Review Round 11, 2023 vs Richmond

[_TheCreed]

Phew, that was one hell of an ugly battle.

The middle of that game was ugly, putrid footy. We were making basic skill errors, undercooking our kicks, jumping at shadows - all the stuff we have seen far too often over the past 5-10 years. Having been up 25 at QT, to be looking down the barrel of a loss had Richmond kicked straighter is a bit of a wakeup call.

Saying that, this is now yet another example this season of a Port side responding in the 4th quarter. Sydney, Bulldogs, Essendon, Melbourne, Richmond - we have been tested, down, etc - but found a way to win down the stretch. Outrunning sides, playing with the heart and effort we expect a Port side to play with when a game is on the line. Definitely feels like something about that Showdown last quarter capitulation stung the group, and if they do indeed believe in Ken then it's these kind of "prove it" performances I, as a fan jaded by previous failures, needs to see.

It was far from perfect. A lot of stuff to look at in that game and review, as we need to stop having these fadeout quarters. I understand the pressure is hard to sustain all game, but the gap between best and worst needs to be reduced. However, we are responding when tested so far and that's all I can ask for.

A tough win. Undermanned (they are a little as well), poor conditions, a ground we haven't had a lot of success at recently. Take that one for sure.

 

[GremioPower]

Better to win ugly than to lose beautifully.

I’ve fixed it for you.

 

[PrisonBars4life]

Three six-day breaks in a row coming up...

don't we get the bye in there somewhere?

 

[PrisonBars4life]

We had good run with the jumps today.

It’s a weird feeling as a port supporter where things seem to “fall your way”

We're only 17th in free kick differential now. Last is North (tehe).

 

[GremioPower]

emotional damage

My kids know this guy... I can't listen "emotional damage" in any other way now.

 

[raptalia]

Do you go to the footy? There’s lots of idiots at the footy. There were even people still booing Bergman in the bay I was sitting in and were put straight more than once. That’s how ***** dumb some people are at the footy.

Not as much these days but I saw my first Port Grand Final in 1957. This wasn't indiscriminate booing by a few idiots this came from large sections of the crowd. You are right though some of the Richmond idiots could not tell the difference between Bergmann and Horne-Francis. I have to confess that I have let go at the umpires on occasion and I guess we all have but this went on for most of the match and was aimed at a player who has done nothing other than seek a transfer back to his home State. What occurred bought nothing but shame and disgrace upon the Richmond Football Club.

These people were booing a 19 year old who has never played for them and has probably only played against their club on two or three occasions so idiotic crowd mentality is probably the only thing that explains it, unless of course there is a social media issue?

The only thing that will stop this unsporting idiocy is for the AFL to impose sanctions on the individuals concerned, it cannot be that hard to identify these morons. In the meantime the Richmond Football Club owes Jason Horne Francis an apology.

In the end we had the last laugh, so we move on and leave the losers to sook.

 

[raptalia]

We're only 17th in free kick differential now. Last is North (tehe).

We were on the positive side of the free kick tally last week as well so I am left wondering if the media attention on our free kick deficit was noticed in AFL House?

 

[EskimoPAFC]

The funniest thing about the people whining about us getting a few free kicks now is that they are often the same people who were saying we were undisciplined when we were getting hardcore rogered by the umpires in rounds 1-7.

 

[Lefti93]

Farrell has been good since his return.

 

[zorbacles]

My kids know this guy... I can't listen "emotional damage" in any other way now.

My kids introduced me to him the other day. he is actually quite good. better than much of the other youtube drivel they watch

I dont think the issue with the free kicks are the ones paid against us, its the ones that are not paid to us. Butters was being thrown around like a ragdoll after disposing of the ball and it was play on. similarly when he was clotheslined.

 

[Byrons Firen]

Lord kicks the hard ones but stuffs up the easy ones

Early days. Maybe in his first game at the G he had the nervous nellies but that goal in the last will live long in his memories.

Kudos to Hudson with his call as Ollie nailed it. AA was huge... our most crucial player atm?

JHF adds sooo much to our team. Looking for more from Junior... a LOT more.

 

[powermacs]

So over the years of Vic biased commentary.

Now that fox and co have been given the green light to call games from a Melbourne studio we should be able to choose what commentary team we want to listen to.
Surely they can match up radio calls and TV footage now.

 

[Ported]

I think if they start to kick those easy set shots the players confidence will begin to sky rocket. It's why we need Marshall in form.

It can be difficult to maintain the effort when you keep shooting yourself in the foot on the last kick. They're obviously a resilient group this year considering how woeful we've been at converting.

