Preview Changes & Preview Thread for Round 2, 2026 vs Essendon @ Adelaide Oval

[portforever]

It's hard to find a positive, but i thought he was one.

Jones kicked 3 goals against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval and his running power and physique was impressive. Is the backlines constraining him too much such that his strengths are being under utilized?

 

[The Hobo]

I would swap Watkins for Brodie. Need bigger bodies in the middle that can win clearances and contested ball on the inside.

Yup spot on. When they got on top, it was through centre clearance. We desperately needed someone like Wines or Brodie.

Watkins seems decent - i'm not against him getting games - but first game of a new era is not the time to play games. Brodie should have played.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

It’s his fumbles and dropped marks. Spoils when he can actually take the mark. Sets a tone I recon.

That stuff is endemic in our backline.

We need an actual coach who will teach basic skills and judgement in the air.

He kept Paul Curtis goalless so I was super happy with that who along with Larkey is their most dangerous forward.

 

[PortAdelFC1997]

Well Rammy is out for a while. Syndesmosis.

 

[The Hobo]

Vis almost double Xerri for Hit outs and Hitouts to Advantage.

Yes he didn't do nearly enough around the crowd and the dropped mark in D50 was horrible but he beat one of the best rucks in the ruck contest.

If the midfield turned up and did their job, Dante's game probably get viewed far more favourably

Whilst I agree, the lack of around the ground impact was massive though. He needs to hold those marks, he needs to stop his opponent from taking marks and impacting around the ground.

He is clearly talented and is looking a likely type, but i'm not sure he's ready to take on the mantle of sole ruck - especially when the backup rucks are also below average.

If the structure can only play 1 solo ruck, then it should be Sweet for now.

 

[Scholz Supremacy]

BZT in for Marshall then.

 

[RossFC]

BZT in for Marshall then.

Marshall expected to be available

 

[PortAdelFC1997]

Whilst I agree, the lack of around the ground impact was massive though. He needs to hold those marks, he needs to stop his opponent from taking marks and impacting around the ground.

He is clearly talented and is looking a likely type, but i'm not sure he's ready to take on the mantle of sole ruck - especially when the backup rucks are also below average.

If the structure can only play 1 solo ruck, then it should be Sweet for now.

It is alarming that Dante only had 1 contested possession for the whole game whereas Xerri got 16 contested possessions.

 

[ic3solo]

I think its a bit unfair to compare a ruck who was in the AA conversation last year to Dante.. But he does need to add more to his game (tackles, CPs) and throw his weight around more - work in progress.

We need a Plan B once Butters goes, because we are under-sized and under-manned in the middle at the moment.

 

[Waspy79]

It is alarming that Dante only had 1 contested possession for the whole game whereas Xerri got 16 contested possessions.

One contested possession for a ruckman is surely an embarassing statistic

 

[Rigs]

Luko in then

 

[Rash]

It is alarming that Dante only had 1 contested possession for the whole game whereas Xerri got 16 contested possessions.

hes shit, i have just accepted it.

I dont care if you can jump high in the centre bounce, he hit it to the north melborune players. He is the biggest liability around the ground, u have never seen him take a mark or do anything usefull around the ground.

 

[Gryllis]

I think Luke Webster

Luke Webster

Age

43

Ht

186cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.2

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.8

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.0

4star

clearly had some plans in that interview. He just didn't execute as he would have liked. You have to give credit to whoever tried to turn it into an article though. They executed their plan very well to use a lot of words to say little.

Clearly just needs to be better at executing what he needs to execute when commenting after a poor loss.

What we learned: Luko to execute on Sunday.

 

[#Port Patriot#]

They should just throw Jones up forward for a match or 2 and allow Lai to come in and use Evans and Bergman with Rozee and Farrel down back. See if his bruteness and attitude will push him more into becoming more hungry and aggressive towards hunting and getting the ball and touch wood his marking benefits without the "pressure" of having to mark otherwise he looks like a drop kick... Its worth a shot, even if its half a match and swapping DJB down back for 1st half and Jones up forward.

 

[Scodges]

They should just throw Jones up forward for a match or 2 and allow Lai to come in and use Evans and Bergman with Rozee and Farrel down back. See if his bruteness and attitude will push him more into becoming more hungry and aggressive towards hunting and getting the ball and touch wood his marking benefits without the "pressure" of having to mark otherwise he looks like a drop kick... Its worth a shot, even if its half a match and swapping DJB down back for 1st half and Jones up forward.

