Review PORT v Essendon

jakey

Club Legend
Oct 9, 2004
2,702
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Port Adelaide
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How I feel about ken:
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Smithy7

Brownlow Medallist
10k Posts
Mar 1, 2014
13,603
20,109
South of Scotland
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
PORT ADELAIDE 1.2 6.7 7.13 11.13 (79)
ESSENDON
2.1 2.3 3.3 4.5 (29)

GOALS
Port Adelaide:
Dixon 2, Ladhams, Powell-Pepper, Ebert, Gray, Rockliff, Wines, Boak, Duursma, Motlop
Essendon:
Parish, Clarke, Cutler, Ham

BEST
Port Adelaide:
Rockliff, Boak, Wines, Rozee, Amon, Gray, Bonner
Essendon: Ridley, Saad, Merrett, Smith, Parish

Rockliff best LOL
 

GoTheMightyCrows

Bigfooty Visionary
Oct 8, 2019
2,141
3,630
Highland, Albuquerque
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Pretty decent effort - loved the games of Boaky, Wines, Rocky and Hammer.
I'd like to see us kick straighter and not have to flick the switch but at least we can see that things can be changed up.
Nice to have a healthy list.
Top two locked in - who'd a thunk it!!
 
We adjusted well after burning our chances in the first. Started to be more direct, and got the ball to dangerous spots in front of goal. Amped up the pressure in the second and never really relented - it was as good a full performance as we have had all season, perhaps only shaded by the Richmond game.

It is a great sign that we are now 6-1 at Adelaide Oval - go 8-1 and we are in the Granny. The supporters who went have to be congratulated, you were loud and passionate despite limited numbers, and this will be our big advantage in finals.

Rocky was BOG for mine, loves those conditions and it was he who directed the midfield on how to play. Saw him several times gesturing to teammates to kick the ball forward, and he lead by example. Wines and Boak continued their outstanding form, and Lycett was superb - how good were those running bounces?!?

I thought all our medium sized defenders were terrific today. Hartlett and DBJ are absolute stars - solid, reliable and safe. Houston was also good, and I will stick up for Riley Bonner here - after a couple of early kicks slid off the side of his foot he knuckled down, laid tackles, one-grabbed and put his head over the ball. It was one of his best games.

Thought Rozee was building towards his best form early, had a lot of class touches but faded a little in the second half. Duursma was also better, he doesn't do the flashy stuff but he always pops up deep in defence and in a flash he is taking marks up forward. It speaks for how hard he runs.

Robbie and Charlie, Batman and Robin. They have to give the other contenders nightmares, but we are more than these two players up forward. Ebert worked onto the game; so did Motlop, despite his aversion to work and contact. Ladhams and Marshall perform their roles beaitifully, too And our mids are dangerous up forward - all of Wines, Boak and Rockliff hit the scoreboard consistently.

Farrell must be battling to keep his spot, but on today's performance we will go into finals fit and with most of our team in form. The spirit in the team seems superb, they clearly all play for each other, like each other and are happy and confident. The coaching has also been great lately, making small adjustments within games and sending the right messages publicly in regards to selections.

I feel that we can really make an impact on this finals series, and give this unique premiership a real shake. Smash Collingwood next week for our 4th minor premiership in 24 seasons - it's a good ratio, by any standard except Port Adelaide's!
 
Nov 5, 2010
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AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Solid win in the end. Really enjoying the consistency we've produced this year. Wines has stepped up into that top tier midfielder he looked like he would years ago. He, Rocky and Boak have combined beautifully despite the concerns about our midfield being too slow. Since Rockliff has returned to the team in round 9 we have yet to be soundly beaten in the clearances. In the 3 games the opposition has beaten us in the clearances it has just been by 1 each time. The ability for our midfield to at least break even and more often than not get on top really helps our forward press style of game.

Our vulnerabilities did peek through though. The first quarter did show how susceptible we are to a good big key forward when the ball comes in quickly. Likewise when we got going, our focus on Dixon (which I thought we corrected as the game went on), and inaccuracy were both concerns.

But overall it was a really great win, and we’ve places ourselves right in the mix this year.

Although neither had big games overall, I thought both Rozee and Motlop showed some signs of returning to form. I especially was impressed that Motlop, at a time when he had not scored yet, had a couple of nice goal assists when he could’ve had a shot from a worse position.
 
