Review R23: Port v Fremantle Review

[b0ydman]

Yeah unfortunately after such an outstanding year it was our back 6 that let us down today.
Fumbly with the ball, playing too loose, and not enough composure. Hombsch pretty good after a slow start, Jonas was OK loose and going forward but just couldn't ever see him winning the Walters match up. Impey really good on Ballas early, but Ross clearly told him to lift after half time and isolated him in as much space to go one on one with Impey, and unfortunately Ballantyne was too smart and experienced for Impey.
Really good to see that we are back to some top form, with our best good enough to beat anyone. However we clearly are still not completely sure of ourselves.

= outcoached today?

 

[Jdawgz]

Walters and ballantyne kicked 7 between them today..so really bringing jarmin in was a big waste! the whole defence looked sheeeeit really.

 

[TheArtfulTodger]

Everyone knows how Freo plays. Massive numbers back, isolate the small forwards, team defence, Sandilands wins the hitouts. And yet only one team has beaten them over there this year, and typically it was Norf. It's one thing to know what they are going to do, it is another thing to stop it. We couldn't do it, and just about everyone else couldn't either. Win next week, we will most likely get another shot at it. We will have learned a few things today.

 

[mic59]

Apart from the obvious, there were 3 pieces of play that took me back to the bad old days. One was when Westhoff in trying to move the ball on quickly put up a hanger on top of Pittard with 2 Freo players bearing down on him. This was during Freo's run of goals. Another was when Mayne dropped a simple mark inside 50 and we could have run it out but Mayne was allowed to knock it out and Mzungu kicked a goal. This was after we had kicked 3.2 without reply in the second term and Freo were coming again. The third was when the ball was kicked into Freo's forward line and Taberner was allowed to take a mark from three deep.

 

[Powerade 08]

Pittard- is NOT good enough to be an AFL premiership defender. Give him time and space and he's almost God like. Make it tough and hard and he's a joke. Players like Pittard lose you tough games, they never, ever win you tough games. His errors are terrible. Watch how 'hard' Pittard chases when he hasn't got the ball compared to when he has, it's staggering how much he avoids contact. Weak!

I think you are highly overrating him. I don't want him having time and space with the ball.

 

[Jakko]

Loved some of the times Ollie ignored the instinct handball and decided to look forward and take people on. Want to see more of this.

 

[Hinkley Effect]

Pittard... he is really important to our game plan, his run and carry is bloody important, but geez, every now and then, he has a game where he fumbles everything, he struggled to clean-take a basic uncontested handball receive today, let alone standing up in an important one on one.

I didn't come here to player bash but to critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of our players.

With about 2 minutes left on the clock, I believe the ball was cleared to Ebert. He was running by himself, had no pressure on himself and his i50 was an absolute shank off the boot straight to fremantle's loose player (apologies if it wasn't Ebbo). This was compounded by another attemped i50 earlier in the corner - he was on the end of a chain of handballs on the far wing (TV perspective), he was the last of the chain, went to send it in long, skimmed off his boot, traveled about 20m at head height - taken by fremantle against the run of play and goal. That just guts you as a supporter and what i imagine, even more so as a player. We were making our comeback with extremely limited time. We had to play precision footy.

When it comes to finals, you are required to play clinical football. Make the most of your chances. Limit damage and turnovers. We let ourselves down in that area today.

I think Neade would have been the man to sub. White gets limited footy - but stands up in big moments.

I would have brought out Moore/Monfries for Impey. O'Shea is a great reader of the football. On the big paterson stadium ground, that's vital.

Monfries - pretty obviously not an impact player, provided nothing as sub. If we play him, it's for 3-4 quarters.

Impey - hard to knock an 18 year old, but he does some dumb staff - great one on one, but mate, if you drag the footy in, it is the easiest free kick to give. That play in the third quarter, raking the ball in, that was always going to be paid holding the ball

Learning experience. Let's get better, stronger, smarter. Front up for next week, if we're good enough to win first week, take experience today to help us get over the line next time.

Carn Port Adelaide

 

[QPower]

I am not a huge fan of elimination finals as no one has ever made a GF in modern system let alone won a flag. They are an also ran cup.

