The Cup of a Carpenter

[Pappagallo]

Is it just me or does this happen to every Port player as soon as they approach 30?



Hawthorn have multiple stars who are making significant contributions well into their 30s, including Burgoyne who has outlasted all of his Port Adelaide contemporaries by some margin and will have played more games for the Hawks in about 3 weeks time. Pavlich will tick off 350 games. Goodes played over 370. Fletcher played until he was 40 FFS. Harvey will be older than the Templar Knight charged with protecting the Holy Grail in the next couple of years and he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

Meanwhile we've only had Kane reach 300 games (just) for the club, one player in 20 years, with Tredrea being the next best effort barely reaching 250 games. Roger James, Josh Francou, Matthew Primus, early football graves for all of them. Schulz has gone from combat god to cripple in the past 12 months and looks set to retire. It just keeps happening.

We don't seem to have any longevity and that's a problem because players usually reach their "prime" in their mid 20s, so we're only getting about 5 or 6 solid years of service before they turn to dust and we have to find replacements.

Is it just my perception? Do we actually have a similar retirement age to other clubs, or are we missing a trick here? Are other clubs doing something we're not to help their stars extend their playing careers?

Have they found the cup of a carpenter?

 

[Alberton Proud]

Gamestyle would play some part

The last ten years we've played a bang crash, maximum energy / minimum return style

 

[OneGreatClub]

Is it just me or does this happen to every Port player as soon as they approach 30?

View attachment 270396

Hawthorn have multiple stars who are making significant contributions well into their 30s, including Burgoyne who has outlasted all of his Port Adelaide contemporaries by some margin and will have played more games for the Hawks in about 3 weeks time. Pavlich will tick off 350 games. Goodes played over 370. Fletcher played until he was 40 FFS. Harvey will be older than the Templar Knight charged with protecting the Holy Grail in the next couple of years and he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

Meanwhile we've only had Kane reach 300 games (just) for the club, one player in 20 years, with Tredrea being the next best effort barely reaching 250 games. Roger James, Josh Francou, Matthew Primus, early football graves for all of them. Schulz has gone from combat god to cripple in the past 12 months and looks set to retire. It just keeps happening.

We don't seem to have any longevity and that's a problem because players usually reach their "prime" in their mid 20s, so we're only getting about 5 or 6 solid years of service before they turn to dust and we have to find replacements.

Is it just my perception? Do we actually have a similar retirement age to other clubs, or are we missing a trick here? Are other clubs doing something we're not to help their stars extend their playing careers?

Have they found the cup of a carpenter?

I have to agree with you, time for bruise free footy style.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Perhaps we haven't been using growth hormone and other anti-ageing supplements that other clubs have?

 

[Steve Dore]

Hawthorn have multiple stars who are making significant contributions well into their 30s ....

 

[Magus]

Kane could've kept playing.

I reckon Westhoff will get to over 300. He rarely gets injured.

 

[Dylan8]

I reckon Westhoff will get to over 300. He rarely gets injured.

Or dropped

 

[Magus]

Or dropped

Exactly.

 

[afl2004]

Is it just me or does this happen to every Port player as soon as they approach 30?

View attachment 270396

Hawthorn have multiple stars who are making significant contributions well into their 30s, including Burgoyne who has outlasted all of his Port Adelaide contemporaries by some margin and will have played more games for the Hawks in about 3 weeks time. Pavlich will tick off 350 games. Goodes played over 370. Fletcher played until he was 40 FFS. Harvey will be older than the Templar Knight charged with protecting the Holy Grail in the next couple of years and he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

Meanwhile we've only had Kane reach 300 games (just) for the club, one player in 20 years, with Tredrea being the next best effort barely reaching 250 games. Roger James, Josh Francou, Matthew Primus, early football graves for all of them. Schulz has gone from combat god to cripple in the past 12 months and looks set to retire. It just keeps happening.

