We suck!

[MrMeaner]

I have just come from the TD.

I never leave a game early. I never once left the game when the maggies got pumped by Norwood at the Parade. Today I left at three quarter time.

I have never felt shame in supporting the Port Adelaide Football Club. I have always known that no matter what the adversity, the players would fight and try their hearts out for the team.

Until today.

I have not seen a more heartless effort from our boys. It was completely unacceptable. Chocco and the team deserve everything thrown at them this week. There are absolutely no excuses for such an unaccountable and soft effort.

On todays effort, I despair for our chances of making the eight.

 

[GoalsFrom50Out]

Chin up ... Port are better than that. You'll bounce back when you've got your key players back.

 

[PJ Power]

Mr Meaner, forget the eight. Let's just get back respectability. We are miles off even challenging Collingwood at the moment.

Injuries did not produce that inept performance. The players who started on the ground are supposedly still in our best 22. The players on the ground in the third quarter were senior players.
They have to wear that. I fear that this may become a regular occurrence for the next two months.

There was no accountability and no desire.


Today the coaches didn't lose us the match by 92 points, but there were some things that didn't make sense to me.

Damon White looked more than capable in the last 10minutes of the first half. Better than Toby Thurstans. Yet Williams waited until 20minutes into the third quarter before bringing him back onto the ground.

Why not try earlier than 3-quarter time to get some game-time into the younger players. Symes should have come onto the ground for Dew at quarter-time. Dew played one of the worst individual matches I can ever, ever remember. Oh, other than Daryl Wakelin.

Chad and Warren showed that they are not true champions. If they were they would have played at a level that would have demanded teammates to lift their game. A captain missing two sitters in front of goal, when your side has limited opportunities as it is, is very deflating.

On a positive note, we didn't have any injuries to come out of today. But someone will find a reason not to play this week due to injury.

I thought James, Wilson and Poulton were our only reasonable players.

The rucks got killed. The tall defenders were very poor.

Brett Ebert and Steven Salopek are overrated, even if I am responsible for contributing to that. Brett, you were plain awful.

Cassisi and Shaun Burgoyne were the only others who applied any pressure. JB must have enjoyed in a perverse way, not being our worst player.


Shattered. But not surprised. When we lose, we lose badly.

Last week I suggested we might be 6-6 by the time that Carr is back. I'll change that. 5-7 seems more appropriate.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Choco is nothing if not faithful to the players who are butchering the game the most.

 

[MrMeaner]

28 available players does not give you much of an opportunity to remove gold passes.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Originally posted by MrMeaner
28 available players does not give you much of an opportunity to remove gold passes.

1. You can take them off the ground ... which he just won't do. Take Damon White off after he showed a bit up forward, sure. Take Dew off after some of the softest forward and defensive play I've ever seen - and not for the first time -, no. Hell even Mahoney at least went in hard. His reward? Back to the bench.
2. He has a rookie list and he can promote players off of it and play them. He chooses not to.

 

[MrMeaner]

Agree on the movements. However, today's was not a game that you'd want to expose rookies to. With the lack of leadership shown out there, rookies would not have made a difference. It might have even been worse.

 

[PJ Power]

Originally posted by MrMeaner
Agree on the movements. However, today's was not a game that you'd want to expose rookies to. With the lack of leadership shown out there, rookies would not have made a difference. It might have even been worse.

No, but at least it would have exposed players like Dew and Wakelin for what they were. Frauds - injured or not.

There was a complete lack of leadership out there.

 

[Port01]

Going on the last month we will be the Richmond of 2004. Win a bunch early but struggle to be competitive after that.

 

[Macca19]

Originally posted by PJ Power
Brett Ebert and Steven Salopek are overrated, even if I am responsible for contributing to that. Brett, you were plain awful.

Dont go too far. Maybe we expect too much from these players. Salopek still has a boys body and i dont think we will see some great games from him for at least 12 months because of that.

Ebert is bound to have poor games. Every rookie has poor games in their first two years...unless your name is Chris Judd. I agree he was unsighted today.

