Review Mid season review

[Long live PAFC]

Mid season review:

This season has typified PAFC over the past few years but it’s also been one of our more unusual ones under the current regime. Most of us had us in the 8-14 bracket and would have taken a 7 and 7 breakdown at this time point. But the manner of the wins and losses is perhaps what has struck a cord. We were promised a return to the never say die attitude and fast, take it on style. We have seen this at stages and we have a discernible game plan, albeit one with holes and that we struggle to pull off at times. We’ve seen the resurgence of Travis Boak and have been driven by a group of new players and junior guns. We have also had one of our most difficult runs with injury. For various stages we have been without both captains, vice captain, CHF, medium forward who has lead the goal kicking and club champion in Robbie Grey, not to mention numerous niggles to other players. Considering our injury run and the fact we have used 35 players, our performances and inconsistency are hardly surprising. We have seen Ken make some strong decisions to back in our structure and play talls like Ladhams and Frampton, to be brave and play Garner, Drew, Rozee, etc. We have then seen the same Ken, drop Frampton a week later, play AJ based on no form or fitness, rush back Wines when he was underdone, gift games to under performing senior players and abandon the structure when it hasn’t fit. We have seen an amazing win against the odds, get it done wins against lowly ranked opponent, disappointing losses against teams we should beat and then being uncompetitive against the usual suspects. In some ways we have underperformed and should have registered wins against Richmond, Hawthorn, Lions, Freo and the Crows, but we also have had injuries, a lot of youth and we weren’t predicted to do particularly well this year anyway.

So all in all, the first half of the season feels like a failure but it’s probably about right.

 

[Long live PAFC]

Players:

Leaders: to be honest, disappointing and a reason for our inconsistency.
Wines - came in under done and perhaps should have played sanfl first. Had one solid game before injury.
Jonas - Has seemed out of sorts and was injured.
Hartlett - Delayed return from injury. Had a good first game back.

Forward: defined by ‘chaos ball’, or what I call unplanned and wasteful inside fifty entries and a high and effective press.
Ryder - has had some great impact at times but has gone missing for long periods. Feels like his last season with us.
Dixon - great to have him back.
Westhoff - as above. Dramatic fall from last year.
Marshall - a victim of our forward line woes. Whilst he has been capable of fitting in well in our crazy forward line in the past, I think he needs proper forward line structure to progress now.
Frampton - His best year, strong SANFL form and a good debut. Why he wasn’t given more of a run is a mystery.
R.Gray - patches of brilliance but down on his usual lofty standards but slowly returning to form.
S. Gray - standard year for him, brilliant games that suggest a corner turned, then revert to kind.
Ebert - really good up front early in the season and we have missed him
Rozee - great first year, needs structure in the forward to help him. A real impact player, can see him stepping into the midfield before too long.
Butters - solid early but has been a bit of a headless chook at times. Not sure if he is tiring or struggling with our up and down nature.
Farrell - what a finisher. Just doesn’t get enough of it and needs to apply more pressure.
AJ - has the speed, has the agility, has amazing skills. And I think he is done.


Midfield: clearance and contested possessions have defined us, almost as much as our ability to alternate between being world beaters and cellar dwellers.
Boak - what a resurgence. Borderline done at the end of this year to AA and a Brownlow smokey
Rockliff - finally started to see why he was brought to the club with his clearance and inside work.
SPP - started the year in AA form. Won the ball, delivered inside fifty and was kicking goals. But has dropped away and his disposal leaves a lot to be desired.
Duursma - a revelation on the wing. Tough and hard running. Generally uses it well. Feel like his confidence in his kicking has mirrored the team’s confidence. Think he will be a solid, gut busting runner for a long time.
Motlop - sometimes his work is next level and he creates a pathway to goal where there wasn’t one. His Geelong game was solid. But he has lacked toughness, physicality , lacked work ethic.
Amon - finally this is the Amon we had hoped for. Good ball use, good outside work, tough.
Drew - has shown plenty to suggest he isn’t out of place at AFL level. Now he has had a taste, he needs show that he wants it.
Atley - not sure where he is at. SANFL form has been solid and probably has deserved more opportunities but I’m not sure where they will come from.
Lycett - has carried the ruck and been exceptional. Tough as, he has been like an extra big midfielder. His ruck work has improved and I think he is legitimately our number one now.
Ladhams - a break out year after being borderline delist material at the end of this year. Making a case to be our number two ruck.


Defence: at times stoic in the face of being undermanned and then costing us games
Howard - forward craft has been solid and his defensive work has been good overall, but god his start was terrible. The fact an out of the side, out of form player was captain in round 9 says a lot about this club this year.
Clurey - Was excellent with Jonas out but has looked off since his return.
DBJ - generally solid, rarely beaten and providing run off the HB line.
Burton - what a pick up he has been. Excellent by foot, speed, composure, rarely beaten - everything we have needed. I think he is wasted in the backline - get him in the middle, on a wing, in the forward line. He desperately need his skill, speed and composure in the midfield, delivering inside fifty and kicking for goals.
Houston - Near AA in the backline but his work in the midfield has been just what we need.
Lienert - has a booming kick but not much else. At times he looks great, attacks the ball, at others he is a SANFL player out of his depth.
Broadbent - great that he got back at all. Sadly to slow now and has been surpassed. Hopefully the mental side of things are ok.
Garner - what a solid start for the kid. Looks composed and tough. Will make a great small defender and should release DBJ to be more attacking.
Watts - a great game after a torrid, somewhat self inflicted off season. We miss his ball use and I think he could allow Burton to push up the ground more.
Bonner (edit) - looked strong pushing higher up the ground against St Kilda. Defensively poor and not strong enough in contested situations, but his forward movement is good and his kick is beautiful. Is he a guy that will get better just with more games or does he need a circuit breaker like being traded?

