Review PAFC 2020 Season Review

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AwwThatsApples

AwwThatsApples

Cancelled
Mar 24, 2019
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Port Adelaide
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Well I apologise if this thread is coming out the oven a little bit too early, and I understand we will all still be feeling the sting quite a bit, but I don't post here often anymore so I simply wanted to give my summary of this season for the football club.

I have to start by saying I'm incredibly proud of the club for making it this far. After how awful 2019 was 2020 feels like a massive breath of fresh air, to be not only the second-best attack but also the #1 defence in the league shows how balanced our structure has become at both ends of the ground. We smashed the league for tackles and added an element of physicality to our game that I was very welcome to.

Boak is an absolute beast, Wines is still a bit choppy but his second half to the year was huge (Would probably win the Gary Ayres award if it wasn't for Dusty) Rockliff has been criticized quite a bit going into the year but I have to say after he ditched his fantasy pig possesion-magnet game style and became a tackling machine I now have a lot of respect for him, good to see him back in the finals too.

Usually, if we lost in the midfield we would lose the game which is the biggest weakness we will need to work on, but I still think our defence was great at allowing us to keep the flood gates shut and retaliate in the second half of games we would fall behind in. I also liked this because it allowed us to get some extra players involved in the contest.

I still love our three draftees from 2018. Rozee obviously has a challenging start to the year but his work rate in both the finals games was fantastic, Duursma was also set back with cement legs after an injury earlier, but he also had a huge finals series, and Zak Butters' ha a skillset and pair of hands out of this world, still glad he made AA squad.

I had been critical of Bassett taking the responsibility for the forward line but considering we were the second-best attack in the comp I think giving him time paid off quite well (Apart from the games we lost)

Dixon is a beast but its hard for him to play his best every week because of how predictable he is, but as long as he can maintain capacity in the forward line for years to come I think he can still be a premiership KFP. Robbie once again had a quiet first half to the year but his skills are still irreplaceable until Rozee is ready. Motlop had a couple of big games but was mostly quiet again, he'll be on his last legs next year.

I'm gonna miss Westy after all he's done for us but he wasn't actually awful this year when he played as the third forward, kicked something like 7 Goals in the first three games of the seasons restart, and basically dropped off after that.

Brad Ebert is a ******* warrior of a player and I will still remember him as one of my personal favourites from our AFL era. I distinctly remember one of you on the board calling for him to be delisted after he got selected for round 1 *Plz own up to it :)* I'm still proud of you Ebo, and you actually had a pretty good year to (Seemed to be working everywhere on the ground)

I also hold great admiration for all of our major defenders this year. Jonas as solo captain was a beast and with a couple more big games definitely would've made the AA 22, Clurey was a bit hot and cold but he's still a major component of this team. DBJ deserved his AA 22 spot after how hard he's been working but maybe just needs to be a little bit more physical in the future. Hammer was also hot and cold, still think he's one of our best, but he needs to be more consistent.

Burton, please use this off-season to address your injury issues because right now you're a glass cannon. We need you in our 22 but we need you fit and ready first.

And I'm gonna say it now, Trent McKenzie is one of our most underrated players. He's not perfect, but I recognised how much running effort he's put on the field this year and everything he's done to make it this far as a real key-defender. Would rather him over Dougal Howard any day of the week.


Seriously though, to be on top of the ladder at the end of every round of the year isn't something that most Minor premiers can do (First since 2000) And within that time I saw some great wins for our club. Smashing the courtroom cows to restart the season by a record margin was very laughable and enjoyable (Still the biggest winning margin of the year) And beating those Eagles in the hub life was a great addition to our smashings cabinet. Waking up at 4 am in the morning and down two interchanges in the last quarter against Carlton, led towards Robbie Greats magic giving us our first siren beater since 2002. The Richmond game in the minor round fixture is still one of my personal favourites to watch for the year. And my number #1? The only game I got to go to the year, our first finals win since 2014 against the Catters in the first week of the finals.

