Today Port Adelaide tomorrow Richmond

B: Byrne-Jones, Jonas, Burgoyne

HB: Burton, Aliir, Houston

C: Butters, Boak, Rozee

HF: Poweell-Pepper, T.Marshall, Hornes-Francis

F: Georgiadies, Dixon, Rioli

FOLL: Lycett, Wines, Drew

IC: Finlayson, Duursma, Fantasia, Bergman

Reserves

B: Pasini, McKenzie, Bonner

HB: McCullum, Clurey, Jones

C: Farrell, Jackson, Sinn

HF: McEntee, Lord, Evans

F: Visenti, Scully, Williams

FOLL: Hayes, Dumont, Mead

IC: Teakle, K.Marshall, Barkla

 

 

One of McKenzie or Clurey will gave to play as key backs.

They have possibly the best collection of flankers in the league but question marks on their key talls at both ends. Not getting Esava as a defender might hurt them.

They have Jones, Farrell and probably Sinn who would coast in to most teams as flankers/wingers which is a luxury. 

And can Wines, Rozee, Boak, Drew, Butters get it done in tight? Or is JHF ready to be a powerful mid?

 

Port are building, a lot of quality throughout their team they have rebuilt quicker than I would have liked. But can they put it out on the park.!!

A list filled with talent that really should make top 4, only time will tell. 

Port will be top 8 and in the battle for top 4 in my view. 

Kossie can't even crack their seconds?

I'm going against the grain here, I think it might be a year or two too early for Port return to the eight. but here we go:

The draw: - of all the teams the Power have the most interesting draw because you have to ask yourself if lightning will strike twice?  They play the Pies, Cats, Tigers, Bulldogs and Dons twice with the obligatory two showdowns scheduled in.  Of course having the ‘gather round’ in Adelaide gives them an extra home game.  Last year thanks to the absence of Charlie Dixon they started the season 0-5 before rebounding strongly against the Eagles in Rd 6 and having the ledger square at 8-8 before dropping four games  in a row to contenders: Us, the Cats, Tigers and Pies.   This year they start the season against their bogey team the Lions who they haven’t beaten since 2018 when Brisbane won only 5 games for the year – since then it’s been all Lions, they then travel to the MCG to play the Pies before a Rd 3 showdown the same match they lost last year, then it’s the Swans at the SCG and Dogs at home in the gather round before a rd 6 match at home against none other than the Eagles.  The fascinating watch though is their tough run home – similar to last year.  In the last six rounds they play five likely contenders in Carlton(H), Collingwood(H), Geelong (GMHBA), Freo (A) and Richmond (H).  You have the feeling that if they haven’t at least got 10 wins on the board by then it’ll be curtains for Kenny even if they scrape into the eight.

1.  Will lightning strike twice then?  Well I don’t think the Power will start the season 0-5 and while initially I was trying to mount an argument that could conceivably see them get back to their 2021 form and play off in a Prelim, I’ve come to the conclusion that the back end of the draw might be a bridge too far for Kenny to get an extension.  On paper they just aren’t as good as they were in 2021.  They’ve  lost key planks to their first choice side: Robbie Gray (irreplacable) Amon (haven’t recruited a like for like to run that wing) and Motlop (I’ll happily concede that Rioli probably has this one covered).   The other issue is Finlayson who was a revelation last year in the ruck has a syndesmosis injury to start the season and has more pressing personal matters to attend to anyway putting a question mark on his availability.   That's offset by Lycett returning, but with five on the bench you get the feeling Jeremy was in the 23 so  when you look at their best side there are still question marks.

2.  So the first question mark is Duursma, does he get back to his 2019/2021 form or do we see the 2020/2022 version?  It’s an odd year so he should be alright… but if he isn’t then the midfield depth and particularly the coverage on the wing becomes an issue.  Secondly the next question mark is on whether any of the plethora of HBF they have can step up to fill the void on the  other wing.  Trent Dumont who is still on the Rookie list might be given a shot first, but he finished out last season in the SANFL so they might opt for one of Burton, Jones DBJ or Bonnor– probably not Farrell or Houston who will stay back.  The next question mark is if Finlayson isn’t available they only have Hayes with 7 games with any senior rucking experience, it also makes them a little top heavy for big men when they'd prefer a more mobile option - trouble is they really haven't got any of those that aren't already in the side.   Do they play both he and Lycett together or throw Dixon into the ruck… hmmm something the 33 y.o. probably wouldn’t relish. 

3.  Defensively the Power weren’t in the top three sides, but they were in the next tier.  They have very capable talls in AA, Jonas & Cleury and capable coverage from McKenzie and Houston.  As already stated they have no shortage of running HBFs to chose from including Josh Sinn champing at the bit to get his opportunity.   They only conceded 100 points three times last year with strangely their worst loss of the year being in Rd 2 when they were jumped by the Hawks at home.   No the issue for Port isn’t their defence it’s their scoring options.  Nine times last year the Power failed to score more than 10 goals in a game.  Clearly Dixon injured hampered that, but it was the lack of contribution from any small forwards that hurt – no pressure Willie!