Feb 20, 2013
2,822
13,214
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Chicago Bulls
PORT ADELAIDE 1.2 6.7 7.13 11.13 (79)
ESSENDON
2.1 2.3 3.3 4.5 (29)

GOALS
Port Adelaide:
Dixon 2, Ladhams, Powell-Pepper, Ebert, Gray, Rockliff, Wines, Boak, Duursma, Motlop
Essendon:
Parish, Clarke, Cutler, Ham

BEST
Port Adelaide:
Rockliff, Boak, Wines, Rozee, Amon, Gray, Bonner
Essendon: Ridley, Saad, Merrett, Smith, Parish

Rockliff best LOL

Rockliff was immense. How is that funny?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Botmax

Senior List
May 1, 2010
199
253
Adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Winnipeg Jets & New York Jets
Great response after the 1st quarter. Easily a 70-80 pt result in these conditions.

The win had me wondering when did we last have a season with a win % this good? 🤔😉
 
Sep 9, 2008
34,899
52,813
adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Solid 4 Qtr effort that only put the results on the board in 2 qtrs thanks to some bad work in front of goals

Dons going the biff when their season was over and trying to bait us into getting suspended was pretty rank and that the umps didn’t control it is an embarrassment for the league. We are a Mickey Mouse competition.

I looked at the weather conditions and put my money behind the fact that Rocky and wines would find a tonne of the ball and won a bit of money tonight so that’s good.

Our backline destroyed Essendon. None of their forwards were that dangerous, and we launched off halfback time and ago at furious speed. Our midfield was good when transitioning but out of the centre was a worry where essendon were on top of us in large patches tonight. Parish, hibberd, Shiel and Merrett combined for 23 clearances tonight. That’s embarrassing from a group not known for that. We’re not good enough defensively around stoppages, if a team gets two hands to the ball they get a clearance.


Rockliff - was huge. 31d 410m Gained 7 score involvements 5i50 in shortened qtrs is amazing. His form has been building weekly for a while now.

Wines - Started good, had a long cold patch after that hit to the head. Massive last Qtr. He’s become one of the safest kicks for goal this year. Kicking them every single week.

Houston - very very good. Some real desperation in his game

Boak - is boak

Dbj - hits the contests so hard and fast. Looked like he was running on one of those travelators at the airport compared to all the stuck in mud opponents.

Rozee - was good to see him get involved

Ebert - very very slow start to the game, good second half.

Bonner - very good game. He was everywhere. Got to contests galore. Got into spaces to get used. Him Houston Dbj and Hartlett destroyed essendon tonight.

Amon - weird game from Amon. Was working hard but just really screwed up a fair few touches. Could see the effort was there though.

Dixon - troubled the defenders but kicking let him down. Our forward line opened up and tonight in the second half was the least dixon-centric we’ve ever been.

McKenzie - decent game but didn’t have to do heaps

Lycett - workhorse. Did what he needed to and won his matchup overall but Draper can hold his head high as he was pretty competitive.

Hartlett - very very good. Hits contests at speed. Our halfbacks just hit contests at such speed and numbers that once the opposition realises what has happened it’s too late to cover. He scared the s**t out of me with how many times he took on tacklers tonight but he backs his core strength and steps around them and gets it away.

Marshall - was very very good early and disappeared as the game went on. Wasn’t the type of conditions for him. Field kicking was a standout.

Gray - very good game. Better than stats suggest. Just lots of little touches to keep it moving and made stuff happen.

Duursma - worked his butt off. Not great conditions for outside mids but he is such a tough competitor. Not a lot of it but I liked his workrate.

Jonas - pretty good. Wasn’t seen a bunch early, just didn’t need to but made good cameos every now and then. His opponent was so completely shut out of it he cracked the shits and threw a tantrum.

Spp - great start to the game. Was in contests with vigor, if we didn’t win it he stopped anyone else from. Like a bull in a china shop. Less impact as the game went on and others came into it more.

Ladhams - didn’t do a heap, but made a bit of impact with a few of those touches. Stretched the defense and was dangerous around the ball.

Motlop - horrible start, came into it more in the second and had a strong last Qtr kicking a great goal.

Clurey - great game. Blanketed his opponent and getting intercept possessions and even run off and found a bit of the ball and pushed us forward.

Farrell - I thought he was pretty good when he got around the ball, whether it was the touches or killing the ball when the contest was there, but getting 4d in a dominant win isn’t good enough.
 
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