Review Round 9, 2026 vs Western Bulldogs

[Willsy10]

Wins are everything, we know that. But you cant focus on week to week results. You focus on premierships. Are we in a position to win one? No. Are we losing winnable games? Yes. Is the way we fundamentally dig in a big tick? Absolutely.

We have won a ****tonne of home and away games over the last decade. Did it matter? No. So losing a few doesn't matter either if it is building towards winning what DOES matter, premierships.

You would be pretty jaded to not see the clear difference in the side. Genuinely upset after losing, keeping up with sides that are much better than us (remember, Ken got annihilated by teams much worse than us - when it counted too.) The coach speaking nothing but sensible truth in pressers

The foundation we are building our culture on is currently rock solid. I have no complaints. The hinkley era in the other hand may as well have been building the empire state on the foundation of the undeveloped swamp of west lakes.

Besides the hawks the losses we’ve had are to sides not even going well.

 

[all seeing eye]

You keep telling yourself it’s part of some master plan due to the draft. Laughable so many believe that’s what’s happening. We are clearly trying to win but aren’t good enough. Anyone thinking we are just trying to do well without winning is delusional.

Of course we are trying to win and yes we dont have the talent to win, but I have seen a notceable change in the system. That defensive resilence is a promising start point.

 

[PAFC66]

We might not win 5 or 6 games? Where are our next 3 wins coming from?

The turd polishing is astounding

Probably against some rubbish sides. We'll beat West Coast and Carlton. Bulldogs , Hawks, Geelong and possibly Adelaide will play finals and we could have won a couple of them.


Next year we'll lose more games so strap yourself in. We are rebuilding.

 

[Portmagpies36]

30 disposals will be replaced. They dont disappear unless your in total rebuild mode like wce and roos which i dont think we are near.

And its not like we are losing Butters, we need to be paid. I more confident in a Butters replacement than a Geo or Aliir replacement if we are facing that problem. In a matter of fact losing Aliir or retiring Aliir without replacement is more concerning to me than losing Butters.

We are nowhere near as bad as WCE or North? Didn’t we lose to both those sides?
You think Butters is easier to replace than Aliir? Ok you’ll find out next year.

 

[Willsy10]

Probably against some rubbish sides. We'll beat West Coast and Carlton. Bulldogs , Hawks and Geelong will play finals and we could have won a couple of them.

Ah yeah west coast shouldn’t lose to them

 

[rogerjames]

Sweet is a dumb far ken footballer. Reckon he'd struggle with revolving doors.

And Vis is even dumber

 

[Traveling_Power]

3pt loss to hawks, 1pt loss to crows now 2pts to the dogs. Just can’t finish games atm.

Don't forget the 2-point lost to West Coast and the 14-point loss to the Saints

 

[Coobk001]

Looking at that last 2 minutes, theres bad decisions everywhere.

Sweet cops it for his hit out, but for some reason Butters tries to jump over him and smash it forward. It takes him out of position and they get it when Sweet taps it down to the spot Butters should have been in.

Butters also being rhe aame guy that coughed up the win last week when he didnt just take the tackle.

Love Butters, but **** he does some things that hurt too regularly.

Lazy manning up by Richards. Contested grab allowed by Sweet and Jones. JHF going to ground like he does a lot when he gets a clearance opportunity trying to do too much. Wehr fumbles the ball to E Richards. Lai spills it. Farrell has a chance for a big kick but just hacks it to JHF playing behind. Then the big Sweet/Butter bungle which broke it open. Then missed tackle by Wehr.

So many moments all game, and that was just in like 1 and a bit minutes of game time.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Besides the hawks the losses we’ve had are to sides not even going well.

Doesnt that tell you a bit about where we are realistically at? Young side, fresh team, new coaches, wild fluctuations. All of these are hallmarks of a transitioning side. Do you think if we beat North, Eagles, Saints we are premiership bound? Buckleys. Those three are also not going well and wins against them signal nothing.

Consider St Kilda and Carlton lmao. Loaded up on expensive players and trades and look like ****ing shit with an older list profile.

We are going alright. If you choose to focus purely on the frustrating close losses, you miss so many good signs in a clear transition phase.

 

[GremioPower]

Game plan worked out. That was diabolical to watch.

The team will be naturally inconsistent. I wouldn’t jump into conclusions just yet.

 

[Coobk001]

You keep telling yourself it’s part of some master plan due to the draft. Laughable so many believe that’s what’s happening. We are clearly trying to win but aren’t good enough. Anyone thinking we are just trying to do well without winning is delusional.

What good is winning and finishing mid table again?

Honestly, whether we're trying or not, losing is actually better for us given the list position we are in.

 

[Coobk001]

Wins are everything, we know that. But you cant focus on week to week results. You focus on premierships. Are we in a position to win one? No. Are we losing winnable games? Yes. Is the way we fundamentally dig in a big tick? Absolutely.

We have won a ****tonne of home and away games over the last decade. Did it matter? No. So losing a few doesn't matter either if it is building towards winning what DOES matter, premierships.

You would be pretty jaded to not see the clear difference in the side. Genuinely upset after losing, keeping up with sides that are much better than us (remember, Ken got annihilated by teams much worse than us - when it counted too.) The coach speaking nothing but sensible truth in pressers

The foundation we are building our culture on is currently rock solid. I have no complaints. The hinkley era on the other hand may as well have been building the empire state on the foundation of the undeveloped swamp of west lakes.