4.  Games are won and lost in the midfield and I really like the plan they’ve got in place at Port for their midfield.  They’ll be hoping Butters is over his ankle and knee issues, Rozee is all class and they have Wines, JHF and Drew as the big bodies to do the bullocking work.   It’s hard to know where to place SPP who resurrected himself last year pushing forward into what looked like a high HFF role, but he’s in the mix along with the promising Mead and Burgoyne who Port supporters think will play the majority of the 23 H&A games.   After writing all that though I’m still left questioning if overall they just aren’t a bit too inexperienced to be a top contender this season.  Only Boak, Wines Lycett and SPP have played more than 100 games*.  By contrast nearly all Melbourne’s mids – Gawn, Grundy, Viney, Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw,  Harmes, Hunter and Langdon have played over 100 games. Even Dunstan as the depth inside mid has.  The only exceptions are Sparrow and JJ. 

The player they can least afford to lose – you’d think given they were winless without Charlie until rd 6 that it would be him – except they did win 5 of their next 6 without him as well (admittedly against pretty poor teams) his final W/L for the year was 6-6.  No - the man they can least afford to lose is none other than the 34 (turning 35) Travis Boak – the guy that came 2^nd in their B&F last year, was 2^nd in disposals, CP, UP, and Tackles, was 1^st in clearances, score assists, score involvements, and I50s.  He’s their Mr Everywhere and while Ollie has a Brownlow and Connor the 2022 B&F if Travis doesn’t play the chances of Power winning (particularly when they can’t hear the strains of INXS reverberating through the empty cranial cavities in the AO) are markedly decreased. 

Overall I think at their best the Power can make the eight, but  a lot would have to have a lot go right for them and at least another 3 contenders have every thing go wrong even to sneak into the four.  I think it’s more likely they continue to slide and finish around where they did last year.  I

*other than maybe Duursma it’s hard to factor in their wings until we see how they line up in rd 1. 

Edited February 21, 20232 yr by grazman

I have them scrapping into the 8 at 7th but who knows they could fall out of the 8.

Excellent assessment again Graz. I had slotted PA into the 8 without really thinking about them, aside from the gains, but that's a compelling argument. Their resilience deserted them last year and I'm not sure it won't come back to haunt them, particularly with that fixture. I agree with their thin ruck depth. I watched the first few games Hayes came is as No.1 ruck and he had a tank like Preuss - just couldn't get to contests. He's been in the system long enough you'd think, but if it's still an issue in what must be his 6th year, then you'd be praying Lycett stays fit at least until Finlayson returns.

Never been a fan of Drew and thought he was a bit of a weak link, but I suspect he does the off-ball work and running to enable the other mids to do their thing. JHF is a huge in but I'm not sure we'll see much defensive running from him for a while.

 

5 hours ago, Roger Mellie said:

Never been a fan of Drew and thought he was a bit of a weak link, but I suspect he does the off-ball work and running to enable the other mids to do their thing. JHF is a huge in but I'm not sure we'll see much defensive running from him for a while.

Drew is definitely their defensive mid he was #1 for tackles at Port and does a lot of blocking/minding of the oppositions most dangerous mid. 

Coincidentally I spoke to a friend who barracks for them and gets a lot of good inside goss.  The Power intend to have at least one experienced mid start in the square with two of the younger mids.  This will mainly be Wines or Boak (who will rest forward) and maybe SPP and supports my theory about Travis Boak still being their most important player.  

He thought if Finlayson wasn't available they may opt use SPP in a similar role to Shaun Grigg at the Tigers as the undersized ruckman, but thought against sides like us and Freo they may play Lycett and Hayes in tandem, but this wouldn't be the norm.    

He also mentioned Fantasia (who I'd completely forgotten about - quite understandable given he has barely played the last two seasons) as maybe their Joker in the pack if he can stay on the park - but that's a big IF. 

 

Edited February 22, 20232 yr by grazman

On 12/12/2022 at 9:34 AM, WERRIDEE said:

Today Port Adelaide tomorrow Richmond

B: Byrne-Jones, Jonas, McKenzie

HB: Burton, Aliir, Houston

C: Butters, Boak, Rozee

HF: Powell-Pepper, T.Marshall, Hornes-Francis

F: Georgiadies, Dixon, Rioli

FOLL: Lycett, Wines, Drew

IC: Finlayson, Duursma, Fantasia, Bergman

Reserves

B: Pasini, Burgoyne, Bonner

HB: McCullum, Clurey, Jones

C: Farrell, Jackson, Sinn

HF: McEntee, Lord, Evans

F: Visenti, Scully, Williams

FOLL: Hayes, Dumont, Mead

IC: Teakle, K.Marshall, Barkla

 

 

Revised best 44 for Port.