Review Round 12, 2016: Port Melbourne v Box Hill Hawks, 25 June 2016, 2.00pm @ North Port Oval

[Ordovician]

Well that was crap!

As I predicted last week we'd lose to PM and we did.

The ground was a sodden disgrace, very wet and soft underfoot as befitted the swamp that Port Melbourne is.

The team was further rooted cattle wise by Pittso racking orf to Tassie to stand in for McEvoy and Brand traveling in case one of the talls does not come up.

That left BH with a hawks contingent sadly reduced to Heatherly, Miles, Litherland, Wx, Miller-Lewis, Webster, Hardwick, Lovell and Langford. There is not many structural elements in that list and SFA true mids.

To add insult to injury Gordon pulled out of the game before the start and Kennedy who was coming back through eth DS at long at long last had to be brought in as a last minute replacement having already played a half for the DS.

BH led at quarter time 3.5 to 2.4 having eth better of eth quarter and being a bit daz the spaz up forward.

PM fought back in the second and started to use the ball more constructively in the that quarter. the instruction at quarter time for BH was one handball one kick rather than piss eth ball around in circles with handpasses until you get caught. All very basic wet condition footy. And we got smashed by cleaner more direct footy. Of course thsi was only a matter of time as i was surprised that we had one the first quarter.

At half time we trailed 4.6 to 5.7. Fortunately Port we a bit wasteful up forward as well.

The boys fought back in the third to make it a fascinating contest and trailed 7.7 to 7.9.

The boys added 6 more behinds in the last to go down 7.13 to 10.11 in a dispirited final stanza. Bello asked them to "f&*%king believe" but the message was stale after last week and did not age well. I anticipate that it will get staler in the two weeks after eth bye were we'll face similar defeats.

Fortunately nobody from the hawks of any relevance was any good so I don't have to describe their efforts.

Wx and Heatherly were passable the rest were Meh!

 

[houdinihuddo]

SENIORS
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Port Melbourne 2.4-16 5.7-37 7.9-51 10.11-71
Box Hill Hawks 3.5-23 4.6-30 7.7-49 7.13-55


Port Melbourne
Goal Kickers: J. Lisle 2, L. Osborne 2, M. Rivett, J. Scipione, T. Hobbs, J. Halsall, M. Lee, D. Toman
Best Players: L. Osborne, J. Tynan, M. Arnot, C. Cain, M. Golby, L. Tynan
Box Hill Hawks
Goal Kickers: J. Summers 2, Z. Webster, C. O''Sullivan, W. Langford, B. Hardwick, J. Walker
Best Players: M. Warren, B. Whitecross, D. Mirra, A. Kennedy, J. Walker, K. Heatherley

DEVELOPMENT
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Port Melbourne 2.4-16 3.7-25 8.12-60 10.15-75
Box Hill Hawks 2.2-14 5.4-34 6.5-41 6.5-41


Port Melbourne
Goal Kickers: B. Pearson 3, M. Hayes, M. Wenn, L. Waddell, L. Walker, D. Beddison, H. Hooper, K. Dove
Best Players: H. Hooper, D. Iaccarino, B. Pearson, A. Urban, N. Parthenopoulos, S. Bennett
Box Hill Hawks
Goal Kickers: X. Dimasi, M. Traynor, J. Sullivan, L. Langford, L. Jeffs, D. Hehir
Best Players: L. Cox, N. Evans, L. Jeffs, L. Surman, S. Horner, M. Lock

The development games was lost in the third quarter with 2 terrible turnovers for goals. Port gained the momentum and kicked 5 unanswerred goals. The ground was waterlogged and yet we tried to play as if it was dry. The number of times we had 3 or more handballs and lost possession was farcical. Luke Surman contested really well playing in the ruck and was strong in the contest. Lachie Langford laid a couple of good tackles however he was too often very disappointing with his lack of real effort to get to a contest, defend or provide an option.

In the senior game Port had 23 players who were prepared to play in front and put their bodies on the line. They moved the ball forward at every opportunity which was smart wet weather footy. Whitecross and Heatherley were certainly the best of the HFC listed players. Hardwick again failed to convert his chances by missing 3 gettable goals. Litherland played a reasonable game however at times he failed to physically impose himself on the game something he needs to do if he is to secure an AFL career. Webster flashed into the game a few times and needs to do far more. Lovell had very little impact in conditions which should have suited him. Miles did a few good things however he struggled to find any space in the congested game in heavy conditions. Langford worked very hard but seemed to spend a lot of time off the ground. JML had a very poor game. The ground is very poorly contoured and as a result water gathers in numerous areas and a number of players lost their footing whilst kicking or even running. The Port senior and development sides were harder and more determined and played the smarter footy.

 

[barnes]

SENIORS

Langford worked very hard but seemed to spend a lot of time off the ground. JML had a very poor game. .

I saw Langford in emergency at Epworth tonight, so definately something not right with him .

 

[IdiotBox]

well, that was all rather disappointing and lack-lustre. hopefully not a portent of things to come in Tassie tomorrow.

 

[macdaddio]

Gee BHH is on a bit of a downer.. How many losses in a row now ?

 

[Gralin]

Gee BHH is on a bit of a downer.. How many losses in a row now ?

