Autopsy Port defeated by the Dons

[Handyandy]

Boak is averaging 22 touches and over a goal a game, is 3rd on our goalkicking, 2nd for goal assists, 2nd for score involvements, 2nd for inside 50s. He can't really do much more than he's doing in a high half forward role. Are people expecting him to be a 4 goal a game player?

Yeah, I would expect a lot more from the captain than what he has shown this season and with his poor kicking skills he is the last person I would want taking the critical kicks into 50. Played very poorly for the 2nd week in a row. If he wasn't the captain he wouldn't hold his spot in the team. He is covering the ground better but his skills are very ordinary. Park anyone in the forward 50 for most of the game and they should kick one or two merely by virtue of the fact they are there.
I don't understand the hate for the coaching staff, yet senior leaders are immune from criticism. I can't fault his endeavour but he is not good enough to play forward and now reminds me a lot of cassisi.
When you work in an organisation and your boss/ superior get paid 5x times more than you, but can't do their job properly, it is crushing on moral. Boak needs to lift. Simple. having Rockliff out there on big $ stinking it up would do likewise to team moral. Players are very aware of each other's pay.

 

[Peck]

Maybe Frampton just isn't ready physically yet. He didn't have much of a pre season? Barely saw him in the pre season photo threads and from memory he didn't play in any of the Magpies trial games. One of the coaches said last week that he's about a month away from being ready.

In this day and age you expect your ruckman to be able to ruck close to the whole game with only minimal rest. I doubt Frampton at this point in time is capable of running out much more than 60% of the game.

Nah it’s just Hinkley being stubborn again.

#fourmoreyears

 

[Us against the rest]

Not with half names of that list.. .

We have played for games and got out of jail at AO against a bottom 4 side, then yesterday the score board flattered us against a middle of the road side.
Our skills is what kills us, it's been an issue for a while now but we don't improve in that area, we are our own worst enemy in that department.
Wingard almost looks disinterested and we seem to be mentally fragile at times.

 

[rogerjames]

Richmond lost to Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle and GWS from rounds 6-9.

I don’t care if we lose. I care that we lost exactly the same way. Working hard is a premiership prerequisite. If you’re down players, everyone should put in double shifts. I hate that the players are an extension of this board and blame strategic decisions for their lack of effort, as though unless everything is perfect they won’t put in.

You’re absolutely right, Essendon weren’t even that good, but we had too many players who didn’t want to dig deep on the hard Etihad surface that hurt their poor little feet.

Ken is right - these players pick and choose when they want to perform.

And that is 100% on Ken because he does not drop name players who are out of form.

 

[Byrons Firen]

when was the last Showdown we won.

ummm ....... err ....... nup ya got me.

 

[MutleyDog]

Boak is averaging 22 touches and over a goal a game, is 3rd on our goalkicking, 2nd for goal assists, 2nd for score involvements, 2nd for inside 50s. He can't really do much more than he's doing in a high half forward role. Are people expecting him to be a 4 goal a game player?

One thing more he could do is take a mark once in a while.

 

[Peck]

Boak is averaging 22 touches and over a goal a game, is 3rd on our goalkicking, 2nd for goal assists, 2nd for score involvements, 2nd for inside 50s. He can't really do much more than he's doing in a high half forward role. Are people expecting him to be a 4 goal a game player?

I reckon Boaky was a bit down yesterday, might be because he is playing more outside? I thought our inside mids got a bit owned at times, and we really were caught out a lot by handball turnovers... ugh.

I didn’t think we would miss SPP after how slow he looked in the same fixture last year, but Ebert and Wines just couldn’t get it done. Polec started going for the inside ball after a while ffs.

I have to repeat again how frustrating Polec was btw. He really was trying to do it all himself, which he often does when the team isn’t going to well. I’m still fuming at him literally turning into a tackle to avoid kicking on his right foot or handballing to someone else.

 

[Macca19]

Yeah, I would expect a lot more from the captain than what he has shown this season and with his poor kicking skills he is the last person I would want taking the critical kicks into 50. Played very poorly for the 2nd week in a row. If he wasn't the captain he wouldn't hold his spot in the team. He is covering the ground better but his skills are very ordinary. Park anyone in the forward 50 for most of the game and they should kick one or two merely by virtue of the fact they are there.
I don't understand the hate for the coaching staff, yet senior leaders are immune from criticism. I can't fault his endeavour but he is not good enough to play forward and now reminds me a lot of cassisi.
When you work in an organisation and your boss/ superior get paid 5x times more than you, but can't do their job properly, it is crushing on moral. Boak needs to lift. Simple. having Rockliff out there on big $ stinking it up would do likewise to team moral. Players are very aware of each other's pay.