A couple of rough games dotted throughout the season but only losing 3 for the year still showed that we were never going to lose consecutive games. Yes, the Prelim has disappointed all of us, but goddam we have never lost a final by more than 16 since 2013 and we got really close. Win a few more clearances and clean up our forward entries and we'd be in next weeks grand final. At least we don't have the same fundamental issues to our brand of football like the previous 2 seasons (and 4 of the last 5)

HOWEVER, we will definitely need to capitalize on the position this season has put our club in, and be ready to contend for a premiership in the next few years, the window is open, but we can't let this season become another flash in the pan. Not sure what we do list management wise but hopefully you guys can help with that. I'll post some stats on this board for 2020 soon as well because I can definitely see where we've lifted (And still need to lift)

And finally, let's be honest with ourselves, calm your **** about the coach. He's had a good year, and we can bring out the Sacks again next year if he starts underperforming again, but I believe he made every effort he could to lead this team towards the premiership, and 6 points off of a grand final shows our improvements will be small but pivotal. Kudos to Ken and all of the assistant coaches this season for pulling their heads together. I enjoyed this year for all it offered. Not as clean and high-paced as 2014's Port Adelaide, but no team is very attractive to watch in football right now. This was a tough year for everyone, and I'm still in awe by the resilience this club showed to get here.

8/10 B+

HOPING FOR A BIG 2021
 
As a whole, the team exceeded my expectations and made football enjoyable to watch again. It was a nice feeling.

But let’s not kid ourselves, we just missed a golden opportunity. The COVID situation united us and served as a platform to become the most consistent side in the comp (until it mattered). We hosted a prelim with fresh bodies and a roaring crowd but failed to bring the energy.

Based on our recent history we might need to wait another 6/7 years before seeing another prelim. Boak, Gray, Rockcliff, Dixon, Motlop, Hartlett & Jonas arent getting any younger.

We set out to win the premiership this year and fell short. In doing so unfortunately we only blooded Georgadis and Woodcock. All other draftees are left with no experience. We at least should have given a couple more a run seeing as they couldn’t even play SANFL.

Some big decisions to be made now that will set the course of the club over the next few years. Go all out for the premiership again next year with the same players and fail, the cliff comes.
 

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Trying to look at the season as a whole without the emotion of last night which is still raw, we had a good season but just fell short when it mattered the most.

We've seen what we are capable of with our side, but the fact remains we had a dream run with injuries this year, which is rare, and we didn't capitalise on that or a golden opportunity to win a Premiership. That undoes all the good of the season we had, which was good until last night.

This loss has to burn our players, and be the motivation to go one better next year, otherwise it will be like 2014 which is lauded as a success by some when it was a failure.
 
Looking at positives.

Butters is a bona fide superstar, Rozee and Duursma aren’t far behind him. The impact those 3 players have had in just 2 years is hard to understate.

DBJ has blossomed into an elite defender, and Jonas stepped up massively. Our backline is very well organised and we’ve shown through McKenzie that we can assimilate players in there to play crucial roles.

Wines is back to his best and Sam Powell-Pepper has shown more than enough to say he’ll carry the flag when Boak and Rockliff step down. Also shoutout to Karl Amon who continues to excel after looking like a straight delist a couple of years ago.

We still have the likes of Georgiades, Bergman, Mead, Drew and Williams to show their mettle. We have an awkward age demographic but I think we’re still in a premiership window if we can back it up next year and we have the young players to build around as well. Credit to the recruiting team for the last 2 drafts.
 
Waste of everyone's time. All the ducks were lined up. Full list to choose from, two home finals, 150th year, Byron presenting the norm.

We ****ed it. Won't get another chance like that ever again.
 
Any season without a flag is a failed season at Port Adelaide. Next.
 
All I care about is how do we improve.

We replace Rockliff with B Crouch.
We need Rozee to rise and play more midfield
We need a proper height tall defender
We get games into Jones, Williams, Mead and Bergman.
We need one of Marshall or Georgiadies to step up
We need Hayes to have an elite preseason and start fulfilling his potential and getting close to replacing Lycett.


We're also going to need to look heavily at our depth. Losing Ebert and Westhoff in one year is a big hit, when you also consider the loss of Atley and Buzza as those pure depth players.
 
2014 was OK because the list profile was perfect. We were ready to challenge for several years. We proceeded to completely fu** that up and its taken 6 years to get our sh*t together again while we still had the best of the 2014 bunch. We had one last chance with that group. Not happening again next year. Gray in particular has nothing left after this year. That was a Swan song.

Ebert gone. Westhoff gone. Gray on fumes, Boak an unknown quantity.

I would be very surprised if we finished top 4 next year.
 
B

Kind of want to see how we handle the list. There's some players that really need to be moved on, namely Rockliff and Motlop. If we make the changes that need to be made then I'll decide whether we're on the right path or not.
 
As much as I wanted a flag I always thought I’d be happy if we won 1 final .
Great effort this year by the players and coaches , pity we got rain I just get the feeling with our run we would’ve smoked them last night .
Few weaknesses like no tall intercept defender and 1 too many slow guys in the midfield, if we can address that we’ll be a shot again next year .
Got good minutes into Ladhams and Georgiades, I think they’ll both be regulars next year .
Robbie started slowly but his class is still invaluable and can see him and Boak having one good year left .
Burton was a major dissapointment with his injuries because he’s an excellent player .
Team spirit was excellent all year and coaching a bit better than previous .
8.5/10
 

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Pluses were
We finally played enough tall forwards and two rucks (later in the season).

