Thoughts On The Port Adelaide Game

[Vader]

I know we would all love to see Mattner back on the wing, a position which most of us see as being his domain.

However, I would like to compliment Craig on the decision to play him as the 3rd tall in defence (along with Rutten & Bassett).

This decision has freed up Stevens to play forward.

The thing with our forwards is that, for the most part, they're really not that good. Sure, they have good days when each of them can dominate, but for the most part they're pretty average. OK, Bock is looking like he might be on the way to being a geniuine 1st tier forward, but Perrie & Welsh will never get there.

What Stevens offers us, is the opportunity to load our forward line with 4 tall forwards (plus the occasional ruckman drifting into attack). Most defences can cope with three, which is how Essendon managed to smother us so successfully in R1, but few can cope with four genuine tall marking options in the F50.

Once again, Craig's creative thinking has taken a weakness (the loss of Hentschel & Roo, leaving us short of marking power up forward) and turned it into a strength.

 

[Coopers]

What's gonna happen when we have a day where the opposition (read west coast or sydney) actually apply decent midfield pressure and our delivery into the forward line is NOT good?

I think we only kicked one goal from a crumb this week.

I wonder if the forward line could be overloaded for a game like that. I hope NC is prepared to change up the gameplan. I hope welsh, burton, porps can crumb.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

This is the positional move I am most interested in hearing peoples thoughts on. Its great for us whilst our delivery is as good as it has been last few weeks. It means 2 'talls' (welsh always tends to get a tall defender which bemuses me, love to see bassett on welsh ) are getting 3rd and 4th string defenders and its paying dividends.

But, what happens when our delivery drops off or we play a side with 2 decent sized forwards (true we don't have Essendon for another 13 weeks..)

It's a good point. Lynch & Hansen, Pavlich & Tarrant, N Ablett, Hawkins & Mooney... there are a few teams floating around with a couple of strong marking players. Would we be happy for Bassett or Mattner to take a genuine key position player? I know Bassett has done it before but he has been so good the last two seasons since he has been freed up from performing these sorts of roles.

I'll be interested to see what happens when McGregor is fit. Is he an automatic inclusion? Or are there two spots available for Perrie, Stevens and McGregor?

Whilst our four-pronged marking forward line has been productive the last two weeks, call me Captain No-Fun but I would still like to see how our forwards fare against a quality line up. Sydney this week will be a great opportunity to see how the "much-maligned's" go against a strong defence and a tight checking midfield.

 

[fightingdreamer88]

What's gonna happen when we have a day where the opposition (read west coast or sydney) actually apply decent midfield pressure and our delivery into the forward line is NOT good?

I think we only kicked one goal from a crumb this week.

I wonder if the forward line could be overloaded for a game like that. I hope NC is prepared to change up the gameplan. I hope welsh, burton, porps can crumb.

Porplyzia, Vince, Bode all come to mind. I have faith in their ability to step up and do the crumbing work.

 

[Crow Envy]

Elevating McIntyre would give us that extra tall in defence and allow Stevens to stay up forward. Hes been in great form for North. Rooster Lad can you vouch for that?

 

[betterthanu]

Hinge will come in before McIntyre. He might just have forced himself into the team this week. Dunno who would go out though

 

[Mong]

One of the many things I'm loving since Craigy has taken over is how we've taken control of the Showdowns. The tally stands at 12-10 in Port's favour - it's getting closer.

Gary Ayres v Port - 2-7 record
Neil Craig v Port - 5-2 record

(or replace 'Port' with 'Williams' if you prefer)

If we excuse Craig for the first loss which was as caretaker coach with a team in the doldrums and without time to instigate any real change, Craig's record looks even better.

With Ayres as coach it felt like we were never much chance to beat Port and I'm loving that Port fans now must be feeling the way we used to when it came to Showdowns. And if they aren't, they should be.

 

[RoosterLad]

Elevating McIntyre would give us that extra tall in defence and allow Stevens to stay up forward. Hes been in great form for North. Rooster Lad can you vouch for that?

He has been in superb form so far but I don't think he will be elevated just yet but I would have him in over Hinge and I am not being biased. Personally I would rather see him stay at Prospect though

 

[Southerntakeover]

Gary Ayres v Port - 2-7 record
Neil Craig v Port - 5-2 record

(or replace 'Port' with 'Williams' if you prefer)

If we excuse Craig for the first loss which was as caretaker coach with a team in the doldrums and without time to instigate any real change, Craig's record looks even better.

With Ayres as coach it felt like we were never much chance to beat Port and I'm loving that Port fans now must be feeling the way we used to when it came to Showdowns. And if they aren't, they should be.

Funny that those 2 were ayres first and last showdowns.

 

[portly]

Crows ....their kicking and reflex handball is just at another level to these teams.

Reflex handball under pressure was some of the best I have seen.

 

[fightingdreamer88]

Reflex handball under pressure was some of the best I have seen.

When we had that dominant run in 2006, imo it was the skill execution and pressure that did it. That's stating the obvious but what I'm saying is that the standard of said aspects of our game was brilliant. Brilliant to the point that opposition coaches just could not understand how a team could be so nearly flawless like that. It made us untouchable imo, because once we got the ball turnovers were almost non-existent; we made opposition turn the ball over and then just did not ever give the ball back. Then came the West Coast game, and leading up to it I got the distinct feeling that the side had been very much focused on this game for a long time. Ricciuto made mention of it a few weeks before the game. This struck me as odd because sides traditionally make a firm point of focusing only on the next game to be played; no further ahead than that. This told me there was a sense of the side thinking that West Coast was the only side they had to conquer, because they were so clearly wiping the other sides. Sure enough, they walked into Subi and the skills, the pressure, everything that made us such a terrifyingly good side, were out the window. We never really recovered after that game as far as 2006 is concerned.

From what I've seen in the last two games our skills, the reflex handballs especially, and the pressure, are coming back. The point I'm making is that I've a lurking feeling we're on the cusp of another rampage similar to last year. My brain says no, because there have been some key changes since 06, but my gut says it's very likely. Eh....

 

[King Elvis]

I hope so.

Without being silly, I think most people would agree that during our winning streak last year, we consistently played some of the best football you could ever see.