It's what happens when all your structural players are injured or playing for the Hawks

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

I saw Langford in emergency at Epworth tonight, so definately something not right with him .

Someone posted elsewhere that he had a punctured lung.

 

[Hawks1994]

Someone posted elsewhere that he had a punctured lung.

Ouch. That doesn't sound good

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Gee BHH is on a bit of a downer.. How many losses in a row now ?

They've lost three in a row and five of the last six

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Ground was a joke, and I don't understand why when we got that 50 metre penalty in the 4th ( Even though it was only 35) we didn't have a shot from 35-40 metres out.

 

[Ordovician]

SENIORS
In the senior game Port had 23 players who were prepared to play in front and put their bodies on the line. They moved the ball forward at every opportunity which was smart wet weather footy. Whitecross and Heatherley were certainly the best of the HFC listed players. Hardwick again failed to convert his chances by missing 3 gettable goals. Litherland played a reasonable game however at times he failed to physically impose himself on the game something he needs to do if he is to secure an AFL career. Webster flashed into the game a few times and needs to do far more. Lovell had very little impact in conditions which should have suited him. Miles did a few good things however he struggled to find any space in the congested game in heavy conditions. Langford worked very hard but seemed to spend a lot of time off the ground. JML had a very poor game. The ground is very poorly contoured and as a result water gathers in numerous areas and a number of players lost their footing whilst kicking or even running. The Port senior and development sides were harder and more determined and played the smarter footy.

This is spot on. Thanks for that.

This is a far more balanced and fairer summary than my jaundiced perceptions could have produced.

Of the above players I assume Hardwick is carrying something that had him doing the rehab this week rather than running around so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

As for Lovell after being second best for BH and certainly top three last week to see him run around in heavy conditions and hardly get his hands on the ball when he appears to be fully fit is a bit disturbing. I suppose everyone has quiet days even the very best.

Webster tried and his hardness and effort was there. That was a definite improvement over the Geelong game. He has missed so much footy over the last two seasons with repeated breakdowns that I am prepared to cut him some slack while he tries to find his feet again at this level.

Litherland was typical Litherland 2016, both good and bad in patches. One would suspect that he really needs to step up and reduce the bad if he wishes to remain senior listed as at the moment he just emergency backup at best and frankly when the call up comes I can't see why he always gets the opportunity in front of Heatherly other than his ground speed and ability to paly small, because overhead he is so far behind Heatherly it is not funny.

Oh well no loss lined up for next week as we have the bye.

However, following the bye we have a great opportunity to lose to Willi at home, followed by the ugly trip out to Junkie Hill to play the drug cheats, before finally meeting a beatable side at home in Richmond.

 

[Ordovician]

Gee BHH is on a bit of a downer.. How many losses in a row now ?

R6. L away to Wearybee

R7 L away to Casey

R8 bye

R9 W at home against Nth Ballart (current bottom of the ladder with 2 wins 8 losses)

R10 L at home to the Northern Carltankers

R11 L away to Geelong

R12 L away to Port


So that's three losses in a row which we should extend to four or five.

What is more disturbing is that we have lost 5 out of our last 6 games and we are clinging to eight spot on the ladder with 5 wins and 5 losses.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Sad that the Hawks listed players are starting to struggle to put pressure on those in the AFL team. A month or so ago there were 3 or 4 guys demanding a spot.

 

[Gralin]

Sad that the Hawks listed players are starting to struggle to put pressure on those in the AFL team. A month or so ago there were 3 or 4 guys demanding a spot.

It can be hard to look good with the lack of stability in the box hill team and with how many players are missing from that team it would be interesting to know internally how these performances are viewed.

Don't think it's going to be a fun season for box hill players, different kind of learning experience for them, I just hope what's happened with the structures due to lack of talls doesn't stunt our kids growth too much this year

 

[houdinihuddo]

Ground was a joke, and I don't understand why when we got that 50 metre penalty in the 4th ( Even though it was only 35) we didn't have a shot from 35-40 metres out.

There were many areas around the ground where it was difficult to balance your feet when kicking and that may have been an issue as Sam Iles ran towards the man on the mark. Sam sometimes lacks confidence in his accuracy and decided to pass the ball to a team mate who was directly in front of goal rather than Sam's 20 degree angle. It was a high risk play because the ball was as slippery as soap and Port had already benefited from many similar inappropriate 'dry' weather passes.

When Port ran onto the field in both the senior and development games they looked far taller with bigger bodies. The loss of Roughead, Shoenmakers, Spangher, Fitzpatrick and Burton has hit the BHH really hard and it has not been surprising we have struggled. The withdrawal of Pittonet probably cost us the game although I was impressed by how strongly Connor O'Sullivan competed against the big bodied and experienced Haretuku. He won or halved a good number of centred ruck contests and worked hard laying a number of tackles and blocks. Liam Kidd also competed strongly in the congested game. Tom Gordon failed a morning fitness test hence Aiden Kennedy was withdrawn from the development game. It was great to see AK play his first senior game since injuring his ACL when taking his match saving mark in the last minute of the 2014 PF. He played a very good defensive game keeping Jordan Lisle goal less until the last 5 minutes of the game.

 

[grimlock]

 

[TheFourPillars]

Thanks for the stats Grimlock keep em coming mate

 

[Ordovician]

Very much appreciated grimlock.