R21 Port v Adelaide review

[Macca19]

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

What a bloody fantastic win!!!! In my opinion, that is just about the best victory weve ever had as a club, except the Grand Final. To beat the Crows with so many of our players out, excellent. Definately the best Showdown victory.

Such an intense game of football, especially that last half. The heat was on and the players looked absolutely exhausted by halfway through the last quarter. Cliche time. We played with heart, we played with passion and we didnt let ourselves out of the contest.

To get back into the match in the 2nd quarter was great to see. Looked like it might be a blowout at 1/4 time. Crows, especially Bode, wasted so many chances in the first quarter. We were stagnant with poor skills and a non existant forward line.

I thought we stuffed things up at the start of the last quarter with the missed shots on goal, but they kept working and got the job done anyway. Great to see after last week.

Finally, this club has a future. Anybody that thinks these kids cant play has no idea about football.

Great to beat the Crows. Now to let the domination begin again.

Player Reviews:
Bentley - This kid is class. Worked his absolute bum off out there. Top second half.
13 disposals, 4 marks, 1 goal

Bishop - Was miles behind Welsh early, but got himself back into the match and had a top last quarter
14 disposals, 3 marks

Brogan - Thought he was average today.
10 disposals, 1 mark, 9 hitouts

S Burgoyne - Didnt get a lot of the ball but when he had it he used it well. Still in our best i think.
12 disposals, 3 marks, 2 goals

Cassisi - Thought he was terrible early. He needs to know he isnt as good as he must think he is. Too often he trys to evade a tackle but gets made to look like a fool and it costs the team. Much better second half
21 disposals, 4 marks, 2 goals

Chaplin - Thoguth Hentschel was giving him the run around before he went off. Not a good match
13 disposals, 2 marks

C Cornes - What a great match. One of the best matches hes played. Unbelievable that Neil Craig didnt put someone on him. Great to see him give the Crows lame cheersquad a bit of vocal not once but twice in the last few minutes.
28 disposals, 13 marks

K Cornes - Solid performance on Goodwin it seemed. Looked a bit slow today but did enough with his disposals
20 disposals, 4 marks

Dew - Was given a go in the middle and I thought he played bloody well. Won a heap of clearances. Great goal in the last quarter
16 disposals, 1 mark, 1 goal

Ebert - Would have been BOG if it wasnt for muffing his shots on the last quarter for the 2nd week running. He cant waste those chances. Still, he gave the supposed AA BP an absolute hiding. Was great to see him take so many marks.
17 disposals, 10 marks, 3 goals

Kingsley - Was the Kingsley fairwell day today I think. Given an absolute bath by Bode early...was regularly 30-40 metres off of him. Did some decent things in the second half but he had no idea today at all
23 disposals, 6 marks

Lade - Just give him the AA guernsey now. Great game, 2 goals, nearly a monster torp goal and won the ruck well all day
12 disposals, 6 marks, 20 hitouts, 2 goals

Logan - Did some decent work in close early on but got an ankle injury and didnt see much, if any of the second half
6 dispsoals, 2 marks

Lower - Didnt notice him too much today, looks to similar to Dom and Kinger. Couple of nice tackles that I saw
5 disposals

Mahoney - Worked hard but didnt see much of it. Couple of good goals.
7 disposals, 2 marks, 2 goals

Pearce - Excitement machine. Absolute gun. Great game today and kept trying.
24 disposals, 5 marks

Salopek - Solid as a rock in the middle. Was great early especially
23 dispsoals, 6 marks, 1 goal

Thomas - Didnt do much early but was excellent in the second half. Couple of nice shepherds and runs.
11 disposals, 2 marks

Thurstans - Ordinary
7 disposals, 2 marks

Wakelin - Was decent early but went off before half time.
7 disposals, 5 marks

White - Simialr to Wakelin. Started ok but went off with a back injury
4 disposals,2 marks

Willits - Coming along well. Did some decent work up forward in the first half, then went into defence and played very well. Looks more of a defender than a forward
10 disposals, 4 marks

POTY VOtes
10 - C Cornes
9 - Ebert, Pearce
8 - Salopek
7 - Dew, Lade
6 - Bentley, K Cornes
5 - S Burgoyne, Cassisi, Thomas
4 - Bishop, Willits
3 - Brogan, Chaplin, Kingsley, Mahoney
2 - Logan, Lower, Wakelin
1 - Thurstans, White

 

[Power21]

Good review as usual.

Im impressed by big Willits though, the kid is massive, and i agree looks like a defender more, seems to read the play and get a few more touches better there.

