Review PF: Port v Hawthorn Review

[El_Scorcho]

Butcher takes the honours, Brad's had some pretty big off field stuff to deal with & he at least had half an AA standard season.

Butcher was thrown into the abyss after round 3, despite having performed basically as well as you'd expect a 20 game KPF to perform in that time, solid contribution but not having an enormous impact. He went back to the SANFL and was top 3 in the Ken Farmer for more than half the season, averaging 3 goals a game until about round 15.

If he'd been given the opportunities that Sam Gray and Kane Mitchell got this year, we'd be a better side for it, and he'd be a 40 game developing KPF instead of a 23 game developing KPF.

Anyway I don't need to post anymore about this i've written literally thousands of words on this board.

Brad may have had some off field issues, but he dropped from damaging top 3 midfielder to non-descript nothingness in the 2nd half of the season and was absolutely nowhere to be seen during our struggles.

I know he's better than that and i'm expecting him to step up massively next season.

 

[Seanybruz]

I don't think Brad's handled the added weight of his vice captain duties whilst dealing with his off field stuff, might be best to give him a rest on the leadership stuff next year & just let him focus on getting back to playing good footy.

I'm not making excuses for him but his 2nd half of the season hasn't been as people make out he's still contributed to the team just not as efficiently as he normally does http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pg-port-adelaide-power--bradley-ebert

As for Butcher well you know I was on the play Butcher wagon when he was contributing well to the Magpies but he can only blame himself for not having the coaches faith to the point where he demanded a game ahead of several hobbit sized rookies.

 

[heh]

...

It was a classic game of football. I have a feeling we'll see more classic games between our clubs in the coming years.

This is pretty much what I was intruding to say.
Love the way your boys play, and I don't look forward to you probably kicking our butt into the middle of next week when we play next.

 

[pastmyprimus]

This is pretty much what I was intruding to say.
Love the way your boys play, and I don't look forward to you probably kicking our butt into the middle of next week when we play next.

Port-Hawthorn games next year deserve a blockbuster timeslot in the minor round season. I'm expecting more tight finishes. It will do wonders for my nerves.

 

[Garibaldi Red]

So close yet so far away, great summary Macca19.

We were sitting in the AFL Members area so the Port supporters were outnumbered at least 4-1 more likely 9-1 but they were loud and passionate.

I was peeved after the game when we copped a couple of "nice try" comments but the one that took the cake was a bloke who said to my 23 y.o. daughter "so close sweetie". It took all of her strength not to have a go back and I am glad she didn't 'cause I am not sure I could have held her back either.

 

[Willsy10]

Back to work today after a big weekend in Melbourne, still absoultely devastated by the results this weekend. 7 points away from a AFL Grand Final and SANFL premiership, could it of panned out any worse than this? Nevertheless the whole MCG/Melbourne prelim final experience will be something i'll never forget. The amount of Port people in Fed square and during the march was something else, i knew we would have plenty of support in Melbourne but i was still blown away.

The amount of Melbournians that also wished me luck and the family i travelled with luck on Saturday was very welcoming, we seemed to have all the Neutral fans on our side in Melbourne and it is a nice change to Adelaide where if you don't support us it is ingrained in you to absolutely despise us and support whoever we are playing against with more passion than you would support your own team.

All in all it was a very tough loss to swallow but i'm extremely confident that the boys will learn a valuable lesson from this and come back a better team next year. We are not a side that is going to be satisfied with being a "kick away from the grand final", we are on a journey to win a premiership and so far that journey under the guidance of Ken Hinkley has gone to a script i couldn't imagine was possible 2 years ago. 5th 2013, 3rd 2014, if someone told me that was what was going to happen 2 years ago i would've laughed at them. We now have 2 years of valuable finals experience under our belt where we have played some of our best footy, we love the big occassions this group and don't shy away from it like the Port sides of 2001-2003, this finals experience is going to hold us in good stead moving forward. We will play finals again next year, and next time we will hopefully have enough experience to take our chances better than we did on Saturday. That was the only difference in the end, Hawks are a finals hardened team they suffered a very similar loss against Collingwood in a prelim in 2011 and have come back to play in 3 grand finals in a row. We are still learning, we are still very young but we will get better.

bring on 2015

 

[biskit]

Gutted but proud. I feel this way like a lot of other posters.

I feel like we were the better team all over the ground but for our polish and kicking for goal. All year our guys have tried their guts out and ran and ran and ran - too often though we are trying to win from behind, or missing too many opportunities.

Our losses since the midway part of the year when we were 10-1 were as follows:
PA 13.16 to Sydney 14.14. 29 scoring shots to 28, lost by 4 points in Sydney.
PA 10.16 to Adelaide 14.15. 26 scoring shots to 29, lost by 23 points.
PA 7.18 to Essendon 8.14. 25 shots to 22, lost by 2 points.
PA 16.10 to Richmond 19.12. 26 shots to 31, lost by 20 points.
PA 10.10 to Collingwood 11.10. 20 shots to 21, lost by 6 points.
PA 7.16 to Sydney 12.12. 23 shots to 24, lost by 26 points.
PA 14.13 to Fremantle 16.9. 27 shots to 25, lost by 8 points.
PA 13.16 to Hawthorn 15.7. 29 shots to 22, lost by 3 points.