Ridiculous post

 

[FrankDrebin]

I have to repeat again how frustrating Polec was btw. He really was trying to do it all himself, which he often does when the team isn’t going to well. I’m still fuming at him literally turning into a tackle to avoid kicking on his right foot or handballing to someone else.

I would bet good money Polec has set an AFL record for most number of smothered kicks to start a season. Feels like 2-3 kicks a game from him are smothered or touched because he always tries to get back on his left foot.

Its unbelievable players don't develop skills on the opposite side. Sam Mitchell prolonged his career (maybe wouldn't even of had a career) without being able to use 2 sides. Staggering not more players work on this.

 

[Stryke]

Staggering not more players work on this.

It really is. I cannot fathom how professional footballers are not two sided. Polecs lack of right foot is a huge liability.

Was his navicular injury his right foot? Maybe he has been told to never kick on it?

 

[PortWTF]

Would be interested to hear from those who were there. What was with our defending yesterday? Essendon were allowed to switch the play very easily as it appeared on TV that our zone was too far back. Were we too wary of the Essendon slingshot?

 

[raman]

It really is. I cannot fathom how professional footballers are not two sided. Polecs lack of right foot is a huge liability.

What's weirder still is that right footed players who never kick on their left are rarely if ever held to the same standard.

 

[1954]

Re Watts, I mentioned it in the game thread, but my perception is the depth of his kicking has dropped off significantly in recent weeks.
Against brisvegas he didn't make the distance from no more than about 30 metres out, yesterday his first kick from a similar distance just fell over the line, and in the 3rd term he passed off to Ollie Wines when a similar distance out from goal and on a reasonably comfortable angle for a right footer, he passed one off last week too that you would expect him to kick.

He looks to me to be only poking at the ball, with little to no follow through, so I will await the inevitable `tightness ' report.

 

[David Puddy]

Just so, so predictable from Port Adelaide.

Any chance of us actually putting our heads over the ball and looking like we want to play?

Hinkley's selections still confuse me after all these years. What does Amon bring that Barry wouldn't have been able to bring? McKenzie on a fast Etihad deck looked way off the pace.

Clurey got an absolute bath from Stewart and has been average all season - bring back Hombsch.

What's up with our goalkicking again? Robbie not confident taking a set shot from 30m out, Dixon missing from 20m out.

Book it in that we will lose to Geelong this week and be back with the pack after a good 3-0 start.

Rant over.

 

[70sDinosaur]

What he can do a lot more of, is be bloody clean. What are his fumble and bumble stats for 2018. That is his real problem. He isnt clean enough to be an elite player to be on an elite player pay rate.

Although I am inclined to agree with you, I feel unable to criticise Boak's skills by hand anymore after he drew my winning raffle ticket at the family day on Saturday.

 

[WoodyPecker]

Ollie Wines:

“At the moment we know what we’ve got on the field, we know what we’ve got out there, but it is frustrating the way we are playing…we’re so inconsistent throughout quarters and throughout games and we’re yet to string a four-quarter performance together,”

What have we got out there? This group has won absolutely nothing. In my opinion both supporters and the club have been drinking our own bath water a bit too much for mine and it's time to look at the facts rather than that word 'potential'. Until we win a premiership and prove that we can front up week-in week-out there's no room for this kind of complacency we seem to have and all we need to do is simply turn up. I'm sorry, but these blokes just haven't proven they're actually that good. Time to put up or shut up.

 

[jac147]

Time for reflection from yesterday’s game and with a coffee in hand here’s my tuppence worth.
Now sitting 3/1 after four games which is still quite acceptable, however yesterday’s game was predictable. What did we learn from 2017 and would appear nothing!
Essendon’s pace certainly once again found us out. And though it’s not reflected on the scoreboard their allround skills were sooo much better. In R4 playing at Ethiad showed a remarkable coincidence, in that both games produced the lowest winning margins for that round - Sydney by 7 and Essendon by 22. It goes to show that clanger from one team can on most occasions reward the other team with a scoring opportunity. It’s like a carbon copy from the Brissy game - the other side’s enhanced skills does not always provide a landslide win, with us just falling over line against the Lions and only getting done by less than 4 goals by the Bombers. As Professor Julius would ask “why is it so”. I don’t know? Perhaps that “Port Adelaide” spirit is a factor? But it provides this writer with a little bit of optimism for the rest of the season when our skills eventually catch up to our endeavour..
Now for the team selection. We should have gone into yesterday’s game with both Frampton and Neade.
The modern game is now all about structures and by not replacing Ryder with Frampton we are messing around with our proven structures, ie Howard in the backlines, Dixon as our key forward and Westhoff playing his various cameo roles, whether on the wing, as a forward and as that dependable marking backman late at the end of each quarter. Frampton must now be thrown off the deep end and by Kenny saying that he is not ready is not an option. For goodness sake he’s now into his 4th year as being on our list!!
In earlier posts I have mentioned that the 2018 Neade is now a much better player as he has matured into a a very smart player and besides that we know that he provides us with tons of pace.
So the loss was predictable with our “obstinate” selection policies.