These young guys and adding White, Pettigrew, Surjan, Gilham, Chaplin into that should be bit players this year. They shouldnt have to shoulder the load of injuries and grossly under performing senior players.

 

[MrMeaner]

I agree Macca. You have to feel for the newbies in the team.

The 'leadership' team should hang their heads for the example that they are setting.

 

[PJ Power]

Originally posted by Macca19
Dont go too far. Maybe we expect too much from these players. Salopek still has a boys body and i dont think we will see some great games from him for at least 12 months because of that.

Ebert is bound to have poor games. Every rookie has poor games in their first two years...unless your name is Chris Judd. I agree he was unsighted today.

These young guys and adding White, Pettigrew, Surjan, Gilham, Chaplin into that should be bit players this year. They shouldnt have to shoulder the load of injuries and grossly under performing senior players.

Macca, I don't disagree. Calling them overrated is probably not correct, but they are clearly not going to claw us back into matches when others are down.

I agree that in 12-24 months we will be seeing regular big efforts form them. See my very comments in a different thread.

I still felt that Brett looked outclassed today, from early stages. If he is going to struggle as a leading small forward, then let him run on the ball.

 

[MrMeaner]

Well, I'm going home now. I have a couple of people over for dinner tonight. One's a Collingwood supporter and the other a Hawthorn supporter. The Collingwood supporter and I should be able to ensure that there is no talk of footy.

Before I go, I want to apologise for posting such a negative thread. I needed to vent.

I still am seething at the perfornance of our boys but we should be looking at reasons and constructive solutions.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to look forward to the next game with expectation not look back on that game with loathing.

 

[Port01]

Originally posted by PJ Power
I still felt that Brett looked outclassed today, from early stages. If he is going to struggle as a leading small forward, then let him run on the ball.

Oh come on, why would you let a young midfielder have a go in the midfield when it is being flogged? Surely its better to waste all your young players away next to Dew in the FP.

 

[PJ Power]

Originally posted by Port01
Oh come on, why would you let a young midfielder have a go in the midfield when it is being flogged? Surely its better to waste all your young players away next to Dew in the FP.

Supersensitive as I am after a bad loss like this one, I thought for a moment there that you were having a crack at me as well .

Look I am going to shut up, and let the players take the heat.

 

[PortProudWA]

Originally posted by Macca19
Dont go too far. Maybe we expect too much from these players. Salopek still has a boys body and i dont think we will see some great games from him for at least 12 months because of that.

Ebert is bound to have poor games. Every rookie has poor games in their first two years...unless your name is Chris Judd. I agree he was unsighted today.

These young guys and adding White, Pettigrew, Surjan, Gilham, Chaplin into that should be bit players this year. They shouldnt have to shoulder the load of injuries and grossly under performing senior players.

Ebert is only 20 and played his 8th AFL Game!! Salopek is only 18 for god sake, Symes is told 1/2 hr before the match that he is standing in for Wanga's at the tender age of 19, never playing AFL before, Damon White playing his first AFL game, after shocking injuries have held him back and aged only 20yrs.

Hell cut the lads some slack....... Yer I am bitterley dispointed by such a massive lose, as I am sure the players would be to. But with only 28 to pick from, 6 All Australian's out of the team, Josh Carr for a least another 4 weeks, Kinglsey out for 3 more ..........Walk a mile in those young lads shoes out there today.

I know the boys will pick up, but we have to be behind them to do so!! I've seen us play worse, I really have.......just the score has not reflected that at other times.

We will turn it around, I have faith in the lads , and in Choko in Port Adelaide

 

[Port01]

Originally posted by PortProudWA
Ebert is only 20 and played his 8th AFL Game!! Salopek is only 18 for god sake, Symes is told 1/2 hr before the match that he is standing in for Wanga's at the tender age of 19, never playing AFL before, Damon White playing his first AFL game, after shocking injuries have held him back and aged only 20yrs.

I think most of us are more disappointed in the senior players than the young ones who don't get much oppurtunity anyway.

