tribey
ʎǝlʞuᴉH ʞɔɐS
Veteran
Port Adelaide - Connor Rozee Player Sponsor 2020
Port Adelaide - Zak Butters 2019 Player Sponsor
Port Adelaide - Jack Watts Player Sponsor 2018
Port Adelaide - Nathan Krakouer Player Sponsor 2015
Port Adelaide - Matthew Broadbent Player Sponsor 2013
Port Adelaide - John Butcher 2012 Player Sponsor
4-7 in the 2nd half of the year. The two finals were genuinely great performances but the 2nd half of the season overall was quite bad.
Apart from some late Schulz heroics we almost lost to a diabolical Melbourne team packed full of imminent delistees at Adelaide Oval in Cassisi’s last game, and followed that up with an unconvincing win over the Suns. In the context of the 11-2 start going down the drain, the loss to the Dees would’ve been hands down the worst result in the history of the club - every bit as unfathomable as the ones to come against Brisbane and Carlton in 2015. Or the wider slide from 11-4 in 2018.
We can’t say we weren’t warned - that happened in a year when we were supposed to be awesome and Ken could walk on water.
This is why it’s so hard to cop narratives that say it’s all part of a cunning plan. Or we just need this player, or that player was a net negative because scuttlebut.
If anything, Port playing well in a given week seems to be more a symptom of most of the team having coincidental belief/form as individuals rather than the result of any tactical or strategic brilliance on behalf of the Field Marshal directing the troops during the week and on the day.
Yeah, we can beat the threepeat Hawks in Melbourne as 10/1 underdogs. We can pump the reigning premier at their sandy seizure-inducing heap out west. We can also bash up the flag favourite Cats at home.
But history says we’re still just as likely to cough up the game tomorrow because at no stage has the man in charge shown he can extract those performances on a consistent, weekly basis, let alone grind out the necessary wins when expectation is high and the team is off the boil. Or when one or two players have suffered an ouchie as if that’s the first time a team has had to deal with an unexpected injury on the day.
Can we go on a run and challenge for finals and more from here with the team available? Absolutely. Is it likely based on past performance? Absolutely not.