Review Round 2, 2024 vs Richmond - Boak’s 350th

Remove this Banner Ad

Good teams are going to kick a truckload of goals against us on the turnover.

The number of goals West Coast and Richmond have kicked over the back is a worrying sign of things to come.
Particularly in the first half where our all over ground intensity was low. I think we need to move Bergman back there as we need to inject another faster player. It's his best position imo. We also need the pace & coverage of Jones, but he needs to be more composed.

Great game by BZT. Butters dominant third qtr turned the game. Marshall's second half where he led & got separation from his opponent was much better. Good game from DBJ, played with higher intensity than usual.

Thought the first half was a soft effort. Rioli has the kicking yips which is a concern. Laid the ball off late in the game after missing several. Was a very low % play & showed his mindset. His goal kicking has been bad throughout pre-season & WC game. Club needs to fix it as hes such an important player for us & was a very reliable kick for goal.

Thought Burton was soft & slow, didn’t want to tackle. Esava needs to impose himself more physically. Burgoyne's kicking was like a 5 year olds, what happened to the player he was in his debut year. Boak got better as the game progressed but his lack of pace is being exposed.

Overall a win at the G is a good win but we are a fair way off being a top side atm. Mental toughness from too many players is lacking & I have no faith in our game plan.
 
Last edited:
Yeah Bergman should go back into the Burton role. He was excellent last year in defence. His positioning, intercept marking and greater speed more than make up for the fact Burton is a better kick. Burton and Finlayson should be in competition for 3rd tall forward IMO.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Burton was average, some of his efforts in the second qtr were below par. His intent and desperation were inept. As Ive said previously, Burgoyne is not up to the level, he panics and folds under pressure. His disposal by foot is so far off the mark its embarrassing. We will get exposed vs Melbourne this weekend, mark my words.
 
Burton was average, some of his efforts in the second qtr were below par. His intent and desperation were inept. As Ive said previously, Burgoyne is not up to the level, he panics and folds under pressure. His disposal by foot is so far off the mark its embarrassing. We will get exposed vs Melbourne this weekend, mark my words.
Burgoyne has had some very good games, albeit largely in his first season. Reckon he needs to be persisted with for a run of weeks and will make it if he doesn't get the yo-yo selection treatment. It's not like we've got a shitload of strong wingers he's keeping out.
 
Bergman has so much talent, just looks like such an important part of our future. Then he gets the ball and every few touches just kicks it direct to an opposition player with no Port player in sight and you're just like, again!!! It's not just clangers he does, it's like some complete brain fart.

Just don't honestly know what goes through his head sometimes. It's like the thought about where he's kicking is really lacking regularly.
So what do you do with this sort of player?
Keep going with him and hope he improves?
Hope while your waiting for this improvement he doesn’t cost you a big game
Drop him or trade him.

Find out if he's colour blind and take it from there. I often wondered if Brad Ebert was too. I am and there's no cure.
 
Is this a back 6 problem, or a team wide issue by pressing to high up the ground to lock the ball in?
This part of the game infuriated me....

Here we got a 50m penalty, ball moves quickly and Rozee sent the ball deep inside 50, nothing wrong with that.
1711325951559.png

At this point the numbers for us look pretty good. We are 1:1 everywhere, with Mead and Evans there leading their men to the contest.

Drew is outside 50, going to have no impact on this contest, Bergman also, though Bergman is minding his man and an outlet.

The ball hits the ground, within 3-4 seconds they crumb it and they clear it away. This image shows, Drew, Bergman and Butters all in absolute no mans land. pointlessly outnumbering Richmond between 30-50m, but totally leaving space over the back. As per before though, Bergman at least has an excuse.

1711326444531.png

What we then see, is that numerical advantage is totally wasted as the ball goes to a set of 1:1s at the top of the square, they take a mark and easily get over the back to goal.

1711326592298.png

Butters, Bergman and Drew all horribly out of position.


This is exactly what you're talking about, this 'excessive press', that is what we're seeing here. It's about knowing when and when not to press. There's no point filling the space Butters, Drew and Bergman do. There is no nearby threat. If they had held back, they might've impacted the marking contest. Instead they pushed up and allowed free numbers out the back.


Sorry about the pictures, but it was just a moment, of many, that drove me nuts as they kept getting out the back, and it was so obvious on TV.
 
Why the hell would we be playing him if he's carrying something this early in a season. Stupid from the club if so, it's not like we don't have an abundance of half backs.
Cos Ken...

I refuse to believe Burton has lost all ability to football - but the Burton out there on yesterday should not be anywhere near the first 23 picked.
 
THE GOOD

Drew is just a football player. Love his no nonsense approach.
The Bezerker quelling Lynch was beautiful to watch
Butters so dangerous when he gets off the leash. 3 Quarter hot streak.
Ollie Wines down in the packs getting clearances
Marshall leading to the ball and marking.
Drew and the Byrne-Jones aka the Perminator creating and kicking goals at half forward.
Mead and Burgoyne doing enough and not looking out of place.
I think the new backline is doing really well. We are yet to be dominated in the air with contested marks. They kill the ball especially outside the 50.
Soldo battling on. He is a warhorse and a workhorse.
The umpiring. They called a lot of holding and we played on really well to advantage.