 

[PortProudWA]

Originally posted by Port01
I think most of us are more disappointed in the senior players than the young ones who don't get much oppurtunity anyway.

We really didnt have many "senior" players out there though did we .

 

[Port01]

Originally posted by PortProudWA
We really didnt have many "senior" players out there though did we .

There were enough to not excuse a 15 goal hiding from a team that had lost 4 in a row.

 

[Sandola]

Dew played today?

I stayed to the end, Mr Meaner, and have to say you made the right choice.

It was a clown show. Even Chad was dropping marks. I've never seen so much tripping over one's own feet, handballing to opponents, getting kicks smothered... once I saw two of our defenders smoothly back away from each other, very aesthetically letting the Kangaroo come through for a goal.

Shaun showed more energy than I've seen from him this year. All for nothing, of course. I don 't think our leaders were as bad as some have said -- I think we just have hit the injury wall, and nothing's going to work until we get at least 3-4 of the boys back. Wangas was just the last straw.

Poor Tredrea was all over the ground again, trying to get something to happen. I don't think Choco's wack forward setup helped at all, although I don't know how anyone could have overcome that Kangaroo piling on inside our 50.

Bah, what a disaster, but it's far from time to write off the season.

 

[greg62]

Port have been like the little boy with his fingers in the dyke.

Eventually the dam will burst. Today it did.

It's going to be a tough couple of months. We need to get back on track this week against the Tigers. It's a winnable game but we need all the players to have a genuine dip and apply some pressure which has been sadly missing the last couple of weeks.

 

[PAfolwr]

In the next few weeks we will be able to tell if Choco is a good coach or not.
A good coach can easily be noticed by how well he does with an average team.
That's when all his intuitions, creativity and craftiness should come to the fore.
A good team coaches itself.
Last week and this week he was woeful.
The only criteria he seems to use when choosing teams is number of games played.

 

[captain ebert]

MrMeaner - your spectating skills were just as bad as the team's on field performance.

sorry, but i reckon leaving the game early is intolerable - you have to take the good with the bad.

 

[MrMeaner]

Originally posted by captain ebert
MrMeaner - your spectating skills were just as bad as the team's on field performance.

sorry, but i reckon leaving the game early is intolerable - you have to take the good with the bad.

Shove it Captain!

My decision to leave was not taken lightly. As I said earlier, this was the first time that I have ever left a game early. I usually stay until the bitter end (at times, to the point that I sit through the oppositions song). Yesterday I felt myself getting too angry for my own good, so I left.

Again Captain, SHOVE IT! You won't win a p***ing contest with me.

 

[Eddie Woloschek]

Originally posted by Macca19
Dont go too far. Maybe we expect too much from these players. Salopek still has a boys body and i dont think we will see some great games from him for at least 12 months because of that.

Ebert is bound to have poor games. Every rookie has poor games in their first two years...unless your name is Chris Judd. I agree he was unsighted today.

These young guys and adding White, Pettigrew, Surjan, Gilham, Chaplin into that should be bit players this year. They shouldnt have to shoulder the load of injuries and grossly under performing senior players.

It is in games such as these when occasionally a young player sticks up his hand and proves he's got what it takes. I was not disappointed in Ebert, Salopek, White, or Symes. In time, all will contribute.
Mahoney could be the biggest Port mistake ever (don't forget Bronson and Ackland for a 1-2 punch).
Dew and Shaun Burgoyne need some electric shock therapy or something to get then going.
Jared Poulton, all heart, but sadly no ability goldangit.
I like the new forward setiup where Tredders is surrounded by 3 tall teammates, which means 4 tall defenders. This way when they all fly for the mark and Warren beats 7 others and snags it, we know he's the best going around.
Cochrane, oxygen thief.
Wakelin, corpse.
Thurstans - how many years on an AFL list do you need before showing something? Lade - watch the ball in the ruck and when you actually get the tap, hit it top one of our players.
And some of you people don't rate Kingers! Sheesh!