Review Round 15, 2021 vs Sydney

[EskimoPAFC]

I like Frederick and don't understand why we haven't persisted. He is exactly the type of running defender we need to break lines against Geelong and West Coast. Hard to believe the nincompoops in charge wanted Hartlett out there instead.

I think we are persisting but feel he isnt the type to benefit from a block of games but rather the kind of guy we want in and out at this stage to keep him fresh.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Yeah, it’s not so much ‘general team has to be better (aka duh)’ that I’m referring to.

In isolation, the Jonas HTB late, whether the blame goes to him for grossly misjudging the moment, or the lack of shepherd (was it Burton who ran towards the pocket from directly behind him?), was a perfect microcosm of Port in these games: a mindboggling and perfectly avoidable defensive breakdown at a critical moment from someone experienced enough to just not do it. It reminded me of the non-switch between Ebert and Jonas(?) for McGovern’s after-siren winner in 2019.

It was tremendous to be able to weather that momentum and wrestle the game back in the end, but no amount of returning guys will eradicate that sort of stuff on weight of talent alone — we’ve dropped a stack of close games due to this sort of stuff over the journey with a full contingent.

I don’t even know how you do, tbh.

No surprise 4 of those 6 I named have not been long term perrenial failures post 2014 at Port.

The club went on its best Under 23 drive after the 11-4 start in 2018 and then failed to make finals, because they knew most of the older guys arent up to passing the big tests.

A couple of them made key errors again at the wrong time last night.

We were saved by Lycett and Mayes, guys who came in post 2018.

I'll give it to Boak, he produced a last quarter he rarely produced in a tight game at AO between 2015 and 2019.

 

[JimmyBC]

I think we are persisting but feel he isnt the type to benefit from a block of games but rather the kind of guy we want in and out at this stage to keep him fresh.

Disagree he's a fit kid

 

[x_les_x]

Besides the whole chase down thing thought Burton was actually pretty good and composed. Kicking was good in the first half and blanketed Papley.

93% efficiency with 356 metres gained and 7 1%s

 

[EskimoPAFC]

Disagree he's a fit kid

Not all about physical fitness though

 

[drcollossimo]

Frederick surprised me last night. He was really composed, made good decisions and defended well. We lost nothing with the swap with Hartlett.

He even took the game on a bit once or twice, which had been reluctant to do at the top level. Once he has the experience and confidence to use his jets more, he could become a genuine asset.

Someone said earlier he seems to play better and smarter at this level than he does at sanfl and that's how it looked to me too.

Same here Ford came away from that thinking he’s got a career in front of him if he can consistently turn that out

tbh he played better last night than DBJ has for a while

 

[PowerVic]

Sam Mayes was on the ground for 15 minutes and 11 seconds. Thats probably 11 or 12 minutes of actual game time. Champion Data awarded him 4 tackles. Only 8 other players from both sides were awarded with more tackles for the whole game.

You just know that if Georgiades or Farrell got that loose ball off the marking contest in the last quarter and Mayes snapped a goal with his left foot, they stupidly would have run around and tried to handball the ball to a teammate rather than use their non natural kicking foot.

I hope that bit of play is highlighted to our young forwards who too often do not take responsibility to shoot on goal.

To quote the great Liverpool manager Bill Shankly: "
If you're not sure what to do with the ball, just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards."

 

[VineValerian]

It’s a team game and Burton takes some of the blame.

Not a lot tbh.
Tom needs to put his hand up - as a skipper should.

 

[backtozero]

Yeah I'm not looking at Frederick's game and thinking Hartlett could have done any better. What Hartlett brings in toughness, he loses in speed and quality disposal. Frederick has him covered in both areas.

 

[240volt]

TJ ****ed up plain and simple.
Learn from it and move on.

 

[1954]

I'm on the same page as those who believe Georgiadis is trying to do too much/2nd guess himself when he gets the ball when its not from a mark.
He is still very young and obviously has a heap of talent but he has developed some bad habits that can get exposed quickly at AFL level.

 

[philthy05]

Yeah I'm not looking at Frederick's game and thinking Hartlett could have done any better. What Hartlett brings in toughness, he loses in speed and quality disposal. Frederick has him covered in both areas.

hartlett offers more in the air than Frederick does who’s pretty much a non-factor in that way.

but Frederick looked way better when defending the ball on the ground.

if you back in the rest of our players in the air to do their job ie Alir Jonas burton etc then he offers something different.

I’m happy for him to get games over Hartlett at this point, but very much favour both of jones and Bergman as more rounded backmen when both are fit.

 

[Vagabond0]

Thoughts I took away last night.

10 & 4 with plenty of upside still to come both from those playing and those to come in, so definitely a positive but definitely going to need that upside if we're going to go deep into September.

Sydney were better kicking to their forwards advantage, too many times we still blast away often to the Sydney defenders advantage. Thought they played well and never looked panicked. At 3qtr time I was worried we burnt a couple of chances and left the door open they walked through it too soon, because it looked like they had all the run and we had stopped until they hit the front.

