Opinion So, This Season..........

[QPower]

Hawthorn went 8-0 to start 2001 before going 5-9 for the rest of the year and falling out of the top 4. Still made a Prelim and nearly made the GF.

Adelaide were 14-2 and 'unbeatable' in 2006 before going 2-4 for the rest of the year, losing top spot and missing the GF

Richmond in 2005 were 7-2 and top in 2005 before going 3-10 and missing the finals

Essendon were 11-4 and 3rd in 2012 before going 0-7 and missing the finals

Melbourne were 14-4 in 2004 before going 0-5 and going from 2nd spot to out in the first week of finals

Im sure there are others.

If we make a prelim then we can call the season a modest success and regroup. The fate of all the other teams which have fallen off the same cliff is not inspiring though.

 

[FromTheHartland]

I'm not happy at our current form, but before the season a number of people on here were adamant that we would both amaze and frustrate during 2014.

We've done just that. And even then - every single one of our losses saw us in the match during the last term. I think the Richmond match was the only game we didn't lead in the last.

It's frustrating but it's the reality of a team that got a hit by the worst perfect storm of injuries and fatigue. We will still get there with 90% of this group.

I tend to agree with you, the problem is we did all our winning and losing in big blocks. This has amplified our good and bad games as there hasn't been a really good performance to break up the poor form we've shown post-Sydney game, and vice versa the string of outstanding games in the first 11/12 weeks made us look a little better than our pre-season expectations.

If you said we'd be 12-6 after 18 rounds I'd have said we were about on par for our progression from 2013, however our blistering start got most of the faithful a bit excited and has blurred the reality of our current list and player development.

As a result the performances over the last 6 weeks have come as a shock, and all the doomsdayers come out to get everyone down about our exciting list and the potential we have in the upcoming seasons. That's not to say that the stagnation throughout this string of losses isn't worrying, I just think people need to go back to what their expectations were pre-season and reassess before they start writing off all of these young lads, and our great coach.

 

[Powerade 08]

Because Clurey looked distraught after playing AFL round 1?

Well no but thats because we were protecting him. I couldn't even tell you who his opponent was or if he even had one in that game. He got a couple of chip kicks on the boundary line and didn't have to do much else.

Bit different to having to play on the 1st or 2nd tall forwards like some people have wanted him to come in and do the last few weeks.

I watched him play on some Ravens top up player (i.e. some ranga plucked from the SANFL reserves) a couple of weeks back and he was ok but let him get away too easy 3 or 4 times. He is not naturally a shutdown player so he is gonna take time.

 

[Andre]

If you said we'd be 12-6 after 18 rounds I'd have said we were about on par for our progression from 2013, however our blistering start got most of the faithful a bit excited and has blurred the reality of our current list and player development.

If we were 12-6 after 18 rounds most would have picked us to drop games against the Hawks, Freo, Geelong, as well as Sydney in Sydney as part of it. If we'd lost to those teams, but beat Adelaide, Richmond, Essendon and Pies lately it'd be a completely different proposition to the current situation.

 

[Humdot]

Taken from a Reddit post by user scottkaysee
Original link: http://www.reddit.com/r/weareportadelaide/comments/2cjtsa/were_still_a_young_maturing_team_and_coaching/


"It is easy to get carried away with expectations. Especially after some short term success either for the team or for the players.

Yes, we lost on the weekend. By 6 points, to a team playing for their finals future and one dedicated to win for their retired Captain (overrated mind you). It isn't the end of the world! Back in 2011 we lost this fixture (at AAMI) by 135 points. The combined margin for our (6) losses in 2014 is 60 points... less than half of that 135 points. Our biggest losing margin has been 23 points. We might be losing but we are being competitive! This was our first goal after years of uncompetitiveness and we're now achieving it.

Our next goal, to push higher up and challenge is still forming. The list is still being turned over (KPFs and Rucks being our glaring work in progress) and we're still pumping games into young players who will drive our future challenges. Half of our team on the weekend had played less than 50 games.

Often we get "sucked in" by comments/opinions of the commentators and I almost was again in the following example from the weekend. We were making an attacking thrust along the wing, the ball was driven i50 towards Ollie Wines who had the drop over the back on his opponent as the kick was sailing in. Ollie didn't play this contest particularly well and the defender managed to get back to spoil the ball to the line. The commentators then started going on about how poorly Ollie played that contest, what he should have done and how he could have had won it to have a shot on goal. I was agreeing with them until I stopped the thought: "He is still a kid. An 18yo kid who has played a season and a half for 42 games. Give him time to learn his craft. He isn't a 7 year adapted player about to hit the peak years of his career... or a veteran who knows the tricks of the trade to out think his opponent. We can't expect him to come into the system and be the complete package."