We should have stuck him in the guts during preseason, for some reason the coaches see him as a defender, I don’t.

 

[The Hobo]

I think its a bit unfair to compare a ruck who was in the AA conversation last year to Dante.. But he does need to add more to his game (tackles, CPs) and throw his weight around more - work in progress.

We need a Plan B once Butters goes, because we are under-sized and under-manned in the middle at the moment.

I don't think anyone is expecting Dante to beat Xerri, but we simply cannot have our number 1 ruck getting their pants pulled down like that on contested possessions and around the ground general play, and still expect us to challenge in games.

Our rucks would have to be bottom 5 in the league right now, and for the best part of 5 years. Lycett gave us one, maybe 2 good seasons before he started to break down.

Paddy Ryder left in 2019.

 

[#Port Patriot#]

We should have stuck him in the guts during preseason, for some reason the coaches see him as a defender, I don’t.

It could work him being in the guts, but he'd need a fair bit of match sim and games under his belt because he's too used to being that defender now. Hes a player that plays on confidence. If its up, hes up, if hes down, hes shit. Move the magnets is what they should be doing. I am surprised Carr isnt to be honest... hes spoken about Butters playing off the half back in games occasionally, which makes no sense unless trying to shake a tag but he should just learn to beat the tag and also have his team mates body those taggers a few times. As much as Rozee is a solid midfielder, he hasn't got that brute aggressiveness in him to smash around opposition that are trying to harrass and tag Butters and hes a heck of a lot better off a half back as a player and leader there. That's also why Drew IMO isn't great in the center bounce or on ball in general.. He is only a good tagger and defensive type midfielder but he doesn't smash the opposition around.. port need brute.. they have none of that with these players right now.

 

[The Hobo]

We should have stuck him in the guts during preseason, for some reason the coaches see him as a defender, I don’t.

The soft tissue injury history is likely a big factor here. Can his body hold up to playing midfield?

 

[Doctor Feel]

Throw them in the executioner.

 

[The Hobo]

In: Sweet, Luko, Brodie,
Out: Visentini, Lord, Wehr

We need that bigger body ball winner in the centre bounces - so Brodie comes in.
I don't know what Wehr brings - haven't seen anything special throughout the season. Mackinlay probably needs to go out too, but lack of options to bring in is a problem.

Visentini needs to do more around the ground or is an absolute liability

Whitlock will need to chop out in the ruck.

 

[RossFC]

Maggies have a week off this weekend, so Luko 100% should be playing here ahead of Lord if they want him getting footy under his belt.

 

[Troncs10]

Maggies have a week off this weekend, so Luko 100% should be playing here ahead of Lord if they want him getting footy under his belt.

Kinda silly that they have a week off. The crows reserves are playing this weekend, why aren’t we?

 

[RossFC]

Kinda silly that they have a week off. The crows reserves are playing this weekend, why aren’t we?

I think I heard anyone not playing AFL this weekend will be involved in an internal match sim. We should have enough numbers (AFL depth + SANFL list) to field 2 teams.

 

[Long live PAFC]

That effort was pathetic. On an individual and team basis. The leadership was crap.

Our defence actually did alright considering there was no pressure on the north mids and forwards as the ball entered 50. Forwards ticked some boxes too.

Butters, Rozee, Drew, Bergmann, Farrell, JHF - basically didn’t fire a shot between them. Wehr, Mackinlay and Berry got outworked, both ways.

I think we can write that off as the first game of the season but there needs to be a response and sustained improvement. We can’t see Rozee, Drew etc missed tackles and not giving 100% regardless of the score.

So I would give the team a chance to prove themselves.

Luko for Lord is obvious
Brodie needs to come in as a big bodied mid, Watkins is probably the guy to make way.

 

[Duckimus Prime]

We had Aliir and Esava running into each other in their first year, that we dropped Esava and then played him forward.

Last year they got working pretty well together.

This year we went with Ramm and Aliir as the def naive posts in the trial games then decided to switch in Esava for round 1. And it didn't work. Maybe, I dunno actually play our first choice defenders together in the preseason.