But that is where we have ended up. Thought Freo showed us how far we have to go when the game was there to be won, we are still a fair way off the big boys. The defensive pressure fell away and we lacked composure with the ball. We need to get better and not assume it will be a natural progression. The junk time goals in the 4th qtr happened after Freo's focus had moved to Sydney. They were fools gold.

Most sides in our position fall back to the pack rather than break into the top 4 the next year. That is reality. We need another summer where no stone is left unturned in search of the required improvement.

 

[rogerjames]

Well it was a great 2 1/2 quarters we had going there. Great contested footy, lots of pressure in the midfield, some good team work and we were winning despite the fact our defence was a total shambles all day. And then it stopped. Really disappointing 2nd half.

Credit to Freo, they showed us how far we have to go in that second half. They just killed us on the transition time and time again. We looked sluggish after half time. Couldnt go with their cutting plays through the middle and the outer wing. Had no answer for their open forward line where their smalls destroyed us.

Was shades of 2013 where 15-20 minutes of footy just killed the game and gave us no chance. Fair play for Port playing it out to the end and giving ourselves a big chance, but you cant give up 9 goals in a row, 9 goals in about 25 minutes and expect to win.

We did a lot of things well throughout the game. I thought our clearance work around the ground was very good. i thought our skills in tight through the middle were very good. I thought our forward line worked reasonably well for most of the game.

As its been all year though, our skills in the forward 50 were poor. Why we persist on handballing 3-4-5 times in the forward 50 looking for the perfect kick when we could easy snap the first time does my head in. Our defensive structures were miles away from what we've seen all year and you've got to question whether dropping O'Shea was the right move in hindsight. Our midfield still cant win clearances 1 on 1 in the centre square. It kills us often.

A lot to work on for next week. Our opponent still up in the air. We've got a home final. There is a lot to look forward to for this season yet. Statistically we cant win the flag from 5th.

Time to make history.

Player Reviews:
Boak - Such a good contest with Crowley all day. Thought Boaky started really well in the first quarter, was beaten well in the middle two before being the catalyst of our late last quarter charge. It was all inside work with Trav today though. There was no outside run and thats where Crowley got the better of him. His inside work was still excellent.

Broadbent - Thought his positioning was well off today. Liked what he did when he had the ball but as the loose man, he just had to impact the play in their defensive 50 more. Its been my criticism for much of the year that he just gets lost in no mans land too often. Im not sure if its a coaching directive or he just cant just the correct distances too well but he needs to work on it.

Carlile - Thought he was alright on Pav. Pav got a lot of the ball up and outside the 50 and didnt have much of a play inside 50 outside of the first quarter. Can play better than that though.

Cornes - A much better effort on Hill compared to the earlier game this year. Really took him out of the play for most of the day except for a 15 minute period in the second half. Thought he was very good with the ball. Came to play today. Great effort.

Ebert - Was a good battle between Brad & Barlow, then Brad & Neale. Thought defensively he did a reasonable job and thought his skills for the most part were better than we've seen recently. He still has too many kicks smothered though.

Gray - Is that Robbie's third best on ground in a row? Could that have won him the Brownlow? We'll find out in a few weeks time but damn he was sensational again today. Not without fault though. Wasted 3 shots on goal in the first half and he turned it over 1 or 2 other times. But despite that, he was still our best player and again by some margin. Was so so good at the stoppages and just continuously wins the contested ball. So hard to knock off the ball when hes over it and he gave us a big chance of getting up in that last quarter with a couple of goals, including a pressure set shot!

Hartlett - Was very good again and played a great role through the midfield and finding some space on the wings. Again he is trending more inside than out which is great as he is such a good reader of the play at the stoppages. Kicked 2 fine goals. Is without doubt in career best form at the moment and its come at just the right time for Hammer to go bang in the finals.

Hombsch - Had an absolute horror start to the game. Worst 20 minutes of footy he's played all year. Worked his way back into it well and not only shut Taberner out of the play, he also provided some really handy attack coming out of that defensive 50. Read the play really well in the second half. Was the best of our defenders.

Impey - Excellent first half where he kept Ballantyne completely out of the play. Then got spanked after half time. His positioning will come with more experience and unfortunately Ballantyne was switched on in that second half.

Jonas - Good on Walters to begin with but Walters slowly took over control of that match up and was one of Freo's best players on the day. Thought TJ wasn't overly bad with the ball though. Must improve next week.