Ditto for Chad Wingard. Several friends commented on his failed speccy attempt, he should have played it better. Yeah he should, but again he is still learning from experience. Schulz still gives away a few of those each year and who knows how many when he was 20yo at Richmond. Wingard isn't having a stella year like last year, but it isn't too shabby for a 20yo in his 3rd season: 16 disposals and 29 goals so far. He's been a bit more inaccurate this year and is obviously receiving more attention. Bett's is apparently having an outstanding year (pocket named after him and all) and he has 39 goals playing purely forward and with 1 more game. Lindsey Thomas has 37 goals again as a pure forward. Both of these guys a > 150 game veterans.

Finally, the coaching team is still growing together. Richardson was a huge loss as he had been around long enough and was strong enough character to challenge Hinkley... also Hinkley had huge respect for him: "we're like Brothers". I'm not convinced that same relationship exists with Hart, sure we got Walsh but he is focused on the midfield, but Hart is a totally different personality to Richardson and I am not sure if he is/would challenge Hinkley enough in the same vein as Richardson. Again this is something that could take a couple of years to gel, settle and get right... it did at Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney... so why should we expect anything different?

So perhaps adjust our expectations. We should make the finals for the 2nd year in a row, sit back and enjoy us being competitive. Hopefully we show signs of improving/learning and know that we building for sustained success, but we're still missing a few pieces. "

Original link: http://www.reddit.com/r/weareportadelaide/comments/2cjtsa/were_still_a_young_maturing_team_and_coaching/

 

[Pedro59]

I'm not down because I thought we would win the flag this year and there's no chance of that now.

I understand we're a developing side and I'm ecstatic at our start to the year. In fact, we got much better, much quicker than I thought we would - I think everyone would agree with that.

What gets me down is that in this poor patch of form, we don't seem to be developing much. We don't seem to be doing much for the future. Our gameplan seems to have been figured out and yet we're not developing it to counteract what teams are doing against us. We just keep trying the same thing and hoping for the best. It's become boring.

I'm bored every week watching us kick to no one in the forward line. I'm bored of watching our players handball endlessly to each other in the centre square. I'm just so bored. I don't feel anything after a loss at the moment. Just pure boredom.

At least when we were at our lowest, I had the motivation of "this will make it all so worthwhile when we're at the top - to go through this struggle!" so I turned up every week. I'd get excited to see the development of younger players, to see if they would have a big game.

I'll still turn up every week, but I don't have any excitement at all. The thought of Saturday night just makes me sigh. I've stopped posting much on these forums because I realised it was the same thing every week. I'd like some of El Scorcho's posts on bringing in a third tall forward, I'd post a bit on the subject myself, rinse, repeat.

So yeah, the only thing that I'm feeling with our football at the moment is dread. On the off chance that there's a home final against Adelaide. And we lose. I just couldn't deal with that. But at least it's something - something to feel with this team at the moment.

good post

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

The last few weeks has made me "adjust" my expectations. We we well ahead of the curve after 11-1 and this is the inevitable correction we were always going to have.

Our match day thread is as bad as the crows sometimes!

Seriously some of these guys have been in the system 1 or 2 years!

Patience. Keep turning up and supporting the boys and we will all be rewarded. These ups and downs are inevitable

 

[Byrons Firen]

My over-riding take from this thread is that WE CARE and thats the most important thing.
This must translate to us showing up in #'s for the Swans game. Yell and cheer to let the
boys know that WE CARE. Anger from confusion and frustration, tempered by hope and reasoned logic
is just natural after our meteoric start to 2014 when we found ourselves in rarefied air. We are better
than what we showed against Essendon Richmond and Collingwood. Sure I was filthy watching us in klutz
mode but have calmed down and win, lose or draw v the COLA's will be loud n proud Saturday night

 

[yepits2020]

Trengove.

 

[Portmanteau]

My over-riding take from this thread is that WE CARE and thats the most important thing.
This must translate to us showing up in #'s for the Swans game. Yell and cheer to let the
boys know that WE CARE. Anger from confusion and frustration, tempered by hope and reasoned logic
is just natural after our meteoric start to 2014 when we found ourselves in rarefied air. We are better
than what we showed against Essendon Richmond and Collingwood. Sure I was filthy watching us in klutz
mode but have calmed down and win, lose or draw v the COLA's will be loud n proud Saturday night

Yep. A massive, loud crowd against the Swans could be the thing that finally fires the boys up.

 

[Portia]

If they only win because we care, they aren't the players we need

 

[ozph1870]

wasted opportunity, but its not over yet.