Others:
Hewitt - probably his last season at Port.
Hayes, Patmore - injury recovery. 37
Grundy - will be a slow developer
Woodcock - a tad unsure of where he fitted in but has shown promise.
Cox - More undersized tall than a true small forward but has shown plenty. Keen to see his work with all the taels coming back.
Trengove - couldn’t be a better SANFL mid. Get the feeling he would have been perfect for a Gold Coast or Carlton but we just don’t need him in our AFL side.
McKenzie - similar to Trengove. Can’t see him getting another year.
Frederick - pace to burn, needs lots of time and coaching.
Pudney - has had a cracking first year and developing well. AFL on the agenda next year.
Sutcliffe - why he was added to the list….?

 

[Long live PAFC]

Coaches:
To be honest this has been a tough year for Ken. Injuries to senior players have made it hard to maintain the structure and develop the gameplan. The senior players have also struggled in their return and taken a while to get up to speed. We also haven’t had the key players to step up and the junior players have really had to carry the load. That being said the inability to get the players up against Collingwood, Bulldogs and Hawthorn whilst the predictable losses to Richmond and the Crows, really hurt. I’ve appreciated his pressers and his honesty but he needs to go or we need a circuit breaker because this group is underperforming.

Bassett’s set up in the forward line when we don’t have the ball has been first class. Frampton has really clicked up front, whilst Cox, Ladhams, Farrell and Ebert have really improved. But the same issues of poor entries and bad goal kicking continue to plague us.

Our midfield and backline have shown resilience in the face of so many changes and the resurgence of Boak, development of Clurey, Amon and Houston all speak to the ability of Schofield and Monty, but we need to see more.

Vossy, well the media talks like he already has a job at Carlton or North, so maybe he is doing good things?

 

[Long live PAFC]

What I would like to see in the remaining half of the season:
Well, finals is the minimum. It means more experience for the list, more confidence and a chance to push ourselves in a pressure situation. It also means more money for the club - from the AFL and sponsors. It means creditability.

I want to see the side settled and Ken to continue focusing on youth. Get the games into Howard, Garner, Houston, Amon, Ladhams, Atley, SPP, Drew, Butters, Rozee, Farrell, Marshall and Duursma. Make Westhoff, Ryder, etc earn it and ensure we have a good understanding of who is worth keeping, who will take this club forward and who is willing to fight for their spot.



Predictions for the rest of the year:
We need to win 5 to 6 of the remaining 8 to make finals and I can’t see us doing that. We are 50:50 in the remaining games with games against the Crows, GWS, Lions, Richmond, Essendon at Etihad, Freo, Sydney and North. We are good enough and should beat Freo, North and Sydney. Crows, GWS and Essendon should beat us. Lions and Richmond - well who knows. 5 wins would have us on the cusp of the 8 needing percent to help us. The losses against the dogs and hawthorn have really hurt us.

9th place finish with questions being asked of Hinkley and the club. Pick 9 would put us just out of range for Stephenson in the draft and our second would then be used in the Mead bid.
Westhoff and Ryder are retained for another year and a young player is squeezed out.

Questions:

Could the early season hardship be the making of Jonas and Wines as leaders?

Will Hinkley stay strong and continue playing the young guys and demanding that form is the key criteria in selection?

Can we solve our inconsistency issues and inability to compete week to week?


Overall mark B.

 

[Schulzenfest]

I see where you're coming from saying that we would've taken a 7-7 record at the start of the year. But if you told us at the start of the year that we were going to have wins over West Coast in WA and a Geelong side sitting a game clear on top of the ladder, would you have accepted having a 5-7 record in the other games?

 

[Powerage]

Whilst I agree with a considerable amount of what you have said, I think you have been generous overall and not touched on things that are really hurting us, some of which are inexcusable and have been issues for far too long.

Our field kicking continues to be sub par for the entirety of Hinkley's reign. Our kicking for goal is, for the third season, deplorable and has cost us multiple matches.

Team selections continues to be reactive with changes too often made after the horse has bolted. Too many players given too many chances, whilst players like Frampton are treated criminally. Too often changes are made which harm the team structurally often resulting in expected difficulties on game day e.g. selecting a small for an omitted tall up forward, picking an imbalanced midfield, picking two rucks far after the experiment is a proven failure etc etc.

Reactive game day coaching which is tactically stoic and rigid. Entire quarters go by with no brave positional changes e.g. Howard forward for the last five minutes of a match, no positional changes as yet another goalless quarter gets grinded out, no moves to curb a red hot opposition player e.g. Bontempelli or to help bring one of our players into the game e.g. SPP.

I could go on. These are just examples that come readily to mind.

I notice Bonner did not get a review which is perhaps indicative of his season generally. Slides by week after week without usually helping us or hurting the opposition. Easy to miss if you blink too many times during the match. Most noticeable when he does the incredibly stupid. That is probably harsh but he is capable of so much more so he has to wear it.

 

[Memphis]

I see where you're coming from saying that we would've taken a 7-7 record at the start of the year. But if you told us at the start of the year that we were going to have wins over West Coast in WA and a Geelong side sitting a game clear on top of the ladder, would you have accepted having a 5-7 record in the other games?

We do get teased though with wins like that.