Lobbe - It was a very interesting battle between him and Sandi and I thought Lobbe did a fine job. Had his fair share of hitouts and was able to find our players aroudn the ground. It was his ruckwork at the centre bounce which let him down.

Monfries - Had a couple of chances in the last to impact the play but couldnt take them. Really had to have that shot from 25 out instead of handballing it.

Moore - He salvaged his game with a very good last 20 minutes but before that he was poor. Really poor. After such a great year last year in terms of winning his own footy and becoming a good option at the stoppages, he's just regressed a long way this year. I'm not sure if he is concerned about his shoulder or whether its still an issue but he is so timid now. I'm not saying he is soft, but he doesnt attack from front on as he was last year. Just always seems to be going in 2nd gear when we need him going at the ball as Boak does. It lets him down a lot and could cost him a spot next week.

Neade - Thrashed by Sutcliffe, then Duffield. Nice start in the first quarter, but outside of that barely got a kick.

Pittard - Defensively ok, one of our better one on one defenders on the day. With the ball he was a mixed bag. Definitely his worst game since the Sydney game, but wasnt a total disaster.

Polec - Foot skills were good, handball skills need a lot of work. Its been a theme all year where he just cant hit the target with his handballs and it leads to turnovers. Thought his run was important a lot of the time today and it was good to see him come and play in a big game.

Schulz - Schulzy! What a gun. Great performance today in a forward line that wasnt delivering the ball to him overly well for much of the game. 6 goals was an excellent return and it was good to see him have a huge game against a big opponent as well. Attacked the ball hard, marked well on the lead and his radar was on. 2nd best on ground behind Gray for mine.

Trengove - Defensively good against Clarke but he was another whos positioning was a little over the place. not by design, I thought Clarke did a good job in keeping him in the pockets and flanks and away from the centre of the ground.

Westhoff - Is so infuriatingly at times that you just want to break something but overall he had a good 4 quarter effort and provided the right option as 2nd tall that we needed. Pushed well up the ground and thought he patrolled the half forward line well. One of our best. Whilst his influence may vary from week to week, he's found a lot of consistency in that he is getting 17-23 touches and around 10 marks a week now.

White - A few really good runs and one incredible piece of play where he won the hard ball which led to our first goal of the 3rd quarter, but again just needs to find more of the ball.

Wines - Strong as an ox, tough as old boots. Any cliche you like, Ollie is it. Puts his body on the line each week and never takes a backward step. Thought he was very good and rediscovered some of his best form after a reasonably indifferent last 5-6 weeks. To cop that hit in the third quarter and play out the game well shows his guts and his class. Looking forward to seeing what he can do next week.

Wingard - He switched into Wingod mode at times throughout the game including a ripping 2nd quarter, but just couldnt find that consistency across 4 quarters. Had a poor first quarter and wasn't really sighted for much of the second half. 15 & 2, I'll take that.

POTY Votes:
10
9
8 - Gray, Schulz
7 - Cornes, Hartlett, Westhoff
6 - Boak, Hombsch, Polec, Wines
5 - Ebert, Lobbe
4 - Carlile, Trengove, Wingard
3 - Pittard
2 - Broadbent, Impey, Jonas, Moore, White
1 - Monfries, Neade
0

Westhoff - moments where he didn't go hard enough. The run down was a game changer. Should be better than that. Needs more mongrel

 

[E Shed]

Hey guys, just dropped by to say how much I enjoyed watching your team play today.
So many good players and a very attractive brand of footy.
I know Grey & Wingard (rightly) get a lot of the plaudits but I just love Hartlett. Such a natural footballer and a genius around a clearance. Strong, evasive, good vision and a booming kick.
It was a terrific game to be at and a good tuneup for both teams before the finals.
Good luck for September.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Not sure our defence is 'nice'. Its just not campaignery enough maybe. We struggle against teams that rely on their smalls to kick the majority of their goals. But we are one year into fixing that so it will take a bit of time.

I get what Black 18 means and I suspect your 'campaignery' comment means you do too. It's been a problem through Choco's Gaelic football years and Primus's humble years. We don't have a bloke that will peel off and crunch a guy. Nothing too obvious, heck you saw Ballantyne do it early today when he put the knees into Hombsch. Nothing particularly obvious or illegal but let him know he was around. Impey is the most likely guy in our team to hand out a bit of punishment, but geez it would be nice if Bobby did it.