 

[BIG MATTY WHITE]

My over-riding take from this thread is that WE CARE and thats the most important thing.
This must translate to us showing up in #'s for the Swans game. Yell and cheer to let the
boys know that WE CARE. Anger from confusion and frustration, tempered by hope and reasoned logic
is just natural after our meteoric start to 2014 when we found ourselves in rarefied air. We are better
than what we showed against Essendon Richmond and Collingwood. Sure I was filthy watching us in klutz
mode but have calmed down and win, lose or draw v the COLA's will be loud n proud Saturday night

Tee hee hee..

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Our run is our strength. Who has received foot ankle hammmy and groin injuries since say round 6 when we beat Geelong - the first time n 7 years?

Hammies
Monfries, Carlile

Foot/Ankle
Boak, Hartlett, Polec, Young, Wingard, White, Trengove, Schulz

Groin
Jonas

Knees
Redden, Renouf, Colquhon, Heath, Stewart.

Maybe the cummalative efffect of these lower body iinjuries and players carrying the injury - not 100% fixed - along with general fatigue is why our run hasnt been as effective the last 6 weeks.

 

[Janus]

Our run is our strength. Who has received foot ankle hammmy and groin injuries since say round 6 when we beat Geelong - the first time n 7 years?

Hammies
Monfries, Carlile

Foot/Ankle
Boak, Hartlett, Polec, Young, Wingard, White, Trengove, Schulz

Groin
Jonas

Knees
Redden, Renouf, Colquhon, Heath, Stewart.

Maybe the cummalative efffect of these lower body iinjuries and players carrying the injury - not 100% fixed - along with general fatigue is why our run hasnt been as effective the last 6 weeks.

You can chuck White into the groin category too now.

Add no Redden or Renouf able to ruck against the lesser light rucks in the competition (or play forward in Redden's case) and it's just one problem after another in terms of how we actually want to play. Because teams hunt us now, which means the players don't get a chance to have an 'easy' game - Adelaide wanted to win the Showdown, Essendon viewed us as a scalp, Richmond built it up as their 'Grand Final', Melbourne viewed us as a scalp and Collingwood also viewed it as their 'Grand Final' according to Cloke.

At least this week, Sydney will just play their game and not build it up as anything but a game for four points. Which is what we need right now to get us out of our funk.

 

[philreich]

Most teams have to endure tough finals losses before they enjoy the ultimate success. Geelong lost a close preliminary final in 2004, then they lost that heartbreaker in Sydney a year later, went missing in 2006, before finally breaking their premiership drought in 2007.

Collingwood lost successive grand finals in 2002 and 2003, and didn't win it until 2010.

Fremantle has been in the AFL for 2 years longer than Port, and only played in their first grand final last year.

And so it goes on. The point here is that there aren't any guarantees. I'd love to see us win the next few flags, but we all know that ain't gonna happen. Like many others, there may be more disappointments ahead, but when we do go top, it'll be well worth the wait!!!

 

[FallingLiefs]

Can we get rid of this early season overachieving theory. Overachieving is simply not being able to keep up a standard. They have shown they can do it so I am marking them against it. Not saying I don't expect up and downs but it should be expected to consistently hit that level in the future.

 

[wharfietilidie]

Can someone explain to me what opposition teams are doing to us differently than to the beginning of the year?

Hawthorn for mine were the first to really stop our end to end stuff, since then we don't run freely around like before, but still can't pin point strategically what teams are doing besides generally clogging it up

 

[Kingfish73]

Regardless of ladder position, I just want us to hit form in September and do some damage and create fear for next 2 years. To take a big scalp away in a final would be epic. Anything else bonus. This is journey folks. Some great analysis in this thread and my therapy through our form slump. But remember hawks had same 08 and hit straps about now

 

[Forzaport]

You can chuck White into the groin category too now.

Add no Redden or Renouf able to ruck against the lesser light rucks in the competition (or play forward in Redden's case) and it's just one problem after another in terms of how we actually want to play. Because teams hunt us now, which means the players don't get a chance to have an 'easy' game - Adelaide wanted to win the Showdown, Essendon viewed us as a scalp, Richmond built it up as their 'Grand Final', Melbourne viewed us as a scalp and Collingwood also viewed it as their 'Grand Final' according to Cloke.

At least this week, Sydney will just play their game and not build it up as anything but a game for four points. Which is what we need right now to get us out of our funk.

I reckon even Sydney have put extra weight on this game - they rested Franklin and held Hannebery back an extra week. We should be flattered.

 

[DonDraper]

I think if we'd had the same win/loss and ladder position but say lost to the Hawks and Fremantle, and beaten Richmond and Essendon, then we'd be pretty satisfied. It's the nature of the results and the fact we started so well.

 

[Coobk001]

One thing that is annoying the crap out of me is the intercepted/cut off handballs.

How many friggin times have we gone for a clearly there handball and it has been cut off! To me that isn't a lack of confidence, that's a lack of playing on edge. It's a lack of intensity. At our best we seemed like big game players, we would always hit those handballs, we'd spread for each other with an assortment of perfect handballs that would create space, we'd hit a target by foot and be going forward.

