Autopsy Port versus an actual football team

[GremioPower]

I speak to people who still use “the team for all South Australians”

Yes! That was my point.

Albeit factually wrong, from their perspective, the statement is not a lie. It is a “true Scotsman” fallacy, nonetheless they believe it.

At least, they seem to believe it. I’m convinced they do.

 

[GremioPower]

Call me cynical, but when someone starts an account specifically to post exclusively to start rumours about players drinking while on a break.

World-class athletes drinking in their break time 10 days before a game.

How could they ever recover from that?!

 

[LeoMessi]

I just don’t know where I’m at with club. I suppose I started supporting Port in the AFL era and the Magpie time before that I am unfamiliar about. To me, we’re a club who’s always there abouts (except the Primus era we were a rabble) but never good enough. Looks like after Kens first 2 year at the helm, we’ve just stagnated and we have seen numerous other clubs rebuild and go on to win premiership while we have been there or there abouts. I’m not sure it’s all Ken fault but I think he needs to go just for a breath of fresh air. And need someone ruthless and not just with his players but the media and umpires and the whole corrupt AFL. I’d hate to admit it but we could do with someone like Bevo.

 

[Andre]

Personally I'd love it if we bombed next year, and had a couple of really elite picks in the draft. Combine them with what we've got and some more trading and I feel like we could break the rut and be a real contender within 5-6 years.

We don't need to bomb, but if we are stuck with Hinkley he should be banned from selections.

Jonas not Captain. Given his age should be only played if McKenzie, Clurey or Aliir is injured.
Hartlett gone. Goldsack is gone.
Woodcock goes.
McEntee doesn't have the x-factor to be a small mid and we've enough smalls. Why is he getting another year? Backup only.
Lycett only played if either Hayes or Ladhams is injured.
Gray not played all games he's fit.
Rozee and Butters to play in the midfield predominantly. Burton and Houston need to spend more time there. Games into Jones, first in defense, but give him a few bursts in the guts.
We must get some games into Schofield, Mead and Burgoyne.

If the club is too weak to get rid of Ken (and they are), the only way they can mitigate that disaster in the least is to use 2022 to fast track our next lot of players, ready for the next coach. We have too much talent to drop bottom 4, but a 7 - 10 finish doing the above is going to serve a lot more than a 3-5 finish repeating all the same mistakes.

 

[70sDinosaur]

Changing the subject completely, I hadn’t noticed before that the quote from the headline above (“I’m sorry, SA!”) was said in 1989.

Since I have read it for the first time, I feel that it summarizes the meaning — the spirit — of the Showdown. Being from 1989, it just makes such feeling of mine stronger.

We aren’t South Australia for them; but a foreign enclave. We are obviously from South Australia, don’t get me wrong, but we would be so distinct from their self-understanding, that they cannot recognize us as such.

That’s the core of the rivalry for me.

It's interesting that you say this because I remember getting that newspaper the day after the game and feeling offended by that headline.

My first thought was, "I'm South Australian and I'm glad Port smashed your shitty team so how dare you claim to speak to or on behalf of me, you stupid little campaigner". (Note for reference that North's coach Mick Nunan was about the same size as current Footscray player Caleb Daniel.)

But your observation is correct. All those other teams, coaches and players never saw themselves as representing only themselves. They always grandiosely believed they were representing the whole state against big, bad Port Adelaide. They were all too stupid to realise how easy they made it for the likes of Fos Williams and John Cahill to play the "us against the rest" card so effectively for so long.

This game took place a year before the dramas of 1990 and the courtroom birth of the crows but you can clearly see that the crows already existed in the hearts and minds of "the rest" as the embodiment of anti-Port spirit long before they became an actual tangible reality.

Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the infamous "Team for all South Australians" slogan was only adopted when Port joined the AFL. I don't think it existed during the first six years of the crows. It was something they came up with to remind "proper" South Australians of their historical and ongoing obligation to be anti-Port. As they had always done, "the rest" were defining themselves by what they stood against rather than what they stood for.

 

[Expat power]

Players clearly weren't up for the fight, could be due to key players celebrating too hard after the cats win. a number of players were reportedly on the beers for a number of days after that friday night game. preparation prevents piss poor performance.

It was the glenelg/magpies game the day after the cats win. No Afl player drinking that day but yeah probs celebrating with the sanfl boys that night. Do we seriously think that’s a problem?

 

[drcollossimo]

It was the glenelg/magpies game the day after the cats win. No Afl player drinking that day but yeah probs celebrating with the sanfl boys that night. Do we seriously think that’s a problem?