One of the great things about our 04 side was they had that type of player. No one messed around with Brogan, Hardwick or Pickett, and just quietly Gav would sort you out too. Jack taught him well before he left. We didn't fear the Scotts or Brown or anyone in the Brisbane side. But have no fear, Kenny knows that a bit of intimidation factor goes a long way.

Disappointed to lose obviously, it was one that we let get away. Two goals up early in the third and running on top of the grass, and bang conceded 9 goals in a row to paint ourselves into a corner we couldn't quite get out of. Even so, it didn't remind me of those disappearing acts last year. In those games we simply were nowhere to be seen for extended periods. In this game we still created chances during the run but bugger it, we couldn't convert one.

I know it's unfashionable to say this, but sometimes the run of the ball goes against you in a game. The really good, experienced sides find a way to weather that, like an experienced boxer the find the footballing equivalent of hanging onto an opponent or covering up on the ropes. We haven't quite mastered that yet but we are getting there.

Two weeks ago Freo kicked 5.3 to 1.2 in the third quarter against Hawthorn to blow open an even game, so we're in good company.

Monfries is not a sub, he's neither quick nor a big marking tall, he wears you down by attrition, and I saw nothing to change my mind to have picked O'Shea ahead of Moore.

While we won the stoppages, clearances and nearly broke even in the centre clearances, Sandi gives them a huge leg up at critical times. Can get the big hit out to break momentum or pull down a big pack mark. No two ways about it, he is a marvel.

Ah well, it's one of the toughest road trips going and while we dropped both of those games this year (Sydney and Freo) we gave both teams an almighty shake. We have to keep remembering it's a journey and we have to keep improving. We've made finals again and so we are on the road to building a strongly competitive culture. We have to add a premiership next to make it a winning culture that we associate with Port Adelaide and keep backing that up.

 

[FishingRick04]

It's a fair point Ford. Hawks lost by more and are still a premiership threat.

 

[PAFC04]

TBH....couldn't care less if we win or lose today, would have preferred the later.

What was really pleasing to see was one of our goals that was slowly worked up the ground with some composure which was finished off with hartlett I think.

Overall, I think we played OK.... its a good loss to have really......


So we now face Richmond......... bring it on!!

 

[rogerjames]

I'm not sure Monfries offers much as a sub. He's either starting 21 or out for mine. At the moment I'd be leaning toward out.

Out

 

[Noobz0r]

I get what Black 18 means and I suspect your 'campaignery' comment means you do too. It's been a problem through Choco's Gaelic football years and Primus's humble years. We don't have a bloke that will peel off and crunch a guy. Nothing too obvious, heck you saw Ballantyne do it early today when he put the knees into Hombsch. Nothing particularly obvious or illegal but let him know he was around. Impey is the most likely guy in our team to hand out a bit of punishment, but geez it would be nice if Bobby did it.

One of the great things about our 04 side was they had that type of player. No one messed around with Brogan, Hardwick or Pickett, and just quietly Gav would sort you out too. Jack taught him well before he left. We didn't fear the Scotts or Brown or anyone in the Brisbane side. But have no fear, Kenny knows that a bit of intimidation factor goes a long way.

Disappointed to lose obviously, it was one that we let get away. Two goals up early in the third and running on top of the grass, and bang conceded 9 goals in a row to paint ourselves into a corner we couldn't quite get out of. Even so, it didn't remind me of those disappearing acts last year. In those games we simply were nowhere to be seen for extended periods. In this game we still created chances during the run but bugger it, we couldn't convert one.

I know it's unfashionable to say this, but sometimes the run of the ball goes against you in a game. The really good, experienced sides find a way to weather that, like an experienced boxer the find the footballing equivalent of hanging onto an opponent or covering up on the ropes. We haven't quite mastered that yet but we are getting there.

Two weeks ago Freo kicked 5.3 to 1.2 in the third quarter against Hawthorn to blow open an even game, so we're in good company.

Monfries is not a sub, he's neither quick nor a big marking tall, he wears you down by attrition, and I saw nothing to change my mind to have picked O'Shea ahead of Moore.

While we won the stoppages, clearances and nearly broke even in the centre clearances, Sandi gives them a huge leg up at critical times. Can get the big hit out to break momentum or pull down a big pack mark. No two ways about it, he is a marvel.