 

[TeeKray]

It’s the second time under Hinkley that we win 8 in a row. It’s his record. So, we may break it next weekend.

I have no idea what’s the club record (both in AFL and in history).

We did 8 in a row under Chocolate in both 2002 and 2003 and now Donuts in 2014 and 2023. So we've bottled it at 8 the previous 3 times.

 

[Adam_23]

We won't get huge plaudits for the win, but this was actually a pretty darn good effort imo. In tough conditions and at a ground we haven't played well at in recent years, we stood up under pressure.

I know Richmond's glory days are gone but they still aren't easy beats and guys like Taranto, Prestia, Nankervis, Martin, Short, Rioli, Balta, Bolton etc are still quality players. When they kicked the first of the last and got within 2 points, we absolutely went to work and dominated that game when it was up for grabs. Our ability this season to maintain our composure and execute under pressure has been very impressive. We certainly didn't do this last year!

 

[Handyandy]

I thought we did just enough to win, strong first qtr, relaxed the pressure in the 2nd/ 3rd qtr, then fired up in the last.
Was Rioli playing in defence at times? Few times I looked for him and he was running around on half back.
Jhf was ok but had a couple of bad turnovers that resulted in goals.
Forward entries were a bit poor, a number of times very short options were ignored and we just bombed it long. I understand shallow entries are dangerous in the wet but.

 

[tribey]

Would have to be our least experienced side in our history..

Average age: 24y 329d
Total XP: 1864 games

After a quick skim of AFL Tables, the side that upset Freo at Subi in Round 1, 2007 beats it fairly convincingly on that score,

Average age: 24y 159d
Total XP: 1671 games

Would go close to a record for midseason, though (apart from 1997 for obvious reasons).

 

[snozulu]

Now that fox and co have been given the green light to call games from a Melbourne studio we should be able to choose what commentary team we want to listen to.
Surely they can match up radio calls and TV footage now.

That would be great

 

[Byrons Firen]

I think if they start to kick those easy set shots the players confidence will begin to sky rocket.

I think Jay Schulz has offered to mentor our forwards. As for general field kicking Choco did wonders when at Richmond.

IIRC he's got a short book on it, complete with specially marked footies. I look at Wal's kicking after all these years

and shake my head. I'd have thought personal pride and due diligence to your chosen career would've fixed faults.

Yep we won but sheesh we're hard to watch at times.

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

All the noise around the umps ..

We should of got a ton ******* more frees blatent rugby passes by the tigers several htb high tackles plenty more ..

The umps still bent us over especially in the 2nd quarter we are lucky enough to have a few mature players who can settle down and ride the umpire wave ...

8 wins in a row now that's pretty ******* amazing the confidence oozing out of Zak and Connor the explosion that is jHF Ollie wines looking good AA back to his best and Macka becomeing the second coming of DW now all we need is to kick straight and we are clearly in the top 2 percent in the league...

August will be an interesting time

 

[chiwigi]

I’ve fixed it for you.

Nah, I'd take a beautiful loss against a great team in a fantastic game of footy.

 

[Alberton Proud]

So over the years of Vic biased commentary.

That touched ball in the last minutes

Review shows fingers bent at 90 degrees

Commentary screaming "There's no conclusive evidence there !!"

 

[Sir Watchalot]

... Still pissed off we couldn't kill the last 90 seconds and not let them score ...

Back in the day I remember the crowd anger when with about 10 min to go and a comfortable lead Choco would turn games into 'save the game' practice. Chip, chip, kick back. Restless crowd booing no matter which team they supported.
Suddenly I'm feeling nostalgic for that. 13 points up v Essendon with about 2 min to go and we gave them 3 shots on goal to almost pinch it. Some element of that in all our close games.
However important to keep perspective, we won.

 

[Sir Watchalot]

We did 8 in a row under Chocolate in both 2002 and 2003 and now Donuts in 2014 and 2023. So we've bottled it at 8 the previous 3 times.

Why is a Port board moderator posting abusive references to our coach?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Back in the day I remember the crowd anger when with about 10 min to go and a comfortable lead Choco would turn games into 'save the game' practice. Chip, chip, kick back. Restless crowd booing no matter which team they supported.
Suddenly I'm feeling nostalgic for that. 13 points up v Essendon with about 2 min to go and we gave them 3 shots on goal to almost pinch it. Some element of that in all our close games.
However important to keep perspective, we won.

I have kept perspective - as Barassi used to say, practice makes perfect - bullshit. Perfect practice makes perfect. We have a bad habit of giving up easy shots on goal within 2 minutes to go, 60 seconds to go, and 30 seconds to go not just in the last quarter but every quarter. Practice it perfectly, for when it really counts.