And look at that backline. Yes, injuries have crucified us. But just look at that backline.
McDonald and Macmillan are turnover merchants. Tarrant appears cooked and no longer rebounds out of defence like he used to. Thompson has never been the most dependable with ball in hand. Wright is as slow as a wet week at the moment (nothing against him, one of the few players in the team I like, but he is underdone).
This means it will be solely up to Pittard and Atley to move the ball out of defense quickly. LOL. Two dudes out of seven who can actually break lines on the run without turning the ball over immediately. At any given time there is a good chance one of them will be on the bench, leaving just one get-out option on the field.
This would have been barely acceptable twenty years ago. In the modern game, it is the closest thing you can get to throwing a game of football.
Unless of course our midfielders flood back and/or run two ways to help out and provide options. Which ours never do. Look at how Richmond and Collingwood midfielders create two-on-ones for easy outs. The mids run across to the man with possession to either handpass over the top or provide a block for a run. Whenever a switch happens, their mids (like Houli and McIntosh) burst laterally across the field to get extra numbers around the ball-receiver. Our mids never do that.
So when we have possesion across half-back,you can expect Wright to pass to Thompson, who will push hard backwards behind the mark, and then kick back to Wright, who will wheel around and kick to Macmillan, who will pretend to take on a tackler, sell himself into trouble, pass a dinky handball to Pittard who by this stage will be under pressure because the Port press will have moved up to swarm, and then Pittard will be forced to bomb it long to a contest, which we will be lucky if Goldstein breaks even, but more likely, Sam Powell Pepper (my tip for the Kerridge) will burst away with the ball and spot up a target all alone in our back 50. Probably a mid like Boak or Rockliff who will have burned off Cunnington three minutes prior.
We're in for a slaughtering. $5 for Port 60+ is easy money. Some of the easiest money you will ever see. Gamble responsibly.