Ok mate you’re posting here staunchly in defence of the status quo ( I don’t buy the drinking Schtick either fwiw)

what do u think went wrong ?

 

[Expat power]

Ok mate you’re posting here staunchly in defence of the status quo ( I don’t buy the drinking Schtick either fwiw)

what do u think went wrong ?

Sadly I think it’s as simple as they were more aggressive from the get go. They jumped the gun on us, bashed us up, smelt blood and got momentum. Adam Simpson said it tonight on AFL 360, the hardest thing for the modern day coach and the constant question they ask in the coaches box is “how to stop momentum”. We’ve managed to fight our way back into the game before eg round 23, but on Saturday night we looked shell shocked. Too many young heads? The wrong match ups for Jonas McKenzie and Alir? And what is going on with DBJ? And why did Ryan Burton play such a shocker after being so bloody good the game before? We were rattled. we thought we were going to the granny (I definitely did I’d bought my tickets) but we forgot we had to beat the bulldogs first. FWIW I reckon this makes us or breaks us and we’ll know by round 6 next year.

 

[tribey]

McEntee doesn't have the x-factor to be a small mid and we've enough smalls. Why is he getting another year?

Just on McEntee, the club probably plans to judge him after he’s brought up to speed physically with his first proper AFL preseason? He’d be a mile back versus his peers in that regard.

 

[Revan11]

I've been thinking this more and more. People need to be held accountable for this, starting with Ken. Its not acceptable and the supporters do not deserve this. Ken's position and others now have become untenable, I don't think the supporter base will stand for it.

 

[sobrave]

How were we so s**t

Literally no one with clean hands, 18 players on the field that couldn't win a 1 on 1 to save themselves. You knew we were done when Robbie Gray

9

Robbie Gray

Age

36

Ht

183cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.9

5star

K

9.8

4star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.4

5star

D

13.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.6

4star

G

0.6

4star

D

10.4

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

put it out on the full from the pocket. Despite how shitful we were, he kicks that and we're only 3 goals down. We already fluffed a couple of chances. You think right, Robbie has it, we're back in it. And he goes for a drop punt when 90% of AFL players just take an easy snap and put it straight through. How the * do you kick it out on the full from there??

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Our failure was the lead story on Footy Classified. They highlighted a number of soft efforts in the first quarter alone that set the tone of the match.

It would have been very uncomfortable viewing for Boak, Burton, Jonas, Rozee and Butters.

It was totally unacceptable and showed the difference between a team that came to win and one that thought they would win.

In the end even Ken's biggest cheerleader Kane couldn't see him surviving beyond next year.

 

[Sleezy]

During the game, I was thinking Jonas was worst on ground. Constantly over-committing to contests and leaving the crumbs for the dogs players on the ground. Upon reflection, was that Jonas sensing that the rest of the team was off and trying too hard to compensate for the lack of intent from his team-mates?

I don't know - but I think i'd prefer a player try to do too much, rather than Motlop their way to letting the ball bumble past them and into the waiting arms of the opposition.

 

[PortWTF]

On the Couch also showed similar vision, as well as a number of our stoppages where the Bulldogs had 1 or 2 spare players that eventually got the ball. I have no idea if that was a players mistake or a tactic to have our players elsewhere, but either way its a massive fail against the most dominant midfield in the league.

 

[bomberclifford]

Check out the vision of Jonas before the game, during the anthem.

His expression does not look like someone who is enthusiastic about what he’s about to do.

 

[PortWTF]

During the game, I was thinking Jonas was worst on ground. Constantly over-committing to contests and leaving the crumbs for the dogs players on the ground. Upon reflection, was that Jonas sensing that the rest of the team was off and trying too hard to compensate for the lack of intent from his team-mates?

I don't know - but I think i'd prefer a player try to do too much, rather than Motlop their way to letting the ball bumble past them and into the waiting arms of the opposition.

I also thought Jonas was worst on ground. He was continually missing the spoil and letting it get behind the marking contest for easy goals out the back.

 

[philreich]

Our failure was the lead story on Footy Classified. They highlighted a number of soft efforts in the first quarter aline that set the tone of the match.

It would have been very uncomfortable viewing for Boak, Burton, Jonas, Rozee and Butters.

It was totally unacceptable and showed the difference between a team that came to win and one that thought they would win.

In the end even Ken's biggest cheerleader Kane couldn't see him surviving beyond next year.

