Port Adelaide has been a curious case for various years now underneath Ken Hinkley.
Persistently making finals, persistently difficult top-end groups, a number of high 4 finishes and a few prelim finals to go together with that. However Hinkley and Port can’t appear to clear that ultimate hurdle.
The criticism levelled at Port has been that they’re a flat-track bully; they beat up on these groups that aren’t difficult however they’ll’t appear to get excessive groups outdoors of the odd win at residence.
Is it personnel?
Is it recreation plan?
Is it motivation?
Properly, sadly, it’s a mixture of every thing, however there’s one space that doesn’t get the blowtorch to the identical extent.
We all know Port have had defensive points previously; previous to this 12 months, Aliir Aliir was the one defender with the peak to genuinely be thought-about a viable like-for-like match-up.
Queue the pursuit of Brandon Zerk-Thatcher and Esava Ratugolea; each of whom have been good inclusions with out being standouts.
The ruck place was additionally in query final 12 months with Scott Lycett virtually limping into retirement on the finish of 2023.
Port introduced in Former tiger Ivan Soldo and ex-Bulldog Jordon Candy to bolster the ranks and supply some much-needed stability to the place.
Whereas Soldo started the 12 months strongly, accidents have interrupted his 12 months, and the shortage of continuity has uncovered his type to the purpose the place he was dropped for his or her spherical 15 drubbing to Brisbane.
So, it’s honest to say that even with the 4 recruits, the ruck and defence nonetheless look weak.
However now Port has a difficulty with the ahead line, that has served them so effectively, being extremely ineffective.
Charlie Dixon, Like Lycett final 12 months, is limping in direction of retirement. I can’t recall too many video games this 12 months the place his affect has been felt.
Coach Ken Hinkley addresses his gamers. (Photograph by Dylan Burns/AFL Images by way of Getty Photographs)
Jeremy Finlayson is off form and appears at this level to be a plug-and-play kind of participant that may fill a gap whether it is desperately wanted.
Todd Marshall isn’t dwelling as much as his new contract and is failing to point out he can take the reins, and Mitch Georgiadis is coming off an ACL so we received’t see his greatest till subsequent 12 months I’d think about.
The forwards haven’t been helped by the ball motion. Port Adelaide is very predictable going ahead, very straight line and is straightforward for opposition defenders to learn.
That being stated, Port’s ahead press isn’t significantly efficient both that means groups have been capable of have nice success transitioning from their again half.
However none of that is significantly new info. The main concern for me coming off the again of their 79-point loss to Brisbane two weeks in the past is their midfield.
On paper you find it irresistible; a younger core of Zak Butters, Connor Rozee, and Jason Horne-Francis, all able to being Brownlow medal gamers.
Combine in Wines, a former Brownlow medallist, and Travis Boak, a participant that might be in the identical class as Scott Pendlebury and Joel Selwood had he performed in Victoria.
Add a contact of Willem Drew and Dan Houston – and it seems formidable.
So, what’s the difficulty? Properly, the difficulty is that this midfield continues to falter towards high quality opposition.
Towards GWS, Port have been -19 in contested possession, and towards Brisbane, it was a whopping -40 in contested possession, in addition to -15 in clearances. Earlier this 12 months Port was nowhere after quarter time towards Collingwood and ended the sport -41 in contested possession.
This isn’t the primary time Port have been soundly overwhelmed within the midfield. In each of their Ultimate losses final 12 months Port have been bullied across the ball by the identical opposition in Brisbane and GWS.
Within the 2023 qualifying ultimate Brisbane received the sport on the skin registering 20 extra uncontested possessions and 16 extra inside 50s as they dominated territory. Whereas within the Semi Ultimate GWS received clearance by 16 and contested possession by 19.
Going again to the notorious 2021 preliminary ultimate at residence to the Western Bulldogs, the Energy was out of that recreation by quarter time kicking one purpose to seven. The Canines additionally received contested possession by 30, received clearances by six and had 12 extra inside 50s.
Even in a successful efficiency earlier this 12 months towards Fremantle the Port midfield struggled dropping clearances by 9.
We’ve seen samples from over various years now that Port can’t appear to deal with the largest moments persistently sufficient to realistically problem for a flag.
The largest concern from their midfield seems to be attitudinal. We simply don’t see sufficient of the laborious defensive operating efforts from the mainstays and when the sport goes towards them, they attempt to combat hearth with hearth.
Port Adelaide is a run-and-gun workforce with just one methodology: pace. However when the opposition has momentum in these video games Port don’t have a plan B which frequently ends in different groups placing a run of objectives on the board.
Quite than attempting to win momentum again by offence, Port must have the flexibility to sluggish the sport down and halt the opposition’s progress to allow them to stem the bleeding.
The Energy conceded 13 objectives to only three within the second and third quarter towards Brisbane on the weekend, with a seven-goal to 2 second quarter.
Basically ending any hope Port had, however as a result of Port don’t have that second swap, they’re unable to arrest momentum within the recreation.
Typically the circulation of the sport requires a workforce to revert to extra of a kick mark recreation, and with nice ball customers in Houston and Kane Farrell, Port ought to have the ability to kick their manner out of defence after they need to sluggish the sport or when their run recreation deserts them.
Sadly, the talls don’t supply any offensive rebound.
None of Allir, Ratugolea, or Zerk-Thatcher are significantly good customers of the ball so very often when they can get these intercept possessions, their preliminary thought is to kick backwards or sideways to get it to a greater person.
All these kicks serve to do, nonetheless, is to offer the opposition extra time to arrange behind the ball and it invitations strain.
Port Adelaide’s points are far higher than simply defence and ruck as we’ve been instructed over the previous few years.
Connor Rozee celebrates a purpose. (Photograph by Michael Willson/AFL Images by way of Getty Photographs)
From a training angle, the workforce doesn’t appear to have a plan outdoors of a quick straight-line assault, which we’re seeing is less complicated for the opposition to defend, and doesn’t significantly get up when the opposition has momentum.
The midfield has a particularly attacking mindset as effectively, so in the event that they don’t win the preliminary contest, they get burnt the opposite manner.
Midfield coach Josh Carr is the possible alternative for Ken Hinkley so I wouldn’t rely on that type altering.
Defensively, if you can also make it by that preliminary wave of Port strain, they grow to be extremely straightforward to attain towards.
They press tremendous aggressively and expose their backline and people defenders can’t appear to defend as a unit.
Personnel-wise although, how good do we actually assume this checklist is? Positive, the midfield is plagued by stars, however the remainder of the workforce simply looks as if quite a lot of B to B+ stage gamers.
Is Marshall a participant you’ll be able to construct round or is he a complimentary piece to a stronger ahead?
Willie Rioli has flashes however is nowhere close to constant sufficient to be a real A-grader.
The three talls down again are all stable and succesful, however I can’t assist however really feel none of them are at that elite stage.
Chairman David Koch has approached yearly with a win-now perspective, and whereas that’s admirable, I can’t assist however surprise about Port’s highway forward.
A brand new coach is a certainty on the finish of this 12 months or subsequent, However Port don’t have lots to work with on this 12 months’s draft, nor did they final 12 months.
The checklist is not at all outdated, in actual fact, total age shouldn’t be too massive a priority.
But when this checklist is run of the mill, able to beating these under however not difficult these above, then Port will face an uphill job renovating this checklist with out both sliding down the ladder – or probably shifting on a star participant.
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