Ah well, it's one of the toughest road trips going and while we dropped both of those games this year (Sydney and Freo) we gave both teams an almighty shake. We have to keep remembering it's a journey and we have to keep improving. We've made finals again and so we are on the road to building a strongly competitive culture. We have to add a premiership next to make it a winning culture that we associate with Port Adelaide and keep backing that up.

Impey's shepherd for one of Schulz's goals on Spurr is exactly what you're looking for.

 

[DaTBird187]

I thought we got smashed in the centre clearances and also they seemed to be able to always kick the ball forward out of tackles.

 

[downthecorridor]

Hey guys I just watched hinkleys post match presser. What a great bloke and no wonder your players respond. No attitude, just says what it is without politics or ego. Good luck for the future I'm sure we will see you guys in September next year.

 

[Forzaport]

Hey guys I just watched hinkleys post match presser. What a great bloke and no wonder your players respond. No attitude, just says what it is without politics or ego. Good luck for the future I'm sure we will see you guys in September next year.

You might see us in 2 weeks...

 

[ozph1870]

It's a fair point Ford. Hawks lost by more and are still a premiership threat.

hawthorns loss didnt cost them a double chance, in fact their loss cost them nothing at all, our loss put a massive dent in our season. we should never have been in a position where it came down to this game to get a top four spot, should have been locked away weeks ago. we should have been in a position to rest players and cruise into the finals, but we blew it.

 

[ozph1870]

You might see us in 2 weeks...

i think they will be way too strong for sydney at the olympic stadium.

 

[Forzaport]

i think they will be way too strong for sydney at the olympic stadium.

Hmmm. 4 weeks then

 

[Jim Dixon]

i think they will be way too strong for sydney at the olympic stadium.

Yeah Freo are a quality side in top form. We needed everything to go right and I mean everything to win that, and it didn't.

They never gave up though which is more then could be said for me. After the fifth goal in that streak went through I rolled over and went to sleep. Annoyingly the Teal Curtain had beaten me to it, but there's blame for everyone to go around.

I'm not really disappointed as long as we rebound strongly against Richmond. I couldn't bear to lose a final to those blokes.

Learn the lessons, apply them and move on. Well done Freo.

 

[FallingLiefs]

Defenders: Call me stupid but I thought Impey defended one on one very well. Ballantyne got most of his goals from extremely good kicks in open play and borderline in defendable. Gave away that shocker dragging it in free kick and was average offensively but thought he defended well. As did Jasper, besides Trengove he was our second best defender for the day. At points during the game he seemed a little lost looking around for matchups but thought when it came to defending he was solid. He's still a while off but I was happy on his progress since I last saw him live.
Broadbent had some cringeworthy moments in defence and Carlile really really struggled with the mobility of Pavlich. If we were to play Fremantle again I wouldn't mind seeing Hombsch to pav and perhaps an O'Shea on Taberner with Carlile on Clarke and Trengove playing swingman role.

personally hope we play sydney if we get through the tigers, I think we match up on Sydney better than any other team in the top 4.

Overall I found it hard to work out where that game was lost in that 15 minutes. I think I came to the conclusion that we just didn't take our chances when we had them and that cost us more than anything.

I asked this in game day thread and haven't watched the replay but was anything made of sutcliffes love tap (punch) to Neades jaw?

 

[Coobk001]

Generous rating on Impey. He absolutely got hammered in that 3rd qtr.

So close but yet so far. We strategically set up all day for a fast finish. We banked extra rotations and everything but we just let them get too far away from us in the 3rd. Impey killed us in that period. We just had to hang tough when they got a run on instead Impey cost us directly 3 goals in a row and they opened a match winning lead.

At the end of the day, whilst we burnt a lot of the ball (Ebert especially) what cost us today was our defense. Carlile gets a 0 from me, Impey gets a 1 but he showed he fluked his last attempt at Ballantine. And the rest of the back line was poor. It felt like anytime they went forward they scored and statistically that appears true. So our defense was extremely poor and Pav the old bastard was left to roam free. But then again the other killer was they took their chances regardless of the angle when we couldn't. Grays 2 sitter misses in particular killed us.

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

Yeah backlines were a huge let down.

I don't think we won a single matchup there.

I'd happily overload our backlines with defenders if it keeps it stable. Our game plan ends and starts from there.