Winning the mid makes a huge difference, if we can't at least half it not sure I trust our defence to hold us in the game as well as last year. I was worried we'd miss Robbie's leadership on the field more than his individual output, especially when we needed to turn the tide, was convinced at half time but thought Boak was huge on the 2nd half well supported by Ollie and Drew.

I like Mckenzie in the side but thought Buddy out bodied him too easily in both the 1st and 4th. Aliir given the role for parts of the game and thought he was going ok.

Not sure if my eyes were deceiving me but thought I saw Marshall hit some contests hard in the last quarter and won them all. I'll watch a replay later. If those 3 or 4 contests were all Todd... "Please sir, I want some more" That effort for 4 quarters, a couple of goals and the floating into the pack to make space for Dixon is more than enough to play the Toby Thurstans come September.

Carletto needs to take those chances.

Crowd took a while to get into it but were great late in the game.

 

[Jakksynn]

Hell of a win, no matter how you look at it. We were challenged constantly all game and still came out on top. Gotta say I still have serious question marks about our ability to defend against the run of play, I think that’s where we miss Clurey massively. We just gotta keep banking wins and hope all our injuries are sorted come finals time. If we can be somewhere close to our best 22 come finals time I’d back us against anyone.

 

[GremioPower]

The "haven't beat a top 8 side" crew are now saying the reigning premiers and Sydney don't count. We are also in the top 8, so to them it's 5 teams.

Mate… If we have beaten them, then they are clearly not Top-8 material.

It’s called “the true Scotsman” fallacy.

 

[Jello_B]

Great that Bergman has made a spot in the team. One of our best yesterday. Rarely loses a contest and the mark over Kennedy was excellent (pity he missed but his later goal was excellent). Would like to see how Bergman goes at a few centre bounces.

 

[Marmozet]

The "haven't beat a top 8 side" crew are now saying the reigning premiers and Sydney don't count. We are also in the top 8, so to them it's 5 teams.

With Richmond still in the 8, we've beaten 2 Top 8 sides now.

 

[Port 2004]

The only thing that impressed me in the game was the fight to regain the lead albeit it never should've got to that point, look for me the real test is Melbourne in a few weeks you can call me whatever you like I'm just being honest.

Well I am being honest when I say that the future is looking bright.

 

[Dalfino]

After watching the replay I thought it was a really strong effort across the whole team. Aside from the first gamer Williams who just couldn't work his way into it, there were no real passengers. A few thoughts on specific players:

Bergman is improving week on week and is already looking a reliable and consistent cog in the machine. Making Duursma's absence a much smaller hole to fill.

DBJ didn't have a s**t game like a lot on here are saying. He's clearly down on his AA form from last year but he was fine last night. A couple of scrubby kicks but not alone there.

Aside from Drew, who was an absolute beast last night, Burton is our most underrated player. The big issue with our team right now is the lack of 1-touch grabs and first gives. We always seem to fumble the ball around in front of us or hesitate to take the first option/shot at goal. It's almost as if we don't believe we are a great team yet and aren't playing with that confidence. Burton is the exception to that rule, always clean with the pickup and the ball, on top of delivering a solid defence performance on his direct opponent week-in, week-out. I firmly stand by that if he didn't do a quad against Richmond we win the prelim last year. Top 3 in the BnF for me, keeping him fit is absolutely crucial towards us going deep into finals.

 

[elbarton]

The "haven't beat a top 8 side" crew are now saying the reigning premiers and Sydney don't count. We are also in the top 8, so to them it's 5 teams.

No one who makes these sorts of arguments is every going to concede in good faith, why even bother?

 

[Jack Grange]

Great that Bergman has made a spot in the team. One of our best yesterday. Rarely loses a contest and the mark over Kennedy was excellent (pity he missed but his later goal was excellent). Would like to see how Bergman goes at a few centre bounces.

What I like is he stays on his feet when over the ball with strong body work and positions perfectly to gain possession with deft touch. He is a smooth mover with so many attributes and he is just starting...will be a beauty and simply goes about his business without too much fuss.

 

[rogerjames]

Drew is flying under the radar of other teams as they don’t get it yet just how good this lad is.

I didn't either until the last couple of games. His work rate & desire is thru the charts. Rapt 4 him

 

[It Just Is]

Excluding marking contests, when was the last time anyone saw a shepherd on a football field?

 

[gtrxuone]

Just watched the replay.Good game of footy.The Swans had a real shot and showed why they should play finals in 2021.
Great win by Port.In a high intensity game against a good opposition.Sending Boak forward to shake of the heavy tag..Then throwing him on the ball after half time turned the game.
Like Leigh Matthew's said of his Brisbane hatrick early this century.Its your 3rd group of 7 which is 8 today.That win you the Premierships.We have good players to come back from injurys.But our best players still carry the heavy work load of winning these big games.

 

[Chrizzt]

Hard to tell from the back with raincoats on.

What was it you said? He definitely heard it.

We just kept yelling "Hey Rampe, you're s**t". Fair play to him in actually turning to us and having a chuckle.