In these 8 games, we kicked a total of 90 goals and 115 behinds, to our opponents 109 goals 93 behinds - ie 205 shots to 202, for 8 losses.

I really felt like we were as good as, or better, than our opponents around the ground in 5 of these games. To me, the only games that felt like our opponents were clearly the better team were the Crows game (when we had 11 frees to 24), the Richmond game (in Melbourne against a team in the middle of a 9 game winning streak) and perhaps the Collingwood game (when we had a lot of players down with illness). Even in the second Sydney game, I felt like we matched it with them - they kicked a few late goals and the margin flattered them.

It's obvious, I know, bad kicking is bad footy, but, composure and use of the ball including kicking for goal are I think the two main areas that we need to improve. I think too that we are taking too many shots at goal from on or near the boundary line - they are hard to get from there.

The future looks promising if we can improve in these key areas.

 

[MrMeaner]

And what about the time Hombsch went down in the final quarter and the ump allowed play around him? If they had scored a goal that would have been allowed but he whistled it up when Bobby had a clear run to get it out and bounced the ball in their attacking area.

I had no problem with that. The trainers called for play to be stopped because the ball and the following pack came very close to bowling the trainers over onto Hombsch. It was common sense, IMO.

 

[mic59]

I had no problem with that. The trainers called for play to be stopped because the ball and the following pack came very close to bowling the trainers over onto Hombsch. It was common sense, IMO.

I had no problem with them stopping play. What I had a problem with was that the ball was about to be cleared and play was restarted with a bounce in their 50. A free to Carlile would have been the common sense decision. I do find it difficult to blame the umpires as that is the rule. Maybe something needs to be done about it.

 

[PNess]

Commiserations for Saturday night. What an epic encounter, your future looks bright.

You play an exciting brand of footy and Boak and Hinkley are very likable blokes.

Hope your boys have a good pre-season and are there again at the pointy end.

 

[Janus]

In the cold light of day, the difference between us and Hawthorn is Jarryd Roughead - a ******* priority pick. If we had received the same compensation when we were s**t, we would have had Day/Cameron/Patton/Lynch in our forward line instead of Neade and would have torn the Hawks to pieces.

 

[Chewy316]

Butcher takes the honours imo as he should've stepped up in a position we were desperate for help in.

Brad's had some pretty big off field stuff to deal with & he at least had half an AA standard season.

Is this well known? First I've heard of it.

 

[mic59]

Gutted but proud. I feel this way like a lot of other posters.

I feel like we were the better team all over the ground but for our polish and kicking for goal. All year our guys have tried their guts out and ran and ran and ran - too often though we are trying to win from behind, or missing too many opportunities.

Our losses since the midway part of the year when we were 10-1 were as follows:
PA 13.16 to Sydney 14.14. 29 scoring shots to 28, lost by 4 points in Sydney.
PA 10.16 to Adelaide 14.15. 26 scoring shots to 29, lost by 23 points.
PA 7.18 to Essendon 8.14. 25 shots to 22, lost by 2 points.
PA 16.10 to Richmond 19.12. 26 shots to 31, lost by 20 points.
PA 10.10 to Collingwood 11.10. 20 shots to 21, lost by 6 points.
PA 7.16 to Sydney 12.12. 23 shots to 24, lost by 26 points.
PA 14.13 to Fremantle 16.9. 27 shots to 25, lost by 8 points.
PA 13.16 to Hawthorn 15.7. 29 shots to 22, lost by 3 points.

In these 8 games, we kicked a total of 90 goals and 115 behinds, to our opponents 109 goals 93 behinds - ie 205 shots to 202, for 8 losses.

It's obvious, I know, bad kicking is bad footy, but, composure and use of the ball including kicking for goal are I think the two main areas that we need to improve. I think too that we are taking too many shots at goal from on or near the boundary line - they are hard to get from there.

The future looks promising if we can improve in these key areas.

From where I was, I could make out the mowed sections of the MCG. In the first quarter Ebert had a kick that he looked to have placed perfectly just for it to tail off at the last second. Then Westhoff had a kick from the same mowed section where he compensated for the Ebert kick but it moved across the goal. Hawthorn never had a shot from that section of the ground, obviously aware that it was a minefield and generally tried to attack straight or move into the centre when shooting for goal. The thinking there would be that any shot is likely to be a point and turn possession over while a move into the centre may allow a shot from in front or at least keep the defence under pressure. And if there was no result then the loss in score may be just 1 point whereas if a goal is missed and a behind scored, the opposition may be able to run the ball down for a goal of their own.