Port Adelaides culture was not built overnight and niether were the lists. Hinkley dismantled it, Carr is rebuilding it. Starting with the basics. There is no point throwing the toys out the cot so soon, particularly with the signs and way we present ourselves. Carr has had less than 10 games and precicely zero picks in the main draft.

Yeah right we lost, by small margins in games we could win. I get it, it sucks. However I think a little restraint is needed right now.

Well summed up

 

[240volt]

Posted by pafc66, are you being deliberately facetious, or?

There were comments by posters referring to tanking tonight.
It was coming up in match day threads before the Geelong game and stopped after that.
You spend enough time on the match day threads to know that’s the case.
I have always said Carr is not and never will be doing anything to lose games.
Anyone who thinks a Port side under Carr would somehow throw a game is delusional.
Our results are just a reflection of where we stand with our team at the moment.
It doesn’t mean it will continue that way in the future.
In all honesty I don’t believe tanking works, Carlton is the masters at tanking and they haven’t won nothing in 30 years.
Not doing your best to win spreads like cancer through a playing group, you get so used to not giving your all that it becomes something you can’t just flick a switch and reverse.

 

[Doctor Feel]

There were comments by posters referring to tanking tonight.
It was coming up in match day threads before the Geelong game and stopped after that.
You spend enough time on the match day threads to know that’s the case.
I have always said Carr is not and never will be doing anything to lose games.
Anyone who thinks a Port side under Carr would somehow throw a game is delusional.
Our results are just a reflection of where we stand with our team at the moment.
It doesn’t mean it will continue that way in the future.
In all honesty I don’t believe tanking works, Carlton is the masters at tanking and they haven’t won nothing in 30 years.
Not doing your best to win spreads like cancer through a playing group, you get so used to not giving your all that it becomes something you can’t just flick a switch and reverse.

To be fair, I think a vast majority of the tank posting is with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I'm a bit surprised you can't see that.

The serious posts are just copium lol.

 

[pstew2dstew]

We are nowhere near as bad as WCE or North? Didn’t we lose to both those sides?
You think Butters is easier to replace than Aliir? Ok you’ll find out next year.

Im confident we beat both if we play them next week. We will destroy wce given current form. And I definitely wouldn't swap our list or current position moving forward with either of those 2 teams.

They got us at a good time it is what it is.


"You think Butters is easier to replace than Aliir? Ok you’ll find out next year"

100% I do.

 

[ploppy]

Look I don’t want to point fingers at individuals but if Mitch Georgiades

19

Mitch Georgiades

Age

24

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.0

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

2.0

5star

D

11.0

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

3.0

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

3star

G

2.0

5star

D

11.0

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

2.0

5star

kicks straight we win the flag.

 

[rogerjames]

The team will be naturally inconsistent. I wouldn’t jump into conclusions just yet.

I'm not saying we haven't improved as a team because we clearly have & I've been really happy with Carr. Playing that badly & almost winning demonstrates the improvement. But making the effort to go with a late start & fairly cold night & then have to watch that standard of footy was extremely frustrating. It wasn't entertaining at all.

In terms of our game plan the Crows showed in Q3 last week how to close us down. Beverage was obviously watching. We are going to need a plan B. Day games would suit our style of footy so much more as we are so posession based. I think our lack of marking prowess across the field is a major reason for this short chipping game.

 

[tribey]

I think the change this year has been enormous. Like chalk and cheese.

110%. You can see the blueprint and the players have a license to execute it.

We’re not a good team, and that’s the stark consequence of a wasted window that lasted a dozen or so years.

But with some time, experience, and cohesion as the new gameplan becomes second nature and the players believe in themselves, the future dividends are obvious.

It’s actually exciting to feel like we’re on a journey with an attainable goal again, and not just rolling the dice with a talent advantage that we knew for a fact couldn’t stand up in finals again and again.

 

[rogerjames]

I'm taking the piss and so is everyone on here regarding tanking. We don't need to try and lose. We have about top up players in our best 22 to do that for us. Nobody tanks.

Clubs have in the past. Some on here believe we are tanking.

 

[KenGaveUsWhatHeDeserved]

Who's rating us? You'd be an idiot to think this clubs going anywhere near the 8 this year. I think people are just finding comfort in not looking at Ken's ****ing head every game.
Things won't be better in years mate. If you're not prepared for losing a lot in the next 3 years you're in for a shock. You won't see us playing in a prelim again for a very very long time. Those days are gone. We blew our chances, we had 4 of them, time to do the time now.

I believe we could make a preliminary final as soon as next year

our team doesn't need much more to be good. as unorthodox as it seems, the last 4 weeks has shown even those players have capability

I think a turnaround can be faster than many expect

 

[rogerjames]

Read the game day thread there is also a tank picture with Port colors on it.

Yeh saw that post game

 

[Expat power]

What really annoyed me was the lack of run. Played safe, conservative and boring footy.

That’s our game plan

 

[P4Life]

Seriously we had a top 5 paid player off the ground for 3 quarters with a sore toe.
Miles f… off back to Victoria we will take a first round pick and get someone who wants to play for us.

 

[Traveling_Power]

If Georgiades can’t fix his kicking, he’s going to continue to cost us games for the next 10 years.

Could be an absolute top key forward in the comp. Unfortunately, he just can’t kick.

he might need some extra training like Tredders did

or he could do liaising with (Jay) Schulzy

 

[Traveling_Power]

If Carr backs in Wehr for the year I'll be rightfully questioning it.

Vis was terrible but what other ruck options do we have.

it might depend on who comes in from the mid-season draft ????