 

[rogerjames]

Re Watts, I mentioned it in the game thread, but my perception is the depth of his kicking has dropped off significantly in recent weeks.
Against brisvegas he didn't make the distance from no more than about 30 metres out, yesterday his first kick from a similar distance just fell over the line, and in the 3rd term he passed off to Ollie Wines when a similar distance out from goal and on a reasonably comfortable angle for a right footer, he passed one off last week too that you would expect him to kick.

He looks to me to be only poking at the ball, with little to no follow through, so I will await the inevitable `tightness ' report.

Agree he is kicking much shorter in the last 2 games. No longer can I expect him to kick nearly everything. We really need a high level of conversion from him.

 

[PepeSilvia]

According to Ken, of the 46 hitouts that Essendon had, we got first hands to 45 of them.

45 out of 46? That seems ridiculously high.

Can a hitout be considered a hitout to advantage if it's initially fumbled by an opposition player?

| RC | HO | HOA | HOW% | HOAR
\ Bellchambers |83|45|11|54.2|24.4
\ Howard |54|21|8|38.8|38.1
\ Dixon |24|13|4|54.2|30.8
\ Westhoff |23|5|1|21.7|20
\ Daniher |13|1|1|7.7|100
\ Stewart |5|0|0|0|0
\ PA |101|39|13|38.6|33.3
\ ESS |101|46|12|45.5|26.1

RC = ruck contests attended, HOW% = % of hitouts won from ruck contests attended, HOAR = % of hitouts that were to advantage.

 

[rogerjames]

Ollie Wines:

What have we got out there? This group has won absolutely nothing. In my opinion both supporters and the club have been drinking our own bath water a bit too much for mine and it's time to look at the facts rather than that word 'potential'. Until we win a premiership and prove that we can front up week-in week-out there's no room for this kind of complacency we seem to have and all we need to do is simply turn up. I'm sorry, but these blokes just haven't proven they're actually that good. Time to put up or shut up.

Great post

 

[Pedro59]

ok heres my problem...
Yes i understand players need to be versatile and with the rotation caps need to rest forward.
BUT rockliff, boak etc arent good enough to play as a forward. they are mids.
we loose a forward when they are there
have to find a balance of mids and real forwards not just resting mids

Agree
Are we 'boaking' Rockckiff?
Wasn't he a clearance machine in the midfield .... But yeah let's play him as a foward

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

45 out of 46? That seems ridiculously high.

Can a hitout be considered a hitout to advantage if it's initially fumbled by an opposition player?

| RC | HO | HOA | HOW% | HOAR
\ Bellchambers |83|45|11|54.2|24.4
\ Howard |54|21|8|38.8|38.1
\ Dixon |24|13|4|54.2|30.8
\ Westhoff |23|5|1|21.7|20
\ Daniher |13|1|1|7.7|100
\ Stewart |5|0|0|0|0
\ PA |101|39|13|38.6|33.3
\ ESS |101|46|12|45.5|26.1

RC = ruck contests attended, HOW% = % of hitouts won from ruck contests attended, HOAR = % of hitouts that were to advantage.

Where do you get those stats from PS?

 

[Robbie4PM]

All these attacks on players etc etc. I think we are overlooking the fact that we never beat teams that have speed and play that style of football. This isn't a personel problem. We excel against slow ball moving teams under Ken (hawks etc.) And are terrible against the fast ball movers who play an open game (crows, gws, bombers).

Until there is a significant tactical change against these teams it doesn't seem to matter who we have on the park

 

[PepeSilvia]

Where do you get those stats from PS?

StatsPro on the AFL website, for Telstra mobile customers only.

http://www.afl.com.au/stats/stats-pro/faqs

 

[Pedro59]

All these attacks on players etc etc. I think we are overlooking the fact that we never beat teams that have speed and play that style of football. This isn't a personel problem. We excel against slow ball moving teams under Ken (hawks etc.) And are terrible against the fast ball movers who play an open game (crows, gws, bombers).

Until there is a significant tactical change against these teams it doesn't seem to matter who we have on the park

Didn't we used to be the fast ball mover team?