Maxwell has been very good for them so far this year.

disregard maxwell out, bit of nothing really.

swan and ball are two big ins.

jamar and peders can smash grundy.

gawny might get another crack also.

keen as for next monday!

i think gawn will make way for Dawes.

Yeah we lost a game and we had a chance to win.

But geez we are a long way from the side we have been over the last 5 years.

We nearly rolled the ladder leaders !

Every game im going in with this feeling we are a chance.

So got to be happy.

Yeah we lost a game and we had a chance to win.

That has been the case every week bar one. We may not have that many wins on the board this year, but we've been in touch in every game except WC. That is a massive improvement. I think we should be thrilled to see the way we're competing this year.

They will miss Brown and Maxwell who is an onfield defensive coach and organiser - Dawes, Pedo and Frawley could really stretch them.

Yeah we lost a game and we had a chance to win.

But geez we are a long way from the side we have been over the last 5 years.

We nearly rolled the ladder leaders !

Every game im going in with this feeling we are a chance.

So got to be happy.

I have never held the belief that one person can turn an organisation round, I always believed in the great team approach rather than the Messiah complex of the great leader. But in Roos case " I dips me lid". The guy must be a genius to turn many of these marginal players into real footballers. Now if we could just get Ports fitness coach we would be laughing.

How is it that Port is so fit for a young side?

I have never held the belief that one person can turn an organisation round, I always believed in the great team approach rather than the Messiah complex of the great leader. But in Roos case " I dips me lid". The guy must be a genius to turn many of these marginal players into real footballers. Now if we could just get Ports fitness coach we would be laughing.

How is it that Port is so fit for a young side?

I think our guys are fit, I think its important to get continuous weeks of injury free football.

I didn't really care that we didn't get the points, they were fantastic today. The fact we gave them a 4-goal start made it even more impressive. The umpires crucified us AGAIN. We are 3-7 but could very easily be 7-3. We are only going to get better and better and I am thrilled and proud of the club at this moment. It is only 9 sleeps until we smash Collingwood in front of 60,000 and I have no doubt we will be watching the Dees in September 2015. PS I am sober.

On the games so far this round Salem so far will be contesting with Docherty and Paparone for Rising Star nominee

It depends on what toll you are talking about. Physically or mentally?

My concern is the effort without the reward of winning. I'm well into my second bottle of red after a few beers so I hope I'm making some sense. I just hope we can manage to win a couple of games over the next few weeks for the sake of the effort put in by the players.

I mean more physically ET.

The "mental" thing will come when they start to believe they can win games and don't get a bit if "stage fright" so to speak in the last quarter.

Today was a great chance to test our new found confidence and abilities against one of the form sides of the competition, and the fact that we started slow and worked our way back into the game shows how far we've come. We didn't panic or go into our shells, we dug deep and got ourselves into a position where we could've won.

We didn't get the points but the Power boys know they have had a fight today and I guarantee they'll be feeling it for a few days. This year we regain our pride, we may not be winning a lot but we are in the games for longer and I expect a couple more unexpected wins.

Watch out Pies, we're coming for you!

I think we should be thrilled to see the way we're competing this year.

This is pathetic that we think like this but shows how bad we have been in previous yrs.

I am looking forward to when we can win and win consistently but at the same time appreciate where we are coming from.

Geez demon supporters would have to be the most mentally tough of any club in the AFL.

On the games so far this round Salem so far will be contesting with Docherty and Paparone for Rising Star nominee

im so impressed with Salems smarts and skills, this kid is going to be great.

I hope toumpas gets a full game, ive been happy with his last two weeks

This is pathetic that we think like this

disagree completely.. what is pathetic about it? You finish 17th and ten games of footy later you nearly beat a side this top of the table on 9 wins 1 loss. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you are happy and proud of that massive improvement and you are excited about what it means for the future

im so impressed with Salems smarts and skills, this kid is going to be great.

I hope toumpas gets a full game, ive been happy with his last two weeks

Salem looks like he could be anything, he is pure class

We should be proud of today, the wins will come

Roos is a genius, isn't he? Seriously, what a coach.