Of the Hawthorn goals, the only one that was a real snap from traffic was when Hale took it down in the ruck and there were no snaps from angles. The tightest angle of any set shot would have been about 70 degrees and most were in the 50-60 range. Roughhead kicked a couple off the ground but he was in the best position for them and would always be expected to get that type of goal. He just had to make sure his frame was the one that stayed in front

 

[Seanybruz]

Is this well known? First I've heard of it.

It was mentioned in an article he had a family member who was battling a serious illness, I spoke to someone who's pretty close to his family about his form during his slump & she said he was having trouble dealing with it.

I don't know anymore than that but that's the main reason why I haven't been critical of his slight drop off in form, Hodge is a star & has made plenty of those match saving spoils so I think it's a little unfair to blame Ebo for playing on.

 

[PNess]

In the cold light of day, the difference between us and Hawthorn is Jarryd Roughead - a ******* priority pick. If we had received the same compensation when we were s**t, we would have had Day/Cameron/Patton/Lynch in our forward line instead of Neade and would have torn the Hawks to pieces.

I'm glad Ken Hinkley is a class act and knows how to accept defeat with grace.

 

[Powerade 08]

Is this well known? First I've heard of it.

Probably not well known but not a secret either.

Brad's grandmother was recently diagnosed with MND, which is why almost everyone at the club has taken part in the ice bucket challenge.

 

[Schulzenfest]

In the cold light of day, the difference between us and Hawthorn is Jarryd Roughead - a ******* priority pick.

Not really. They would've had Roughead with or without priority picks. The priority pick is the reason they had Franklin, and he left for * all via free agency anyway.

 

[Coobk001]

So close yet so far away, great summary Macca19.

We were sitting in the AFL Members area so the Port supporters were outnumbered at least 4-1 more likely 9-1 but they were loud and passionate.

I was peeved after the game when we copped a couple of "nice try" comments but the one that took the cake was a bloke who said to my 23 y.o. daughter "so close sweetie". It took all of her strength not to have a go back and I am glad she didn't 'cause I am not sure I could have held her back either.

So as someone outside of the Port bays how loud were we? I mean internally within our bays it was insane, but you can't tell if our small pockets actually generated as much noise as their majority support but it felt like we were making more noise than them.

 

[FishingRick04]

It was mentioned in an article he had a family member who was battling a serious illness, I spoke to someone who's pretty close to his family about his form during his slump & she said he was having trouble dealing with it.

I don't know anymore than that but that's the main reason why I haven't been critical of his slight drop off in form, Hodge is a star & has made plenty of those match saving spoils so I think it's a little unfair to blame Ebo for playing on.

There was nothing wrong with the play on, just the execution, but under pressure and fatigue it's hard to belt the guy around the ears, I would have loved to seen a baulk and side step, Hodge is a smart footy player, the candy may not of worked either.

 

[Janus]

Not really. They would've had Roughead with or without priority picks. The priority pick is the reason they had Franklin, and he left for **** all via free agency anyway.

Depends on how you define it. The consensus at the time was that Hawthorn picked Roughead with their priority because they were sure that Richmond wouldn't pick Franklin with pick 2. If they only had one pick, it wouldn't be as clear cut - they could have went either way.

 

[Smithy7]

There was nothing wrong with the play on, just the execution, but under pressure and fatigue it's hard to belt the guy around the ears, I would have loved to seen a baulk and side step, Hodge is a smart footy player, the candy may not of worked either.

Well the same could be said about Chad when he marked and played on and missed. Against Fremantle he put his hand up after free kick and had a the set shot and goaled .. It is all a learning curve.........

 

[MrFujiMoto]

Well played Port, great game of footy and you guys have plenty to look forward to over the next few years. It could be the point that drives you through the pre-season. We used 2011 like that and it worked well. Best of luck over the off season and I am sure we will have some great contests next year.

 

[Forzaport]

I thought it was common knowledge that if Hawthorn only had 1 pick they would have gone for Franklin over Roughead.

That priority pick system was such a farce.

 

[Chewy316]

Probably not well known but not a secret either.

Brad's grandmother was recently diagnosed with MND, which is why almost everyone at the club has taken part in the ice bucket challenge.

Ahhh yes I completely forgot about that. Knew she had MND but didn't know that she had only recently been diagnosed with it.

 

[lachy]

The amount of Melbournians that also wished me luck and the family i travelled with luck on Saturday was very welcoming, we seemed to have all the Neutral fans on our side in Melbourne and it is a nice change to Adelaide where if you don't support us it is ingrained in you to absolutely despise us and support whoever we are playing against with more passion than you would support your own team.

That's because your club in general has a lot of respect in Melbourne. Unlike that other team over there, Port do not have a chip on their shoulders, simply a genuine club that strives to win but is humble in both victory and defeat. A great working class club.

Contrary to popular belief Melbournians do not hate interstate clubs in general, just the arrogant ones or those with chips on their shoulders.

Your supporters were immense at the G on Saturday, and I was there supporting your team, not just for the way it plays but for the way it goes about it.

Good luck next year in all games, except those against the doggies