 

[gbear]

Apparently White has Kidney damage

 

[morell]

Pretty solid review there Macca.

The only one I wouldn’t agree with was Kingsley. He was very good today IMO. He’s never been a tight checking defender at the best of times and if there was a player I thought you could run off, it would be Bode.

23 mostly top quality touches. Deserves another shot at it IF there is a position available in the squad. Maybe Wares'

 

[Power21]

Apparently White has Kidney damage

That's terrible if true, with Lonergan having kidney trouble too it hasn't been a great weelend for serious injuries.

 

[Magpiespower]

Only got to see the first quarter.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

No player review from me until I've seen the replay but a few comments about the patterns of play and the tactics.

Thought we were going to be slaughtered in the first quarter but the Crows kicked poorly for goal. After that the match swung gradually our way.

I think that was due to two factors. The players put in a great effort and as you pointed out Macca it's great to see how this young side is gelling together. The sense of adventure is great to see and these continue to have a crack even when they make mistakes. Was good to see us coming out on top in the physical clashes overall. That patch toward the end of the third quarter where we had swirling packs in our forward line and came away with a goal was very telling I thought.

The other factor was that Choco outcoached Craig today. He was able to manufacture a forward line despite Thurstans being pretty disappointing and White not showing too much before he was injured. Lade spending time forward was excellent and Ebert gave Johncock the runaround all day. Willits did a few nice things and his physicality was a benefit to us even when he didn't have the ball. For the second week in a row our flooding also worked well and caused turnovers and I think it's confirmed that our side has mastered and area that was a glaring weakness for too long.

Great win by all concerned. Loved Chad's fist pumping jubilation near the end.

 

[gbear]

That's terrible if true, with Lonergan having kidney trouble too it hasn't been a great weelend for serious injuries.

White was transported to hospital soon after coming off the field. Could be bleeding like Clayton last season.

 

[Russian]

Just the ones I disagreed on:

Brogan - Thought he was average today.
10 disposals, 1 mark, 9 hitouts

smashed in the ruck but thought he was pretty good defensively around the ground - 6 tackles reflect that

Kingsley - Was the Kingsley fairwell day today I think. Given an absolute bath by Bode early...was regularly 30-40 metres off of him. Did some decent things in the second half but he had no idea today at all
23 disposals, 6 marks

When he was playing in defence - but we've all known for 5 years that he can't play there. Thought he was pretty good in the midfield, but should still be the last time most of us see him live

Logan - Did some decent work in close early on but got an ankle injury and didnt see much, if any of the second half
6 dispsoals, 2 marks

Only 6 disposals? Thought he was one of our only winners in the 1st quarter

Thomas - Didnt do much early but was excellent in the second half. Couple of nice shepherds and runs.
11 disposals, 2 marks

He did a good job keeping most of his opponents quiet for most of the afternoon. I thought Walsh should've come in to play that role with Doc out but Tank did pretty well

Wakelin - Was decent early but went off before half time.
7 disposals, 5 marks

Perrie beat him easily

White - Simialr to Wakelin. Started ok but went off with a back injury
4 disposals,2 marks

Had no influence when he was out there, now he's in hospital - hopefully not as bad as Lonergan

If we only had 24 (still not sure who the other 2 are out of Shattock, Carlile, Walsh, Deluca, Minson, Giles and Eckers) today, do we have enough players for next week?

 

[The Hobo]

White wasn't too bad when he was out there, remember the team was getting a bath and rarely getting it into our forward 50.

If they got the ball to him one on one, or in an advantageous position, he could do something. The only time he got kicked to was on two on ones.

interestingly we didn't see Rutten on the wing this time ;p

Bentley. Brilliant

Thomas starting to look impressive though his disposal needs a bit of work. Any chance of seeing him more in a midfield role?

 

[morell]

apparently Logan got a corky early in the 3rd - would explain his statless 2nd half

 

[*PAF]

Kingsley >>>> Lonie.

 

[Powerstufff]

I agree in general with Macca19 but like others feel it necessary to defend Kingsley. One we'd got over our 1st quarter bath and he was out in the midfield he was very classy. Classic game of an experienced player.
Overall woohoo! Good crowd, well behaved and after all the hysteria about separating the fans drummed up by the Victorian media for our final last year I bet no-one bothers to tell the truth about these games and how the fans got on well.

 

[Frank Spencer Clone]

There's been a lot of things said on both side of the fence of the coaching debate in recent weeks, but I made what i thought to be a very important observation this afternoon

Williams IMO won this game with a very clever coaching manouvre in placing Brogan, Willits, Chad and Toby in defence in the last term.
Particularly with the use of Brogan and Willits to plug the holes in front of the Clowns leading forwards.
They were indecisive coming forward, and this created many errors which our boys were able to exploit.

