Econopower
Team Captain
- Aug 15, 2020
- 367
- 955
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
As much as I understand the urge to burn Alberton down after a performance like Friday’s, I really think that some perspective is warranted.
Though I’m posting for the first time I’ve been lurking on these boards for years and I can’t think of a single poster who thought we would be on top of the table at this point of the year. Indeed, a majority thought us to be in a partial rebuild amid which sneaking into the finals would have been considered a good result.
If one is being very honest about the quality of our list, it is obvious there are significant holes. Our two best players of the last decade - Boak and Gray are past the peak of their careers. Our best utility of the period will be lucky to play more than a dozen more games in his career. Three of our better younger players - Rozee, Duursma and Burton - have been hampered by injuries. We have a shortage of players in the age bracket when career peaks are most likely. And our back line is partially relying on a player who appeared to be a candidate for delisting this time last year.
Then there are the wider circumstances of COVID-19. Irregular travel patterns. Compressed fixtures. Players from interstate not being able to see their families. Under such stress it is difficult to expect every performance to be of even quality.
In fact when one lifts their gaze to look at the performance of other clubs, similar patterns of variability are common, even amongst those towards the top. In just the last month Geelong, Richmond, and Brisbane have all had bad defeats.
Note that I’m not claiming that Hinckley is an especially good coach. I genuinely think that the list should have achieved much more in the 2014-17 period. And the collapse from 11-4 was terrible.
But equally the criticism borders on the hysterical at times and there is definitely a tendency on this board to interpret events through the prism of their own prejudices. Bad defeats are due to coaching. Great wins are attributable to the assistant coaches or the players overcoming bad coaching.
The truth is somewhere in the middle and it isn’t clear there is an obviously better candidate on the market.
Since I left Adelaide 20 years ago and Australia 12 years ago, I’ve often pondered whether Port have underachieved or not in the AFL. But in my more rational moods I wonder whether our history in the SANFL makes that particularly hard to judge.
I was 8 when we lost the GF to Norwood and remember crying as the reality set in. But then I was lucky enough to grow up in a family where three generations had lived and died in the Semaphore area and who could regale me with tales of our past achievements. And then I was even more fortunate to come of age in the late 80s and early 90s when we dominated the competition once again, setting the platform for our accession to the AFL.
But the downside of that history is that we expect to win, or are perhaps more disappointed than most when we don’t, even though we have few of the advantages we had in our SANFL days. It would be a bit like Celtic joining the English Premier League and then expecting to dominate like it was the SPL.
So by all means be upset when we don’t turn up to play. Hold our coaches and administrators to account for their decisions. Push for change when it is clear that is needed and there is a clearly better and practical alternative.
But also put things into perspective because in the grander scheme of our AFL history since 97 and what is happening in the world, this has been a pretty good year so far. I certainly know it has given me a lot of enjoyment in a year that has had a shortage of happy moments.
Though I’m posting for the first time I’ve been lurking on these boards for years and I can’t think of a single poster who thought we would be on top of the table at this point of the year. Indeed, a majority thought us to be in a partial rebuild amid which sneaking into the finals would have been considered a good result.
If one is being very honest about the quality of our list, it is obvious there are significant holes. Our two best players of the last decade - Boak and Gray are past the peak of their careers. Our best utility of the period will be lucky to play more than a dozen more games in his career. Three of our better younger players - Rozee, Duursma and Burton - have been hampered by injuries. We have a shortage of players in the age bracket when career peaks are most likely. And our back line is partially relying on a player who appeared to be a candidate for delisting this time last year.
Then there are the wider circumstances of COVID-19. Irregular travel patterns. Compressed fixtures. Players from interstate not being able to see their families. Under such stress it is difficult to expect every performance to be of even quality.
In fact when one lifts their gaze to look at the performance of other clubs, similar patterns of variability are common, even amongst those towards the top. In just the last month Geelong, Richmond, and Brisbane have all had bad defeats.
Note that I’m not claiming that Hinckley is an especially good coach. I genuinely think that the list should have achieved much more in the 2014-17 period. And the collapse from 11-4 was terrible.
But equally the criticism borders on the hysterical at times and there is definitely a tendency on this board to interpret events through the prism of their own prejudices. Bad defeats are due to coaching. Great wins are attributable to the assistant coaches or the players overcoming bad coaching.
The truth is somewhere in the middle and it isn’t clear there is an obviously better candidate on the market.
Since I left Adelaide 20 years ago and Australia 12 years ago, I’ve often pondered whether Port have underachieved or not in the AFL. But in my more rational moods I wonder whether our history in the SANFL makes that particularly hard to judge.
I was 8 when we lost the GF to Norwood and remember crying as the reality set in. But then I was lucky enough to grow up in a family where three generations had lived and died in the Semaphore area and who could regale me with tales of our past achievements. And then I was even more fortunate to come of age in the late 80s and early 90s when we dominated the competition once again, setting the platform for our accession to the AFL.
But the downside of that history is that we expect to win, or are perhaps more disappointed than most when we don’t, even though we have few of the advantages we had in our SANFL days. It would be a bit like Celtic joining the English Premier League and then expecting to dominate like it was the SPL.
So by all means be upset when we don’t turn up to play. Hold our coaches and administrators to account for their decisions. Push for change when it is clear that is needed and there is a clearly better and practical alternative.
But also put things into perspective because in the grander scheme of our AFL history since 97 and what is happening in the world, this has been a pretty good year so far. I certainly know it has given me a lot of enjoyment in a year that has had a shortage of happy moments.