Props to Hinkley as well. Was full of praise for the opposition in his post match presser. Class act.

You guys notice that every team we play lately is considered to be a bit flat and not playing their best? When does that stop being a coincidence and start being due to our pressure, strong defensive cohesion and contested ball. . Im disappointed as everyone but that will burn the boys. Look out Collingwood

I agree, but end of the season, I reckon. We've gotta do it consistently for the season.

Suprisingly, this was much less of a bitter pill to swallow than the Bulldogs loss. I suppose when you go into a game thinking you're no chance and spend most of the first quarter suspecting you'll end up losing by a hundred points, a relatively narrow loss is quite a steal.

On the other hand, spending all game thinking you're going to win and then still losing it to a nothing team like the Dogs is very frustrating.

I dunno. This was just as tough to swallow as the Bulldogs game, IMO, because we had all those chances at the start of the last quarter to put scoreboard pressure on. Missing them deflates the team, kicking them gives you that little bit of extra energy to play out the last 10 mins. When we missed those shots though, I knew they'd come back to bite us and they did.

Gawn was innefective, and with Dawes out, we were a bit short up forward, but some skill and decision making errors apart from our poor start really cost us the points here.

Dawes plays, he brings tackle pressure, lays four or five, pulls down three or four contested marks and kicks one or two and I reckon it's the difference. Gawn just needed to lay more tackles and not let Port skip out off half back. They didn't get out too many times due to his team mates busting a gut, but Gawn;s fitness is really poor. I've seen he has the desire, he just doesn't have the tank. Send him back to the 2's. Bring in Dawes.

NO WONDERLAND IN ALICE by George on the Outer

The first ever game for Premiership points in Alice Springs, a magnificent ground and day, the Demons leading the top placed side in the competition half way through the finals quarter ... yes it was all set for a true fairy-tale ending.

But it was not to be.

Having run Port into the ground physically, and stuck their noses in front only a few Demons knew what to do next.

Unfortunately, it wasnt the ones who had the ball within their grasp, or the where with all to follow the coaches instructions to the letter.

To see all the good work squandered by a few was dis-heartening to say the least. Unforced turnovers, kick-outs to no-one but the opposition, lame handballs into the air instead of directly to a team-mate, they all resulted in opposition goals in those final 10 minutes.

These players were in the same situation as Alice was when faced with the same dilemma:

"Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked.

'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat.

'I don't know,' Alice answered.

'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.'"

Paul Roos has shown a team how to be successful. Roos has shown them which fork in the road to take, but they choose to follow their own path!

Disciplined adherence to instructions saw us frustrate the opposition, and keep possession.

A four goal start to Port didnt help the situation, although, once again, by doing what they have been trained to do, they eventually clawed their way back into the game.

But in the end football is a very simple game. You beat your opponent and you have done your bit. If more of the team do the same you win simple!

However, we still see players who think they have done enough, and go into coast mode. Watts with 15 possessions to half-time could only manage 6 in the second half. Bail was destructive at the start, and unsighted thereafter.

Compare that with the 30 possessions to Dom Tyson and Nathan Jones, who were ably backed up again by Cross, Jones M and Viney. They were all going strong in the final quarter when it was needed, but doing it all alone.

Roos would have been disappointed because when he coached Sydney they were renowned for not giving up final quarter leads. They killed the game, and their opponents scoring opportunities, because they followed his instructions.

Most supporters would be happy to have only lost by 20 points to this side.

Last year's team would have given up a 10 goal+ victory to the opposition after being behind by 4 goals. Resilience has been learnt and method has been learnt.

But a loss is a loss.

Worse when it is simply "another game we should have won".

Finally, for those that may criticize the club for playing this game in the NT, the financial return will be far greater than anything possible at home, and it truly was a picture book profile for the game of AFL.

The team and some players would be well advised to remember the line from the Queen of Hearts:

"My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that."

Without that approach there will never be the fairytale ending ...

