What went wrong?

[CharlieG]

Well?

I'll state the obvious - we have a dirty great gaping big hole in the ruck. Jolly and Chambers were smashed to smithereens by Lade and Brogan yesterday. Jolly toiled hard but was outclassed. Chambers simply isn't an AFL-standard ruckman.

 

[music_2000]

Jolly and others actually seemed to be running with Treadrea and the like rather than running at them and therefore not tackling

 

[Matching Mole]

EVERYTHING.

Watching from Bay 19 yesterday, it was hard to believe that our backline (missing Kennelly, granted) was a premiership backline last year. We were always behind, and provided little contest in a pack mark situation. Up went two Swans and a Port man, and down came the teal monster, while we sat around, wondering just what happened. We were slow and inaccurate in our passing, and considering how tightly Port marked, half a second delay meant they were right on top of us.

Look, the games we played against Adelaide and Melbourne early in 2005 at the SCG weren't very good performances by the boys either. At times, they were insipid too, and sitting there las year I didn't think us much a chance then.

The boys can turn it around. Keep the faith.

 

[Larry the Liquidator]

^^^^

Tredrea didnt play.

As a Port supporter (I'm not here to gloat), I hate to say it, but maybe you are experiencing the dreaded premiership hangover. But I hope I'm wrong. We went through exactly what you guys are currently going through now. Don't get me wrong, I hope you guys can recover and I'm sure you will. I enjoyed seeing the Swans beat first Geelong, then the Saints (the most beautiful of all) and then the Eagles last year to win the flag.

As to what went wrong....Barry Hall didnt get a statistic until the 17 minute mark of the third term. Yet Port had too many big guys doing too much damage on what was a perfect day for football. Lade, Brogan, White, Motlop, Thurstans and Cornes all played their part. Cornes killed you.

Also, Port looked hungier yesterday, moreso than the Swans, again, perhaps a negative to winning a flag.

Bear in mind that although you did make the score respectable in the end, and like I said, I'm not here to gloat, I do think that Port took their foot off the pedal. And remember, they won without Tredrea, Wanganeen or Francou.

Cheers.

 

[grimlock]

No run, no drive, no desperation.

Port played smart football, we played dumb dumb dumb and how painful it was the watch. An example, for all the kickins we had, we didn't exploit the new rule and while I didn't keep count, I'm sure 90%+ of them were a chip to the pocket. Port were prepared to run all day while our game plan was to find the open man which to Port's credit never really appeared because they were disciplined and made sure we had no options.

Leo probably has to change his style of play. While he could get away with the little pushes and tugs it seems they have cracked down on that aspect of his game. Its no use shaking your head and mouthing off at the umpire.

Willo looks injured, well I hope he's injured, because he looks way off the pace at the moment. Kirk had a quiet day which didn't help our cause.

 

[Mister B]

As previously stated it was our lack of a tap ruckman that killed us. This saw our midfielders have very little first touch on the ball. Having said that, most midfielders failed to lay a tackle on anyone for 3 of the four quarters. Backman were always behind rather than trying to play in front although with the new interpretations (backman get pinged for breathing forwards -except hall and johnathon brown- can do as they please) who would want to play in defence. There was no continuity out of defence at all. Barry hall was constantly double and triple teamed yet where were our free players? This was our worst game i can remember since round 1 1996.
Paul Williams looks old and slow, his last year?
Paul Chambers is hopeless.
Crouch looked like his opponent was diseased and didnt want to go anywhere near him.

Having said that we could not possibly play any worse than that..... so its all looking positive guys, chins up.

 

[Minkus_Swan]

There's a lack of hardness at the ball, some players (especially certain midfielders) either lack the leg speed or desire to stick to their man. Defenders are getting caught out by the ease that the ball is being delivered, there's not enough pressure on the opposition ball carrier etc - there are plenty of areas that we need to improve on.

The good news is that it's Round 2, not 22.