We don't seem to have any longevity and that's a problem because players usually reach their "prime" in their mid 20s, so we're only getting about 5 or 6 solid years of service before they turn to dust and we have to find replacements.

Is it just my perception? Do we actually have a similar retirement age to other clubs, or are we missing a trick here? Are other clubs doing something we're not to help their stars extend their playing careers?

Have they found the cup of a carpenter?

Most of our players in the afl that didn't make 300 all played in the 90's when the game had far less sport sciences involved , there fore the players were far less looked after and looked after themselves far less in there free time. Hawks players were all early 2000 players when the game finally started being really particular about being the best athletes possible (kane and shaun 2000 + draftees and played 300+) , especially considering hird and woewodin in 2000 dominated when they got out side help to make sure there body's were in pristine condition compared to the rest (norm smith and brownlow that year) and some players are just plain more lucky they have not landed badly or had other players hurt them in a game.

When you look at hawthorn they have andrew russell as the head of fitness and as we know he clearly is fantastic at running an AFL department and makes burgess look like a hack especially when it comes to making an afl list ready for footy

 

[Doctor Feel]

Then we have Broadbent who looks about 50 and is actually 25.

 

[crafty_bernardo]

We should get on the Lite N Easy diet and Swiss supplements.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Contested Marx]

Or dropped

Or play more than 1 quarter per game

 

[edgie]

Westhoff definitely the best chance to keep on keeping on, he's bigger bodied but his lean frame just doesn't pick up injuries in the contest. As long as he avoids soft tissue injuries, he's got a fair bit of footy left.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Then we have Broadbent who looks about 50 and is actually 25.

Too many durries.

Pictured: Matthew Broadbent thanks the crowd after his sendoff game in 2022.

 

[Portmanteau]

I have a decent amount of faith that we will begin to see some of our players play well into their 30s and smash past the 200 game mark, toward the 300.

If you look at a lot of the guys who played for us through the first say, 12 years, of our AFL era, they either didn't start playing right off the bat as an 18 year old (many started aged 20 or later, makes a difference), or were the younger veterans of the premiership contending era who copped injuries that brought their careers to a premature end (Primus, Tredrea, James, Wilson, Chad, Brogan et al). Definitely an underreported story as we went into our downward spiral in the late 00s. The only one who was in the team from the get-go was Salopek, who burned out.

Beginning with the likes of Boak, Gray, Westhoff (the class of 06!), and then with the likes of Hartlett, Pittard, Wines and Wingard, I fully expect that we will have guys playing a heap of games and playing to 32-33 over the next decade or so.

 

[Andre]

Most of our players in the afl that didn't make 300 all played in the 90's when the game had far less sport sciences involved , there fore the players were far less looked after and looked after themselves far less in there free time. Hawks players were all early 2000 players when the game finally started being really particular about being the best athletes possible (kane and shaun 2000 + draftees and played 300+) , especially considering hird and woewodin in 2000 dominated when they got out side help to make sure there body's were in pristine condition compared to the rest (norm smith and brownlow that year) and some players are just plain more lucky they have not landed badly or had other players hurt them in a game.

When you look at hawthorn they have andrew russell as the head of fitness and as we know he clearly is fantastic at running an AFL department and makes burgess look like a hack especially when it comes to making an afl list ready for footy

Others from other clubs prior to the 90's, during and after made the milestone. s**t the WA clubs have legitimate long haul flight concerns on player longevity, SA sides don't and yet Pavlich is going to finish near 350 games. The swamp dwellars have and are doing a better job of their over 30's staying on, with the same amount of travel wear and tear.

I wonder if our woeful fitness staff under Falloon has left a legacy of undersized and weak players who've subsequently suffered more accumulated stresses on their bodies, then they would have under a regime that'd better prepared them for AFL? If so then we're screwed for many years until we are looking at those recruited 2011 or 2012 as the ones pushing 30+.