Melbourne 2.2.14 7.4.46 10.5.65 11.9.75

Port Adelaide 5.4.34 8.4.52 10.9.69 14.11.95

Goals

Melbourne Bail Frawley Pedersen Salem Tyson 2 Gawn

Port Adelaide Gray Schulz Westhoff 2 Boak Brad Ebert Mitchell Neade Polec White Wines Young

Best

Melbourne Tyson M Jones N Jones Vince Howe Dunn McDonald

Port Adelaide Broadbent Boak Cornes Wines Mitchell Hombsch

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Wingard (concussion)

Changes

Melbourne Aidan Riley by Jimmy Toumpas

Port Adelaide Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Umpires Schmitt Dalgleish Foot

Crowd 5,655 at TIO Traeger Park

Holding the ball is such a simple rule to adjudicate yet umpires continually stuff it up.

I think the simple thing about the holding the ball rule is having consistency with the decision. If there's consistency within a game, at least we know what to expect within that game. The ruling on this so inconsistent that it's utterly incompetent.

Would be interesting to see Bails stats 1st half v 2nd half, seems to start on fire then disappear.

This has been his problem throughout his entire career. However, a lot of his work goes unnoticed, so I'm never confident of calling how much impact he's actually had. A lot of his best work is his chasing, providing an option, opening up space for other players to move into and playing a disciplined team role. I'd like to see him get more of the ball though. When we start to dominate games more, I think you'll see him getting ahead of the play a lot more. He always seems to be the one running inside 50, if we have a break on. He's clearly got a great tank.

You obviously have not been paying much attention to selection this year.

It won't happen, but it should. He's an embarrassing captain. Anything Grimes does that is positive is so severely and heavily outweighed by the bad, that being dropped should be a serious consideration. I think there will come a time though where Roos says enough is enough. I think that'll be at the end of the year though. Or the rest of the playing group will speak. He's clearly highly rated for his preparation and off field leadership, but he isn't worth Nathan Jones' shoelace. When it's your captain that is consistently making these costly mistakes, it has to take a toll on the psyche of his team mates. They have to wonder, jeez, I'm busting my gut here and our captain keeps making these junior blunders. These are consistent errors every week. I've no doubt they've pulled him up on these errors, but he continues to make the same stupid errors. When do we admit that this guy is just average footballer, who seems to be going backwards every year he plays?

Need to strive to be the best.

Not disappointed, but still can point out where we could improve so we beat the best.

Next week will be interesting. I hope we can bring the same work rate.

Really interesting post this, G. I felt like our forward pressure was pretty off today. Our midfielders worked their behinds off, but I didn't feel like every time Port got the ball we were on top of them. Against Adelaide, that's how I felt. I reckon we played at 85-90% intensity today. We certainly didn't start the game at full intensity. Our errors in the last were due to a lack of fitness (bear in mind, Mission said it would take three pre seasons to build up to a competitive AFL fitness base), I can tolerate those to an extent. It's the errors in the first three quarters that are tougher to swallow. Let's hope we bring 100% intensity to the QB game.

The essence of the game is taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. The game is far too competitive and cut throat for taking satisfaction from a so called honourable loss. Many a grand final loser bemoan this fact. We had them on toast but lacked the smarts to finish them off. We are back in town for sure. [censored] the memories of the last 6 years. They are are gone for good, Do not compare us now to then.

Was angry after the match, played some video games, settled down, realised how much I love Roos, and what he's done to blokes like Pedersen, Jetta and Howe.

Really interesting post this, G. I felt like our forward pressure was pretty off today. Our midfielders worked their behinds off, but I didn't feel like every time Port got the ball we were on top of them. Against Adelaide, that's how I felt. I reckon we played at 85-90% intensity today. We certainly didn't start the game at full intensity. Our errors in the last were due to a lack of fitness (bear in mind, Mission said it would take three pre seasons to build up to a competitive AFL fitness base), I can tolerate those to an extent. It's the errors in the first three quarters that are tougher to swallow. Let's hope we bring 100% intensity to the QB game.

Gawn, Watts and Salem are 3 reasons why our forward pressure is down.

Gawny tries but he's 208cm and can't move that well with a limited fitness base. Salem really has a crack but he's the same. Watts is Watts, just zero understanding of how to pick people up and I still question his desire to do it unfortunately.