Even more damning in my view, they also showed a clip from a radio interview with Tom Rockliff on Saturday morning, where he more or less indicated that the club had one eye on how they would take on Melbourne in the big one - "we'll get over this one, and then work things out from there", or words to that effect. We clearly thought we were better than we actually are, and we didn't take the Dogs seriously enough.

As the old saying goes, pride comes before a fall.

 

[Capital Power]

Even more damning in my view, they also showed a clip from a radio interview with Tom Rockliff on Saturday morning, where he more or less indicated that the club had one eye on how they would take on Melbourne in the big one - "we'll get over this one, and then work things out from there", or words to that effect. We clearly thought we were better than we actually are, and we didn't take the Dogs seriously enough.

As the old saying goes, pride comes before a fall.

If Rockliff really did day that I'm mighty disappointed. I've been a big fan of his commitment to the club, and want him to stay, but that's just so wrong.

 

[Black 18]

Our failure was the lead story on Footy Classified. They highlighted a number of soft efforts in the first quarter aline that set the tone of the match.

It would have been very uncomfortable viewing for Boak, Burton, Jonas, Rozee and Butters.

It was totally unacceptable and showed the difference between a team that came to win and one that thought they would win.

In the end even Ken's biggest cheerleader Kane couldn't see him surviving beyond next year.

Scared, soft, gutless - whatever you want to cal it. And as you rightfully pointed out that was all within the first qtr. Watch the rest of the game, it kept happening.

We won't shake that tag for years and rightfully so. It was beyond a loss and somebody needs to tell us why. It was totally unacceptable in every sense.

I'm still struggling to understand just how that can happen. With absolutely no lack of respect to the Western Bulldogs they're hardly known for their aggressive ways so it's really hard to understand just how it happened.

Surely there's more to it?

You can't repair the damage to the PAFC without change, even if you don't think anyone deserves to be moved on it's beyond salvaging after a display like that.

We need the bar raised so damn much and the people raising that bar can't be seen to the same ones that allowed it to be so low to begin with otherwise everyone will eventually drift back to the same level again in the future. They'll know nobody will really pay a price. They'll continue to talk about this "special' Club, the incredible history, the past heroes, yet fail to meet the standards time and time again.

At the moment we need strong, demanding leaders and I don't believe we have any whatsoever. And just like night follows day it appears our answer isn't to fix anything it's just to control the narrative through our puppets and take a couple of sacrificial scalps and roll on to next year almost demanding everyone just believe - you don't know what you're seeing so just trust us - we know.

 

[philreich]

If Rockliff really did day that I'm mighty disappointed. I've been a big fan of his commitment to the club, and want him to stay, but that's just so wrong.

The Footy Classified panel gave him a real (much deserved) bake for saying it.

 

[Harlott]

There was lots of uncomfortable viewing and listening for our players and coaching staff on On the Couch last night.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Scared, soft, gutless - whatever you want to cal it. And as you rightfully pointed out that was all within the first qtr. Watch the rest of the game, it kept happening.

We won't shake that tag for years and rightfully so. It was beyond a loss and somebody needs to tell us why. It was totally unacceptable in every sense.

I'm still struggling to understand just how that can happen. With absolutely no lack of respect to the Western Bulldogs they're hardly known for their aggressive ways so it's really hard to understand just how it happened.

Surely there's more to it?

You can't repair the damage to the PAFC without change, even if you don't think anyone deserves to be moved on it's beyond salvaging after a display like that.

We need the bar raised so damn much and the people raising that bar can't be seen to the same ones that allowed it to be so low to begin with otherwise everyone will eventually drift back to the same level again in the future. They'll know nobody will really pay a price. They'll continue to talk about this "special' Club, the incredible history, the past heroes, yet fail to meet the standards time and time again.

At the moment we need strong, demanding leaders and I don't believe we have any whatsoever. And just like night follows day it appears our answer isn't to fix anything it's just to control the narrative through our puppets and take a couple of sacrificial scalps and roll on to next year almost demanding everyone just believe - you don't know what you're seeing so just trust us - we know.

Staring meaningfully into a camera reciting lines from The Creed to sell a beer does not the Port Adelaide Football Club make.

That vision makes me want Clarkson at Port more than ever. No team of his would be allowed to perform so insipidly on a big stage.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

There was lots of uncomfortable viewing and listening for our players and coaching staff on On the Couch last night.

Good. They need the blowtorch put to them. They cannot continue to shy away from failures in big matches.

 

[BornPort]

 

[Enviable Tradition]

We need to somehow get the media to turn the blowtorch to Koch.

Publicly challenging his fortitude is the only way to get the ego to take action.

Come on Kochie. What are you? Chicken?

#sackken