Great performance all round. Nice result.

 

[Natman]

I agree in general with Macca19 but like others feel it necessary to defend Kingsley. One we'd got over our 1st quarter bath and he was out in the midfield he was very classy. Classic game of an experienced player.
Overall woohoo! Good crowd, well behaved and after all the hysteria about separating the fans drummed up by the Victorian media for our final last year I bet no-one bothers to tell the truth about these games and how the fans got on well.

I thought that both Bish and Kingo were well beaten early but both picked up as the game wore on - we must give them credit for that and it is expected given their experience - I think that, other than for injuries, as the reason why they are played - to balance the team with youth and experience.

However, I also think that only 2 of Bish, Kingo and Walsh will remain on our list next year.

 

[raman]

Chaplin - Thoguth Hentschel was giving him the run around before he went off. Not a good match
13 disposals, 2 marks

Woah woah woah there! Chaplin killed Hentschel, a player that usually kills us. Most of No Potential's possessions were fairly useless ones way out on the wing. Troy did heaps of great things today, check out the replay.

Great review otherwise. Agree on Kingsley, unfortunately.

 

[pafc4life]

tad harsh on Dom i woulda thought

 

[Russian]

However, I also think that only 2 of Bish, Kingo and Walsh will remain on our list next year.

I'd be surprised if we keep that many, unless Wakes goes

 

[gbear]

When does Bishop's contract expire?

 

[Natman]

I'd be surprised if we keep that many, unless Wakes goes

Wakes hasn't the same consistent year as usual for him - but I think overall he will be our best bet for FB for most circumstances next year and should stay on.

As to whether how many of Kingo, Bish and Walsh stay will be based on the club's assessment of the draft and the need to balance youth and experience - my personal view is they will keep 2, but wouldn't be surprised if only one stays.

 

[sog35]

Cassisi started on Bode and after the first goal and point was moved.

Chaplin was good.

Bishop has always been suspect man-on-man but it honestly seems like he doesn't know where to run when he doesn't have the ball. Lacking serious awareness.

 

[PJ Power]

Bentley and Ebert have been the player highlights over the last fortnight for me. Together they have reinvented our forward line.
I think the team looks so much better with Ebert anchored to the forward line - he has a vitally important job to do down there, and he is playing his role (bar last quarter goal kicking) to perfection.
Bentley has a very good knack at freeing his body (or at the minimum his arms) while being tackled. He did this 2-3 times after halftime with stunning effect. His shot for goal in the third oozed ability.

Salopek's first quarter shouldn't go unnoticed. He really stood up in several contests - I love his emergence as a consistent midfielder.

Pearce broke the shackles after halftime and took it right up to the Crows.

We are missing Surjan in defence, and did not have an answer for Bode - disappointed as I mentioned elsewhere that Kingsley would give away so much yardage on him in the first half. Kingers did play well after halftime, but I'm not sure that it should save his career.

Chaplin on Hentschel was an interesting one. I thought Hentschel won the first 6 or so contests the two went for without ever being able to get himself in a goalscoring position. After that, leading up to his injury, Chappy played him better and forced him under the ball on occasions. Any other opponent, and I think Hentschel would have dominated the first half.

I really like Thomas - his last quarter was fantastic. HIs tackling almost always brings the player to ground without letting the ball fall free. That is a key element that was missing from our tackling for a longtime prior to our recent resurgence.



Most of all, I love that we fight back when all looks lost. That is the hallmarks of the team that I want to see represent our club.

 

[ClintEastwood]

I guess the Anti-Choco camp would have been pretty disapppointed to see our team of youngsters beat the Crows like that today? Where are you all? Come out to play.


I don't suppose any of you are beginning to think he might actually be good at what he does yet? Must still just be accidents, coincidence and blind luck. The team would be developing the way they are even without a coach.

 

[crazy_big_al]

I hope white is ok. we have alread had one AFL player lose a kidney this weekend

 

[shaz63]

I guess the Anti-Choco camp would have been pretty disapppointed to see our team of youngsters beat the Crows like that today? Where are you all? Come out to play.


I don't suppose any of you are beginning to think he might actually be good at what he does yet? Must still just be accidents, coincidence and blind luck. The team would be developing the way they are even without a coach.

Go back and read post 14. FSC praised him up for the win or did you just skim straight past his post???

Sitting there watching the game, I too was impressed with the decisions by Choco to place the talls in the back line. His choices of placement today won us the game.