Now we are missing the handballs by a small margin or getting it cut off, even if we do win the ball out of the pack we are missing the kicks and then we are running so hard offensively and then back defensively that it is enabling teams to make us look tired and slow.

And in my opinion a lot of the clearance issues at the moment come down to a lack of confidence and a clear knowledge that we are losing those balls, and hence the players are panicking, over thinking the play in the clearances and trying to hard which is making them nervous and fumbly, like we were not in the early part of the year. Plus opposition sides get their tails up, our boys start playing for themselves and not the team and the momentum they get in that area is hard to arrest.

I like that we are playing Sydney this week because I feel it gives us a real chance to just go out there with no pressure and hopefully see our boys rise to the challenge. It is probably just such a shame it is against such a hard to beat team.

However I still believe our boys are big game players and I hope they prove me right this week.

 

[Garibaldi Red]

One thing that is annoying the crap out of me is the intercepted/cut off handballs.

How many friggin times have we gone for a clearly there handball and it has been cut off! To me that isn't a lack of confidence, that's a lack of playing on edge. It's a lack of intensity. At our best we seemed like big game players, we would always hit those handballs, we'd spread for each other with an assortment of perfect handballs that would create space, we'd hit a target by foot and be going forward.

Now we are missing the handballs by a small margin or getting it cut off, even if we do win the ball out of the pack we are missing the kicks and then we are running so hard offensively and then back defensively that it is enabling teams to make us look tired and slow.

And in my opinion a lot of the clearance issues at the moment come down to a lack of confidence and a clear knowledge that we are losing those balls, and hence the players are panicking, over thinking the play in the clearances and trying to hard which is making them nervous and fumbly, like we were not in the early part of the year. Plus opposition sides get their tails up, our boys start playing for themselves and not the team and the momentum they get in that area is hard to arrest.

I like that we are playing Sydney this week because I feel it gives us a real chance to just go out there with no pressure and hopefully see our boys rise to the challenge. It is probably just such a shame it is against such a hard to beat team.

However I still believe our boys are big game players and I hope they prove me right this week.

There was a clear winner however in this contest last weekend. Kane's attempted handball that was intercepted by the man on the mark. Bloody hell he (Kane that is) hadn't even got to his feet properly.

My new Samsung TV nearly went in the bin.

 

[sog35]

I think if we'd had the same win/loss and ladder position but say lost to the Hawks and Fremantle, and beaten Richmond and Essendon, then we'd be pretty satisfied. It's the nature of the results and the fact we started so well.

One thing that is annoying the crap out of me is the intercepted/cut off handballs.

How many friggin times have we gone for a clearly there handball and it has been cut off! To me that isn't a lack of confidence, that's a lack of playing on edge. It's a lack of intensity. At our best we seemed like big game players, we would always hit those handballs, we'd spread for each other with an assortment of perfect handballs that would create space, we'd hit a target by foot and be going forward.

Now we are missing the handballs by a small margin or getting it cut off, even if we do win the ball out of the pack we are missing the kicks and then we are running so hard offensively and then back defensively that it is enabling teams to make us look tired and slow.

And in my opinion a lot of the clearance issues at the moment come down to a lack of confidence and a clear knowledge that we are losing those balls, and hence the players are panicking, over thinking the play in the clearances and trying to hard which is making them nervous and fumbly, like we were not in the early part of the year. Plus opposition sides get their tails up, our boys start playing for themselves and not the team and the momentum they get in that area is hard to arrest.

I like that we are playing Sydney this week because I feel it gives us a real chance to just go out there with no pressure and hopefully see our boys rise to the challenge. It is probably just such a shame it is against such a hard to beat team.

However I still believe our boys are big game players and I hope they prove me right this week.

Portmanteau will hate me here, but a couple of outstanding posts here.

In fact this thread is incredibly reasonable and provides much better analysis than some of the Chicken Little crap that pops up in the game day and review threads.

 

[1954]

Good thread by Greg the FNQ cane toad cruncher, it just goes to show he really does care.

My take is that all teams have a slump at sometime during the season, and obviously Port are having a real bad one.

As alluded to by REH, our best 22 can match it with any team, but a mix of injury and illness, plus a loss of form to most of the prime movers has put the 2nd tier players under pressure, and not too many of them have stood up to that pressure.

The bad news is the team is losing, the good news is we are still a chance for top 4, and while any loss gives supporters the Edgar Britts, at least the team isn't getting the 150 point shellackings of not a real long time ago.

Let's hope the return to form begins this sat night against the swannies, and there is no more of the 5 minute burst and the jobs done syndrome of the last 7 rounds.