McKenzie was a revelation.

Butters was brilliant.

DBJ finally getting the recognition deserved.

Minuses were
We still insisted on bombing it on Dixon’s head as plan A, B and C going forward. If he’s been double or triple teamed then we must have players free elsewhere, yet nope don’t use them.

A lack of nous once the game starts in general from Ken. Slow to make changes and rarely.

A lack of composure when it really mattered. Yet again in a crunch game our senior players (Ebert aside), were mentally weak and missed executing things they’d do in low pressure games.

Going forward
Our defence struggled against teams with multiple tall forwards. Key priority is getting 195cm+ KPD’s. Both an existing one if we think we are a real chance next year and at least one in the draft as well.

We MUST be ruthless, we cannot repeat the mistakes of post 2014 and think it will just happen. This is both in the coaching box and players. We are stuck with Ken, but our dysfunctional forward line shows Bassett should be out the door.

Motlop should be out, doesn’t matter if you have a blinder in one final to go completely missing the next.

Rocky looked every bit the player with no finals, should not be a walk up start next year.

We should be chasing Crouch (to replace Rocky) and playing MG (to replace Ebert).

We are still a chance next year, but at the same time we need to play youth more. Sutcliffe must be delisted. We’ve seen Ken will play his sub-par favourites over youth (Neade, S. Gray) until they are taken away from him. Sutcliffe must be the next taken away.

Bonner isn’t old, but should be up for trade. If not then at a lower level (one assumes we’ll get some sort next year) should be played as an inside mid until he learns to embrace the hits. Unless/until he can, his negatives outweigh his pluses.

Most importantly don’t extend Ken unless we win the flag next year. Close enough is not good enough.
 
Before the season started all I asked from our club was to make top 8, like most of us here. To be minor premiers, and beat the cats was just icing on the cake.
Yes we had some problems, but I'm not going to move the goalposts and complain we didn't win the grand final therefore the season was a failure. It sucks, but be proud we made it this far and didn't have another 2010/11/12.

9.5/10 A+ from me.

We clearly identified our weaknesses from 2018/19 and improved on them to make an exciting year.
 
The most important thing now is that we don't burn off too much energy in the off-season and pre-season so our midfield doesn't get run over like it did in 2015 and our key position players continue to perform. Some say Voss ruined our 2015 season by changing the midfield, ironically if he leaves for the Kangaroos job he could create a hole at his departure. We need to be fit and ready, and ready to be the HUNTED and not just the hunters. Brisbane made a statement in 2019 and followed up under the pressure in 2020, we need to do the same next year.
 
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Our achilles heel under Hinkley - get the ball inside 50, inside 25, often enough to win games, but are ineffective and inefficient with too many entries.

Work hard - don't work smart.
 
Doctor Feel said:
2014 was OK because the list profile was perfect. We were ready to challenge for several years. We proceeded to completely fu** that up and its taken 6 years to get our sh*t together again while we still had the best of the 2014 bunch. We had one last chance with that group. Not happening again next year. Gray in particular has nothing left after this year. That was a Swan song.

Ebert gone. Westhoff gone. Gray on fumes, Boak an unknown quantity.

I would be very surprised if we finished top 4 next year.
Click to expand...

Westhoff was invisible this year. Robbie was invisible for the first half of this year. For everything good that Ebert does his disposal is one of the worst in our side - he is more than replaceable. And yet based on this you will be very surprised if we make top 4 next year? Talk about pessimism, my goodness.

Boak in an unknown quantity, yes. He also is the hardest worker on this team and I'll be backing him in until he suggests otherwise.

There is so much young talent coming through with this group. DBJ, Houston, Burton (if he can sort out his body over the off-season), Amon, Duursma, Butters, Marshall, Rozee, Powell-Pepper & Ladhams will all be no older than 25 at the start of next season. Then you've got Georgiades, Drew (again another wildcard with his body), Bergman, Williams, Hayes, Mead and the impending arrival of Jones who are all highly regarded in the system and will be ones to watch next season.

Do I think we are one piece in terms of personnel away from a flag? No. Do I think that our gameplan needs tweaking? Yes, but only slightly. Do I think that with a few minor changes that the side will be contending next year? Bloody oath I do.
 
