Strategy 2024 game plan

[Enviable Tradition]

There were a couple of signs of slight change last night. Albeit it wasn't a high standard being a first round in the heat.

1. Bullet passes

There seemed to be a concerted effort to keep the ball lower on the switch to prevent intercepts and make the switch more effective. It caused them to studd up their kicks a couple of times but I liked it.

2. Hitting leading targets.

It only happened a few times but seeing Dixon on the lead was a sight for sore eyes.

3. Joe the Goose.

We actually seemed to keep a deep forward and it allowed us easy goals at least twice. On of them being an amazing transfer of the ball amongst our best kicks.

What else did you notice?

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ports1870]

Seemed like we were trying to break the game open through the middle through kick outs a lot more, rather than bomb it long to the wings like we’ve been doing for years.

 

[TazD]

Play West Coast every week

 

[thundercloud]

Saldo an obvious personal addition.
Marshall using his skills further up the ground.

 

[PortPortPort]

Every year they lead in the first couple of rounds then go back to just bombing it into 50.

 

[TeeKray]

Essentially you look at yesterday - dry deck against West Coast - and you see the style of football they want to play.

Most other weeks you see the style of football they are forced to play when the opposition take things away from you and/or it's a slippery deck. This is the actual test and what it will look like in a finals game.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Notably there appeared to be more of an effort at stoppages to generate high quality effective clearances instead of the defence first approach we took with Lycett.

This will probably mean we're a bit more swingy with generating and conceding those style of clearances as we setup less defensively. You'd expect that to work in our favour given the quality of our midfield, but we'll see.

 

[EskimoPAFC]

To me it just looked like we were working harder out there and that's really the trademark of Port Adelaide football. As long as we can keep this up and work harder than the opposition, and do it for longer in each game, we should beat most teams.

 

[LittleLika]

To me it just looked like we were working harder out there and that's really the trademark of Port Adelaide football. As long as we can keep this up and work harder than the opposition, and do it for longer in each game, we should beat most teams.

Work hardery.....for longery?

 

[Schulzenfest]

To me it just looked like we were working harder out there and that's really the trademark of Port Adelaide football. As long as we can keep this up and work harder than the opposition, and do it for longer in each game, we should beat most teams.

Not all teams of course, a little old battler club from Alberton obviously can't expect to win against any of the top four or five teams in the comp in a final, but most teams, yes.

 

[Port85]

Over the pre-season and round 1:

Incredibly high numbers of kicks and marks. Definitely playing to keep possession of the ball by foot, possibly to conserve energy in the heat but neither Freo or West Coast were able to do much to stop it.

It might be to reduce the number of turnovers against us as the number of total turnovers were low for both sides.

Slower ball movement from the back half switching into aggressive corridor hunting seemed to be the go as well.

 

[Chewy316]

Defensive transition was quicker than past years. Moving the ball faster on turnover ensures more space in the forward line, which theoretically should create better goal scoring opportunities.

 

[TeeKray]

Notably there appeared to be more of an effort at stoppages to generate high quality effective clearances instead of the defence first approach we took with Lycett.

This will probably mean we're a bit more swingy with generating and conceding those style of clearances as we setup less defensively. You'd expect that to work in our favour given the quality of our midfield, but we'll see.

I noticed this too. Some of our clearances were breathtakingly good but West Coast also seemed to get some really easy clearances the other way. Like you said, it probably works in our favour given our midfield quality but we all know Hinkley is a defensive coach deep down so it'll be interesting to see if the plan remains the same when things aren't going all our way.

 

[bow and arrow]

Every year they lead in the first couple of rounds then go back to just bombing it into 50.

The proof will be how long it lasts!

On SM-S711B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

I noticed this too. Some of our clearances were breathtakingly good but West Coast also seemed to get some really easy clearances the other way. Like you said, it probably works in our favour given our midfield quality but we all know Hinkley is a defensive coach deep down so it'll be interesting to see if the plan remains the same when things aren't going all our way.

I'm pretty sure we lost all the stoppages that Finlayson rucked in and it was likely also due to not spamming the stoppage with players like the previous seasons.

 

[Mr39]

Seemed a real focus to get the ball to our elite ball users from kick outs. Give and go from Farrell kick ins, spot up a tall with Houston receiving the handball to launch an attack.

 

[longdonkey]

A lot of the things that are mentioned here I think we have tried to do in the past but the fact we were playing the 18th ranked team allowed us to achieve some.

I hope we can keep Soldo on the park he made a difference otherwise same old, same old

 

[Sewer de Lance]

I’m more inclined to think that having more then one KPD & an AFL standard Ruck makes one hell of a difference to any game plan.

 

[VineValerian]

To me it just looked like we were working harder out there and that's really the trademark of Port Adelaide football. As long as we can keep this up and work harder than the opposition, and do it for longer in each game, we should beat most teams.

Ken likes your thinking!

 

[VineValerian]

Over the pre-season and round 1:

Incredibly high numbers of kicks and marks. Definitely playing to keep possession of the ball by foot, possibly to conserve energy in the heat but neither Freo or West Coast were able to do much to stop it.

It might be to reduce the number of turnovers against us as the number of total turnovers were low for both sides.

Slower ball movement from the back half switching into aggressive corridor hunting seemed to be the go as well.

Like treacle a few times. I swear once yesterday it seemed like it took a full 2 mintes to go from an OOF by WC in the back pocket to a shot on goal in our forward 50.
Crowd was really getting agitated.
I'll blame it on the heat and energy conservation, but sheeesh!

 

[Powerade 08]

We look no different to last year, just a taller defence. and theres no point diving too deep into their performance against West Coast.

Dixon always looks good early on, especially if he hasnt had a pre-season. His ankles will grind to dust after 3 games.

 

[bringbackbucky]

Change in personnel means there was some natural changes in game style. Other than that, forward entries looked same ol same ol to me...

"Poor predictable Bart - always takes rock." "Good ole rock - nothin' beats that!"

​

 

[Hammer#8]

Using Burton and Farrell's kicking to either go for goal or to clear the contest and have players contest the ball in open space.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Agree with the observations of the OP and following posters.

Several coast to coast plays from kick ins, which we were notoriously bad at. I think I heard we were the lowest scoring team from kick ins last year.

The tall defenders pushed up to create the outer wall of the inside 50 press and on kick ins, so any long kick from D50 could be spoiled or marked. And that allowed Soldo to push forward rather than be solely a kick behind the play ruckman.

The tall defenders also become an attacking option when we moved the ball around the 50m arc looking for different attack angles.

Overall we seemed more dynamic offensively and defensively having three genuinely tall defenders.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Play West Coast every week

Yeah obviously any changes come with 2 massive asterix.

1. Playing West Coast

2. Ken throwing any game plan change out after 5 weeks.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app