will keep you ahead if he plays like that this year

great player

raikkonen said:

The Motlop report was a joke surely. Think he could be in trouble for another late hit he gave in the 2nd quarter it may have been, down infront of the Member stand. Cant recall who it was on.

I think as someone posted above, while Port played much better in the second half, had Geelong's 4 or 5 posters been goals, the outcome could have been much different. I thought Chad Cornes looked ok up foward also. Westhoff also surprised me, he didnt appear (to me anyway) to get many touches, which is much different to the impact he had last year.

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If Motlop goes for either of those, I'll be ... I'll be .... nah none of that works - it'll just be another step along the diminishing path of contact in the AFL.

Watching on tv, I thought Thurstans played a pretty good game. He was prepared to back himself and run and create from defence, and he made some plays in defence, certainly in the second half. Maybe I was giving him too much credit, and not paying enough attention to defensive work, but I was surprised to find him being bagged a little here.

Motlop will be found guilty. Not sure what level the charge will be - he might get off with a reprimand - but personally, I thought it was pretty weak (by him). There are plenty of soft suspensions that annoy me these days in the AFL, but they tend to be for acts that are in play. Motlop's only saving grace was that it looked like he didn't made proper contact, so it might not have been reported a while back, but it was still a late hit in the back, with no intent at the ball. Blatant and automatic 50 metres. Given the game situation and the location on the field, it was incredibly stupid.

My favourite moment of the game: when Tredders chased down Ablett, forced a turnover (with help from another player - Thomas?), then passed to Lade for a goal. He is moving so much better than he was last year, and looks in for a big season.