THE MEDIOCRE

Rozee looked a little injured off. I don't even think he started in the centre. Still a pretty good game.
Farrell with a lot of metreage but not a lot of impact which is unusual for him.
Bergman still adjusting to the wing but he will come good.
Boak doing OK on the wing in his 350th. Onto 400.
Finny up and down but up when it mattered most.

THE UGLY

The team missing set shots.
Dixon missing set shots.
The team not getting a lot of easy goals. We have to work hard and use our skills.
Evans and Willie Rioli missing.
Other than Burton's kicking, Burton.
I would love another crumber around the goals like Tommy Alphabet.
Late goals scored against us.

We will see how we go against a quality midfield this week.
 
Last edited:

(Log in to remove this ad.)

This part of the game infuriated me....

Here we got a 50m penalty, ball moves quickly and Rozee sent the ball deep inside 50, nothing wrong with that.
View attachment 1938908

At this point the numbers for us look pretty good. We are 1:1 everywhere, with Mead and Evans there leading their men to the contest.

Drew is outside 50, going to have no impact on this contest, Bergman also, though Bergman is minding his man and an outlet.

The ball hits the ground, within 3-4 seconds they crumb it and they clear it away. This image shows, Drew, Bergman and Butters all in absolute no mans land. pointlessly outnumbering Richmond between 30-50m, but totally leaving space over the back. As per before though, Bergman at least has an excuse.

View attachment 1938914

What we then see, is that numerical advantage is totally wasted as the ball goes to a set of 1:1s at the top of the square, they take a mark and easily get over the back to goal.

View attachment 1938915

Butters, Bergman and Drew all horribly out of position.


This is exactly what you're talking about, this 'excessive press', that is what we're seeing here. It's about knowing when and when not to press. There's no point filling the space Butters, Drew and Bergman do. There is no nearby threat. If they had held back, they might've impacted the marking contest. Instead they pushed up and allowed free numbers out the back.


Sorry about the pictures, but it was just a moment, of many, that drove me nuts as they kept getting out the back, and it was so obvious on TV.

I think the theory here is that we'll be able to pressure any kick out and it'll be an up and under clearing bomb that those players will be prepared for, but like a lot of Hinkley strategy, it gets torn apart by composure from rebounding opposition defenders. Remember Caleb Daniel running around like an unregistered dog in the 2021 prelim?

Ken "Loser" Hinkley would say that if SPP had been playing we'd be able to apply that pressure, but there's always an excuse for our short sighted, easy to counter gameplans.
 
I think the theory here is that we'll be able to pressure any kick out and it'll be an up and under clearing bomb that those players will be prepared for, but like a lot of Hinkley strategy, it gets torn apart by composure from rebounding opposition defenders. Remember Caleb Daniel running around like an unregistered dog in the 2021 prelim?

Ken "Loser" Hinkley would say that if SPP had been playing we'd be able to apply that pressure, but there's always an excuse for our short sighted, easy to counter gameplans.
Yep, what kills me is the lack of intelligence in it. For mine, if Drew wants to slip into that short kick range, that's probably ok. However Butters certainly shouldn't be pressing in, he should be sitting back on the back of the square, sitting in front of their players and controlling the entire space. Anything comes out short or long and he's in prime position to mop it up. Additionally Drew could've easily sat back a fair bit more and still been far more effective in taking away any rebound options they had, as well as being more dangerous from a turnover perspective.

But ah well, we just pressure for the sake of pressure without any smarts.
 
Our defence issue isn’t the defenders themselves (except Burton), but up the ground. We want to be a team that is great at locking the ball in our 50, but teams are rebounding it out of there too easily. Improve the tackling intensity in our front half and play small forwards who provide actual rather than imagined pressure, and teams won’t rebound as easily.
 
3 observations from me

Burton should not play this week
Very slow and looked disinterested at times
Injured ?

Dixon should not play this week
Needs to be managed, looks sore
Also continually spoils Marshall etc.

Need to ease back on the high forward press
Starting to get too many Joe the Gooses when we turn it over
 
Last edited:
One team was wearing black and the other was wearing white. Im fairly sure no one is that colour blind?

That's not how it works, it's all about the back ground colours and how quickly you determine one colour from another... if at all.

Blue eyed males especially vulnerable. I had no idea until a job interview in my early 20's.
 
Coaches votes:
10 Zak Butters (PORT)
5 Liam Baker (RICH)
4 Willem Drew (PORT)
4 Ollie Wines (PORT)
3 Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (PORT)
2 Connor Rozee (PORT)
2 Todd Marshall (PORT)
 
That's not how it works, it's all about the back ground colours and how quickly you determine one colour from another... if at all.

Blue eyed males especially vulnerable. I had no idea until a job interview in my early 20's.
Yep remember reading about this some time ago in one of my Time Life books.
You just don’t pick up a background color amongst other colors.
You don’t hear much about it these days I’m sure some people are affected without really knowing.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top