Unpopular Port Adelaide opinion you may have

[OneGreatClub]

As if the players and coaches themselves wouldn't be thinking that way already and be doing everything they can to fix it.

Exactly

 

[Janus]

I knew he wasn't 12 like Dylan, but I picked Tribey as late 30's. I feel young (42 for a few more weeks)!

I thought like you - I had Tribes pegged around the same age I am (35).

 

[El_Scorcho]

Unpopular opinion: the quintessential pessimistic Port Supporter, that was crucial to our success in our SANFL days, almost killed the club in our AFL journey and will continue to be an issue until we have achieved generational change.

This is a great call.

Supporters who fell off the wagon during the late Choco and Primus eras weren't just johnny-come-lately 2004 bandwagoners. They were hardened Port Adelaide people who had been to hundreds of games and were rusted on, but who stopped coming because they didn't believe in the product onfield. And it did nearly kill us.

30 years ago if we had a s**t season, those people could stop coming and it wouldn't really hurt us because we were still the biggest club in the league.

Let's face it though, bandwagoning isn't about "* these assholes, i'm not going until they win", it's about people being able to ignore other commitments to attend football games. As we play a less and less exciting brand of football and lose more and more, the other things in people's lives start to matter more than getting along to the football. Our problem is that a large percentage of people who would be die hards if they'd supported another club all their lives have a much larger expectation of success and as such their threshold for not liking the on-field product is much, much harsher. I agree that it will continue to be a problem until we have a greater ratio of people who have grown up in the AFL era.


As for Janus 's comments about negative people hurting the club, i'm sorry but that's a copout. I don't expect victory every week but i'd expect that highly paid, professional athletes living out their dream could actually show up to work every week and give 100%. It's not like they didn't know the Sydney game was coming and it was sprung on them last minute. Nobody expects a flawless football side. Nobody expects to never lose again. What we do expect is for our team to be professional and do the basic, entry level AFL football things well. These guys are immensely talented full time professionals who have shown they have the ability to match and beat just about anyone on their day. They aren't Brisbane, they aren't Essendon with 12 players missing. They are a very talented football side and they are more talented than many teams who are about to play finals. Only playing AFL level footy every now and then isn't acceptable and shouldn't be acceptable, but it's our AFL legacy at the moment.

 

[BornPort]

Did Janus just find a way to blame the clubs past and current troubles on people who don't agree with him?

 

[El_Scorcho]

Did Janus just find a way to blame the clubs past and current troubles on people who don't agree with him?

Apparently i'm actively damaging the club by not blowing smoke up Hinkley's arse despite the mounting evidence that 3.5 years into his reign we're just as mentally shot as we were under Primus and are woefully below AFL standard in skills, fitness and gameplan.

We only win when we can simply outclass our opposition on talent alone.

 

[BornPort]

Apparently i'm actively damaging the club by not blowing smoke up Hinkley's arse despite the mounting evidence that 3.5 years into his reign we're just as mentally shot as we were under Primus and are woefully below AFL standard in skills, fitness and gameplan.

We only win when we can simply outclass our opposition on talent alone.

Despite Hinkley having access to a mountain of resources that Primus did not.

 

[El Zorro]

Did Janus just find a way to blame the clubs past and current troubles on people who don't agree with him?

Took him 5 days from the Sydney debacle to come up with that.

 

[ScooterBrother]

As for Janus 's comments about negative people hurting the club, i'm sorry but that's a copout. I don't expect victory every week but i'd expect that highly paid, professional athletes living out their dream could actually show up to work every week and give 100%. It's not like they didn't know the Sydney game was coming and it was sprung on them last minute. Nobody expects a flawless football side. Nobody expects to never lose again. What we do expect is for our team to be professional and do the basic, entry level AFL football things well. These guys are immensely talented full time professionals who have shown they have the ability to match and beat just about anyone on their day. They aren't Brisbane, they aren't Essendon with 12 players missing. They are a very talented football side and they are more talented than many teams who are about to play finals. Only playing AFL level footy every now and then isn't acceptable and shouldn't be acceptable, but it's our AFL legacy at the moment.

The bolded is the important part. I reckon as a supporter group one can (or at least should) forgive a muffed kick, fumble, dropped mark, inexperienced contest if player x was absolutely busting their arse and giving it their all.

This board was largely positive after the GWS loss - most accepted the players had a crack but were beaten by the better team. Not so Sydney.

What is unforgivable for the Port Adelaide Football Club that I grew up supporting is the absolute pathetic physical efforts some of the seniors players give. Not chasing. Not running. Not shepherding. Not tackling. Not playing their role. Not staying disciplined. That's all 100% controllable mental application. Which should be a non-negotiable.

... and I am talking R.Gray, C.Wingard, T.Boak, H.Hartlett here not some nervy kid.

The second Port Adelaide start forgiving that sort of utter tripe because it's all part of some sort of kumbaya campfire song spiritual journey is the moment they should just put a yellow sash on and call themselves Glenelg.

 

[Andre]

This is a great call.