Chewy316 said:
Westhoff was invisible this year. Robbie was invisible for the first half of this year. For everything good that Ebert does his disposal is one of the worst in our side - he is more than replaceable. And yet based on this you will be very surprised if we make top 4 next year? Talk about pessimism, my goodness.

Boak in an unknown quantity, yes. He also is the hardest worker on this team and I'll be backing him in until he suggests otherwise.

There is so much young talent coming through with this group. DBJ, Houston, Burton (if he can sort out his body over the off-season), Amon, Duursma, Butters, Marshall, Rozee, Powell-Pepper & Ladhams will all be no older than 25 at the start of next season. Then you've got Georgiades, Drew (again another wildcard with his body), Bergman, Williams, Hayes, Mead and the impending arrival of Jones who are all highly regarded in the system and will be ones to watch next season.

Do I think we are one piece in terms of personnel away from a flag? No. Do I think that our gameplan needs tweaking? Yes, but only slightly. Do I think that with a few minor changes that the side will be contending next year? Bloody oath I do.
Click to expand...
Call it pessimism but, I think the fear is that a many of our other older players (Boak, Rockliff, Dixon, Jonas, etc) may struggle to reach the same top form they did this year. We will never get a season like this again in terms of our home ground advantage over the Victorians. We are unlikely to have the same good luck with injuries, and have a full list to choose from in a preliminary final.

This was a perfect opportunity to go all the way and we were unable to take it.

We are unlikely to get a similar opportunity again. It's not impossible, but unlikely and it will continue to become more and more unlikely as our stars age and retire.
 
Golden opportunity missed. Over.
Don’t think we can repeat this next year, and not sure how long we have to wait to play another prelim. Sad
 
Obviously too early for some of us to put the disappointment of last night's result behind us and move on. In less than two weeks the Free Agency Window opens so on Monday some one at the PAFC, probably Hinkley, Davies and Cripps will have to sit down an review what has happened and where we can improve. They will have to work through our list look at building on our strengths and fixing our weaknesses so that we can trade and draft for 2021.

They will not have the luxury of cliches like F for Fail, wasted season or lost opportunity. They will have to review our season and get on with it as the PAFC has always done. As supporters we should do the same.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Our achilles heel under Hinkley - get the ball inside 50, inside 25, often enough to win games, but are ineffective and inefficient with too many entries.

Work hard - don't work smart.
Click to expand...

Perfectly summarised!
Have to get a better forward system into play.
Stupidity? Same method. Different result! Doubt it.
 
Making the grand final generally means you were the two best teams of that particular season.

This season there were three teams of equal standing statistically - Geelong has been great, Port has been great and Richmond has been great.

I’ve got no problem with losing to Richmond in a preliminary final. At the start of the season I said that a semi final appearance would be a pass for this playing group. We won a qualifying final which is infinitely harder than winning an elimination final (higher quality opposition) so my expectations were exceeded.

The reason I don’t have a problem losing to Richmond is they are a team who have won two flags in the past three years and have the same aura that Hawthorn did when they were ascendant and Geelong did when they were ascendant. And it’s an aura that I can see our club developing - when Hardwick says that every time you come to play Port you know you have to play a surge style of game to beat them, and how difficult it is, it means that we are starting to back in our system.

This isn’t smoke and mirrors slingshot football anymore. We are playing football that matched it with the reigning premier in a preliminary final, in conditions that suited them rather than us. With three picks in the top thirty from last year in Bergman, Williams and Mead yet to even play for us.

As Ken says, if you can’t see the positives that are coming for this playing group, you’re wilfully blind. Have we got older players? Sure. But so does every team. With Westhoff and Ebert retiring, we now have the exact same number of 30+ players that Brisbane have.

What do we need to get better? A dynamic weapon midfielder. We are fine for clearances normally, but the reason why we struggled against Brisbane, Geelong, St Kilda and Richmond is they had a midfielder that was a constant threat of exploding from a clearance that we needed to check (Neale, Dangerfield, Jones (though this was more to do with Ryder’s tap work), Martin) and we didn’t. Guys like Boak, Wines, Rockliff and Powell-Pepper are all Joel Corey/Jimmy Bartel/Joel Selwood tier players. They aren’t nuclear threats in the Ablett (when he was younger)/Fyfe tier. And unless you’ve got your own nuke, teams will be able to pressure us around the ball knowing that we don’t have the threat to expose them.

If we want a flag in the next three years - and the window is open now - we need our own nuke. We need mutually assured destruction of teams who try to stack their midfield against ours.

Get me Bontempelli. I don’t care how, or what you have to give up for him. Just get him.
 
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