- Mar 26, 2017
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- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
I can't say I was that unhappy with the result. 21 points to a fairly strong Port side at Alberton is tolerable. Most of the players showed something, and the two appalling downfield free kick goals actually flattered the result.
Still, you can't take this stuff too seriously, as both sides left plenty in reserve.
My major concern from a North perspective was tactics:
1) The way Ports "sit off" North players by 5 metres to rope in a pressured handball tactic continued to suck us in to exactly doing just that, resulting in turnovers.
2) Our inability to break down Port's constant chip, chip, chip kick and mark set up coming out of defence.
Basically the two things that decided the result in our match last season.
I was very happy with our clearance and run & gun output, considering our side. The clearance stuff in particular considering Campbell was completely dominated by Ryder & Lycett. I don't think our two sides will finish that far apart this season.
TBH I think North Kangaroos have two major concerns from that game
1) Paying Polec 950 a season for 7 years means they won't get a gun at the end of the season and will miss out on joshua kelly
2) They were playing basically a full strength side, whilst we were lacking Wines (our best mid/co-captain), Dixon (our best forward) and Hartlett (our vice captain.
from an oppos perspective, it was concerning to see them play like that against a rebuilding port adelaide