Not convinced about Clarkson. Don't know enough about him but sense he is at Port because of what he did out on the Ponderosa. Not sure he'd still have an asst's gig in Melbourne. Eade and Wallace don't excite me. Amongst the untried guys, Gary O'Donnell would be my choice - good playing pedigree and has learnt under Matthews. Cool, calm, collected. I think he'll be in demand at season end, if not before. Not sure that there is much depth about the place, though that's no reason not to make a change if the insipid late season performances continue. Problem being, we're probably good enough to win 17-18 again with the gameplan written on all 15 teams' whiteboards, but when it comes to quality opposition in pressure situations, the only Plan B seems to be to look disconsolate and tell us that "there is huge pain in the guts that won't go away until we atone for this next year." Well, for SOF, there won't be a next year unless he's drinking a champagne spritzer on last Sat in Sept.
First thing he should do is pick the Wiz Cup sides from the bottom, and continue the practice into the season until individuals prove they can't measure up week after week.
We don't expect Salopek or Ebert to be as good as Francou, but we might find Cassissi or someone even lower ranked makes progress quickly.
Port use few players and the ones that don't get used don't get any experience. Perhaps they've realised this and that's why they took Mahoney. Mind you, i think choco has a big inferiority complex about his list - it's a way of avoiding blame. I'd hate to see him open slather on trades. "What's that? Bandy for Tredrea? How about we throw in Schoey to make it fair?"