 

[Sleezy]

s**t the WA clubs have legitimate long haul flight concerns on player longevity, SA sides don't and yet Pavlich is going to finish near 350 games.

You say that, but the weagles don't have a single 300 game player despite having 10 more years in the comp than us. Their closest is Cox with 288. Their closest current player is Priddis, on 197.

Fremantle have 1 in Pavlich who, lets be honest, absolutley limped over the line and should have retired two seasons ago. Their next closest are Sandi & Johnson on about 240 neither of whom have been able to stay on the park the last few years.

I reckon you might be jumping at shadows.

The real problem for us has been that between 2000 and 2006 we only recruited one player good enough to make it to 300 games, Kane Cornes. It's a recruiting issue, not a management issue.

 

[*PAF]

Perhaps we haven't been using growth hormone and other anti-ageing supplements that other clubs have?

Oooo. ... stuff the players ... I need some of those.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Is it just me or does this happen to every Port player as soon as they approach 30?

View attachment 270396

Hawthorn have multiple stars who are making significant contributions well into their 30s, including Burgoyne who has outlasted all of his Port Adelaide contemporaries by some margin and will have played more games for the Hawks in about 3 weeks time. Pavlich will tick off 350 games. Goodes played over 370. Fletcher played until he was 40 FFS. Harvey will be older than the Templar Knight charged with protecting the Holy Grail in the next couple of years and he doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

Meanwhile we've only had Kane reach 300 games (just) for the club, one player in 20 years, with Tredrea being the next best effort barely reaching 250 games. Roger James, Josh Francou, Matthew Primus, early football graves for all of them. Schulz has gone from combat god to cripple in the past 12 months and looks set to retire. It just keeps happening.

We don't seem to have any longevity and that's a problem because players usually reach their "prime" in their mid 20s, so we're only getting about 5 or 6 solid years of service before they turn to dust and we have to find replacements.

Is it just my perception? Do we actually have a similar retirement age to other clubs, or are we missing a trick here? Are other clubs doing something we're not to help their stars extend their playing careers?

Have they found the cup of a carpenter?

We obviously have ratshit chemical assistance programs and player management programs compared to some clubs.

Plus between 1999 and 2010 we had a horrendous run with bad knee injuries and other leg injuries and that ****ed up careers made it difficult for players. The way Andrew Russell has managed Burgoyne's knee has been exceptional. I don't know if he learnt a lot at Port and from that trial and error he has perfected things but he has done something right.

Shane Bond 1 ACL at SCG in 2000 v North and never played again
Primus 3 ACL's, the last one got him
Francou back to back ACL's within 10 months second one at training and only played 1 more season after that
Wilbur back to back ACL's 7 months apart second one at training and took 99 weeks to go from career games of 98 to 100
Wangers ok we talked him into 1 more year, played 1 game, part of it, but it was his 300th but the knee got him
Tredders 4 patella dislocations, the last one a shocker but played on for 3 full years and a bad ankle injury got him
Roger James degenerative knee saw him retire at end of 2005
Paxman, our best defender at the time does ACL Rd 22 in 2001, stuffed up our finals campaign and comes back slow as a wet wig
Chad knee + spiral break to index figure got him
Lade back to back broken leg in the same spot. First one was Rd 3 2000 and wasn't until the finals in 2003 he final got back to his old form
Shaun if he didn't go in 2009 we would have only offered him a 1 year deal as his knee was very dodgy

I'm sure I have missed one or two other knee/leg injuries. Surjan did he have a crook knee?

What would have these players produced for Port and for how many more games if they never got those severe knee or leg injuries?

 

[Pappagallo]

We obviously have ratshit chemical assistance programs and player management programs compared to some clubs.

Plus between 1999 and 2010 we had a horrendous run with bad knee injuries and other leg injuries and that stuffed up careers made it difficult for players. The way Andrew Russell has managed Burgoyne's knee has been exceptional. I don't know if he learnt a lot at Port and from that trial and error he has perfected things but he has done something right.