Supporters who fell off the wagon during the late Choco and Primus eras weren't just johnny-come-lately 2004 bandwagoners. They were hardened Port Adelaide people who had been to hundreds of games and were rusted on, but who stopped coming because they didn't believe in the product onfield. And it did nearly kill us.

30 years ago if we had a s**t season, those people could stop coming and it wouldn't really hurt us because we were still the biggest club in the league.

Let's face it though, bandwagoning isn't about "**** these assholes, i'm not going until they win", it's about people being able to ignore other commitments to attend football games. As we play a less and less exciting brand of football and lose more and more, the other things in people's lives start to matter more than getting along to the football. Our problem is that a large percentage of people who would be die hards if they'd supported another club all their lives have a much larger expectation of success and as such their threshold for not liking the on-field product is much, much harsher. I agree that it will continue to be a problem until we have a greater ratio of people who have grown up in the AFL era.


As for Janus 's comments about negative people hurting the club, i'm sorry but that's a copout. I don't expect victory every week but i'd expect that highly paid, professional athletes living out their dream could actually show up to work every week and give 100%. It's not like they didn't know the Sydney game was coming and it was sprung on them last minute. Nobody expects a flawless football side. Nobody expects to never lose again. What we do expect is for our team to be professional and do the basic, entry level AFL football things well. These guys are immensely talented full time professionals who have shown they have the ability to match and beat just about anyone on their day. They aren't Brisbane, they aren't Essendon with 12 players missing. They are a very talented football side and they are more talented than many teams who are about to play finals. Only playing AFL level footy every now and then isn't acceptable and shouldn't be acceptable, but it's our AFL legacy at the moment.

The casual supporters may drop off when we lose, but it's the return of the s**t structure, poor attitude and gold passes for the chosen (unless injury / suspensions occur), that drive otherwise rusted on fans away. Call it trite, but if our club lived the Creed on and off field, rather than just as a marketing tool, people would tolerate losses as clear steps on the way back to the top.

AO ensures going to the Football will never reach the level of feeling like you were in an abusive relationship again, but it's not easy at the moment. Having suffered through the baptism of pain that was attending 2008-2012 at the Swamp I'm not impressed by those jumping off, but like those years I can understand why they have.

The ones that s**t me more are the 'big game' chasers. I'm on the Port ticket, buy, sell, lend Facebook page (as last year I had 4 tickets and usually was not using 1 or 2) and it's all 'Showdown ticket needed!'. The Melbourne game barely mentioned. I have to resist getting kicked off the page posting 'there's an earlier game where the club really needs the supporters you bunch of fair weather arseholes!'

 

[TeeKray]

I do not apologise for demanding high standards from our playing and coaching group. If our team had performed as say the Sydney Swans have for the last 20 years - consistent, tough, committed, focused, getting the best out of themselves nearly all of the time - then we would have nothing to complain about. But they haven't and that's why we get the results we get (2 finals appearances in 9 years and in that time generally perceived league wide to be a flaky team of soft front runners). If being Port Adelaide is accepting the sort of nonsense we have put up with for the bulk of the last decade then I don't even want to be Port Adelaide.

 

[Janus]

Apparently i'm actively damaging the club by not blowing smoke up Hinkley's arse despite the mounting evidence that 3.5 years into his reign we're just as mentally shot as we were under Primus and are woefully below AFL standard in skills, fitness and gameplan.

We only win when we can simply outclass our opposition on talent alone.

Actually, I found it amusing that your entire thread about being ruthless with club culture and being dedicated to win was made not after we got smashed by Adelaide, nor after we lost to Hawthorn, nor after the Bulldogs, nor after we lost to Carlton or Fremantle - all games that you could have easily made it after.

No, you make it after we go with your multiple tall strategy and play Butcher and Dixon in the same side and it gets exposed by Sydney, which is why we never did it in the past.

I haven't seen a bigger deflection since the Monfries bounce. Especially when all and sundry were saying after the match that both forwards pushing that deep wasn't part of the gameplan at all. I'm not saying you're wrong with your thoughts, I'm just saying the timing of it is very interesting. But I digress.

You want to know who Hinkley is responsible for the development of? The guys that were drafted to the club in his tenure. So that means Byrne-Jones, Austin, Clurey, Howard, Palmer, Bonner, Snelling...those guys.

What you are seeing right now is the culmination of just how poor selection standards were back in the Primus days, where just being young was enough to get a game and there was no gameplan at all. There were no standards set in terms of team care in those formative years for guys like Hartlett, Boak, Broadbent et al, so they learned to play for themselves. We laughed at Chaplin when he said the list had issues, but he was spot on - it does have deep seated issues where the stars believe they don't have to work hard because that's how they were taught. That at Port Adelaide, you can coast through on the back of your talent.

It's easy to say "Well Hinkley should drop those that aren't performing" but you have to replace them with someone - and if that player is even worse at the role, it's far better to stick with proven talent rather than exposing raw potential too early for the cycle to continue.

Demand high standards but temper them with realism as to where our list is at in regards to injuries and suspensions. Players like Carlile and Lobbe might not have stayed out of the side for very long if they didn't get injured - a wake up call is all they probably needed.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Pissing with rain and we barely got the ball past halfway and you bring up the two tall structure as an issue. Fmd.

Hinkley is responsible for the development of everyone on the list, from Dan Houston to Jay Schulz.

 

[Doctor Feel]

This is all very Janusy.

 

[RossFC]

T.Cloke should be our 1 number target. Cheaper then usual due to form, worth the risk

I would trade young if someone offered a first round draft pick to be honest

If young was involved I would want a pick in the late 30s from Gold Coast as well

You are good at this.

 

[Garibaldi Red]

Wait.. wot? I thought you were one of the hip young things!

Still is a hip young thing, even at that age

Tribey is being modest just to prove a point.





He's actually 53.

Would still be young and hip. This coming from my 58 yo perspective

 

[NEGAN]

I feel youngish now.

 

[edgie]

Janus is 35? I had him pegged for at least 40.

 

[NEGAN]

The minute players started crying about kochies tweet I knew they were weak.

 

[Pappagallo]

Actually, I found it amusing that your entire thread about being ruthless with club culture and being dedicated to win was made not after we got smashed by Adelaide, nor after we lost to Hawthorn, nor after the Bulldogs, nor after we lost to Carlton or Fremantle - all games that you could have easily made it after.

No, you make it after we go with your multiple tall strategy and play Butcher and Dixon in the same side and it gets exposed by Sydney, which is why we never did it in the past.

I haven't seen a bigger deflection since the Monfries bounce. Especially when all and sundry were saying after the match that both forwards pushing that deep wasn't part of the gameplan at all. I'm not saying you're wrong with your thoughts, I'm just saying the timing of it is very interesting. But I digress.

You want to know who Hinkley is responsible for the development of? The guys that were drafted to the club in his tenure. So that means Byrne-Jones, Austin, Clurey, Howard, Palmer, Bonner, Snelling...those guys.

What you are seeing right now is the culmination of just how poor selection standards were back in the Primus days, where just being young was enough to get a game and there was no gameplan at all. There were no standards set in terms of team care in those formative years for guys like Hartlett, Boak, Broadbent et al, so they learned to play for themselves. We laughed at Chaplin when he said the list had issues, but he was spot on - it does have deep seated issues where the stars believe they don't have to work hard because that's how they were taught. That at Port Adelaide, you can coast through on the back of your talent.

It's easy to say "Well Hinkley should drop those that aren't performing" but you have to replace them with someone - and if that player is even worse at the role, it's far better to stick with proven talent rather than exposing raw potential too early for the cycle to continue.

Demand high standards but temper them with realism as to where our list is at in regards to injuries and suspensions. Players like Carlile and Lobbe might not have stayed out of the side for very long if they didn't get injured - a wake up call is all they probably needed.

If we have players who genuinely believe it's cool to just coast on talent, to not put in the hard yards, then Hinkley needs to change their ways or trade them out.

He's the man. He's responsible for this list and everyone on it. If some players aren't up to the required standard he needs to make some moves and if he doesn't he wears the consequences of his inaction.

 

[chiwigi]

If we win the last 3 games we WILL make finals, then get knocked out in a QF by the Crows .

 

[Pappagallo]

If we win the last 3 games we WILL make finals, then get knocked out in a QF by the Crows .

Nah if we somehow make the finals we'll have to run through them first, so we'll have a bit of a psychological edge on top of being massive underdogs.

If that happens they'll be shitting it.

 

[tribey]

Brett Chalmers Jnr made the right decision sticking with swimming

 

[Coobk001]

Unpopular opinion: the quintessential pessimistic Port Supporter, that was crucial to our success in our SANFL days, almost killed the club in our AFL journey and will continue to be an issue until we have achieved generational change.

I think that's already happened somewhat.

Ultimately the issue is expectation.

Ive said it for years that interest, attendances and acceptance of performance revolves around expectations.

2013 and 2014 - low expectations and performing well above them = rising crowds and huge interest
2015 and 2016 - high expectations and performing well below them = dropping crowds, confidence and interest.

Expectations are the enemy, not the old school Port thinking IMO. I could accept 2013 and 2014 even though i believe we live for premierships, but 2015 and 16 i cant accept.

 

[BornPort]

I think that's already happened somewhat.

Ultimately the issue is expectation.

Ive said it for years that interest, attendances and acceptance of performance revolves around expectations.

2013 and 2014 - low expectations and performing well above them = rising crowds and huge interest
2015 and 2016 - high expectations and performing well below them = dropping crowds, confidence and interest.

Expectations are the enemy, not the old school Port thinking IMO. I could accept 2013 and 2014 even though i believe we live for premierships, but 2015 and 16 i cant accept.

Yeah it's all well and good for Janus to say " guys we're a developing side you shouldn't expect success" but the club has recruited and prepared as if we are in a premiership window and the CEO has said he believes we are a top 4 or top 6 side.

 

[El Zorro]

People still talking of making finals are really starting to irritate me.