Shane Bond 1 ACL at SCG in 2000 v North and never played again
Primus 3 ACL's, the last one got him
Francou back to back ACL's within 10 months second one at training and only played 1 more season after that
Wilbur back to back ACL's 7 months apart second one at training and took 99 weeks to go from career games of 98 to 100
Wangers ok we talked him into 1 more year, played 1 game, part of it, but it was his 300th but the knee got him
Tredders 4 patella dislocations, the last one a shocker but played on for 3 full years and a bad ankle injury got him
Roger James degenerative knee saw him retire at end of 2005
Paxman, our best defender at the time does ACL Rd 22 in 2001, stuffed up our finals campaign and comes back slow as a wet wig
Chad knee + spiral break to index figure got him
Lade back to back broken leg in the same spot. First one was Rd 3 2000 and wasn't until the finals in 2003 he final got back to his old form
Shaun if he didn't go in 2009 we would have only offered him a 1 year deal as his knee was very dodgy

I'm sure I have missed on or two others. Surjan?

What would have these players produced for Port and for how many more games if they never got those severe knee or leg injuries?

Salopek is another one I forgot about.

It's no wonder things got so dark post 2007 when you look at that list of superstars that were forced to pull the plug early.

 

[Doctor Feel]

The Surjan one is a complete mystery. It all came apart for him after that bizarre lay-down-surjan incident with the stretcher, then he mysteriously started missing games and basically never came back and none of us were any of the wiser as to why.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Salopek is another one I forgot about.

It's no wonder things got so dark post 2007 when you look at that list of superstars that were forced to pull the plug early.

Looks like we might have conquered the knee/leg curse and now we might be attacked by the hip curse.

I just read on Port's website that Hombsch is to have a hip operation on the opposite hip to the one he had surgery on last year and my immediate thought was oh * No! I didnt know he had a hip operation last year. I remember talking to Johnny Butcher at the 2012 B&F as he was Bigfooty's sponsored player but he missed the events during the year so it was an introductory chat. He told me he along with his dad and brother, all have genetic hip issues and can't bulk up too much. I thought there goes the big gorilla KPF we want. He had a double hip operation the next year and he will always be a Westhoff and not a Hawkins type build KPF. It has affected his career. Just read about Paul Stewart 100th in the 'Tsier and he said 5 years ago he had a hip operation and that put him on the back foot. Jimmy Toumpas has had the double hip operation, before he debuted for Melbourne and he has never recaptured his blistering pace I saw him as a 17 year old dominate the 2011 SANFL finals. I know there are one or two others on our list who have had hip surgery but forget who at the moment.

The great NFL + MLB all star Bo Jackson was cut down by a hip injury in early 1991 NFL play off game. He was playing for the Oakland Raiders and a twisting tackle meant he dislocated his hip as he hit the ground but it popped back into place - he knew straight away it was bad - but initially the doctors didn't. He had to retire at 27 from NFL his 4th year ( he was a no.1 draft pick in 1986 by Tampa but they breached NCAA rules when they flew him to Tampa, he was suspended from playing baseball in his last year at Auburn so he refused to play for them and played baseball for Kansas City) . He immediately retired from his baseball team Kansas City but the Chicago White Sox gave him a go late in the 1991 baseball season and he played in about 20 games but didnt play a full game in many of them. He went and had a hip replacement missed all of 1992 and somehow made it back to baseball in 1993 and played half a year but was still only a shadow of a player. Moved onto the Angels in 1994 but after about 70 games that season he had to give it away as his artifical hip caused so much pain in his leg and back.

I now fear when I read one of our player has a hip injury, or is going in for hip surgery or read a player had hip surgery either one on our list or one we are looking at recruiting. I reckon hip surgery now means - don't play much after 30 - just like those knee injuries did for the players I listed in my last post.