17 hours ago, Young Blood said:

Didn't Gus announce his retirement a few weeks before the first game against Sydney? If you want to call that 'well before the season started' then good for you - I certainly wouldn't

Yes he did. I suppose when you’re hanging for the season to start it can seem like an eternity at the time!
Few weeks, a month, … ,…, yet wasn’t it you that said “enough with the in fighting over such trivial things” ?

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

I thought we played well and were well coached.

The main positives were Pickett, Gawn, Petty and Viney. But...

Oliver is a massive liability. He is struggling to find the ball and then can't retain possession because he lacks acceleration, balance and composure. We can debate if he will get back to being a positive, but if he doesn't improve we won't be a premiership threat for the course of his contract.

Hore takes a nice intercept mark, but is not a good enough kick (slow and imprecise), not quick enough and falls to ground too often.

Rivers had a poor night by foot.

I don't see the appeal of McVee in the midfield. He is just not big or quick enough off the mark to be great inside the phone box. We could play him higher up the field in defence, but I think the backline is his spot.

Nick Dacios says hi about physic.

On 11/08/2024 at 08:42, titan_uranus said:

Goodwin said in the presser we had gastro through the group this week. 

Half a chance Oliver and JVR had it at some point I reckon. Both looked like they had it from the first minute of the game. 

Confirmed by a trainer, both were suffering from it. Some others are not well today. Training was scheduled for today at Gosch’s and was cancelled late last night. It was moved to indoors at Casey. My guess is the club doesn’t want the media sniffing around for fodder for their next dose of clickbait.

coaches voted

7 Jason Horne-Francis (PORT)
7 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB)
7 Zak Butters (PORT)
6 Max Gawn (MELB)
3 Travis Boak (PORT)

1 hour ago, binman said:

A vomit emoji would have been more fit for purpose!

Rough season on display against Port……we looked like a bottom 8 side trying to beat a top 8 side through effort alone……looking forward to a top notch off season 🤞

7 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

Remind me to come back to this forum, only when we start winning premierships please. 😮‍💨

There will still be people who post, ‘we kicked 10 behinds in the grand final so should’ve won by an extra 30 points at least so I’m not accepting the premiership on that basis’

Just now, DistrACTION Jackson said:

There will still be people who post, ‘we kicked 10 behinds in the grand final so should’ve won by an extra 30 points at least so I’m not accepting the premiership on that basis’

Are they much like the one's who have a niggle about winning in Perth?

11 hours ago, Witches Hat said:

We don't have to be losing for Demonland to be a miserable place. I give you the post North Melbourne game thread as Exhibit A.

Most of last year was a slog on here and we spent the year in the top 4.

Unless it's perfection, people are whinging. 

Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by Binmans PA

7 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

I don't see the appeal of McVee in the midfield. He is just not big or quick enough off the mark to be great inside the phone box. We could play him higher up the field in defence, but I think the backline is his spot.

I'd like to give him more than one game in midfield before we rule him out as a mid, but you could be right.

I just thought he rushed some of his possessions because it was like he was expecting more heat than he actually received.

He is a player with time, and I reckon he could well make a great outside mid, who can also defend to a very high standard, and his upbringing in defence has solidified his defensive game.

I want to give him the summer, and if it doesn't work, he returns to high half back.

I have a sneaky feeling he'll slot in nicely to our midfield, along with Rivers, Houston and even Windsor.

On 10/08/2024 at 22:26, Antioch said:

It was actually his best ever game. He missed one goal. Big deal. I bet you were at home on the couch and not at the game. 

I'm not sure what your point is...yes, i was at home..unfortunately my dog has cancer and had chemo the day before so I have to monitor him to make sure he's ok.

But I do hold two premium memberships worth over $1000 that I pay for every year and I have had for a very long time. 

I don't rate Billings. My personal opinion. 

12 hours ago, Binmans PA said:

I have a sneaky feeling he'll slot in nicely to our midfield, along with Rivers, Houston and even Windsor.

Maybe I'm wrong but there seems to be a misconception that Houston plays midfield. He's a high half back and doesn't really spend any time at centre bounces. He does come up high to stoppages across the ground but is there as an outlet. His bread and butter is as an attacking rebounding defender.

If he was to play for us we would have more freedom to trial Judd in the middle and continue with Rivers in the middle.

Its probably not a popular option but I do think Salem with a proper preseason training with the mids could be a good option as well. Given how late the news was of Gus retiring I felt like we threw Salem in there with little preparation and it hasn't worked too well. With a proper preseason and health I think its worth another try. We are desperate for better ball use in the midfield.

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Young Blood

23 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

Maybe I'm wrong but there seems to be a misconception that Houston plays midfield. He's a high half back and doesn't really spend any time at centre bounces. He does come up high to stoppages across the ground but is there as an outlet. His bread and butter is as an attacking rebounding defender.

If he was to play for us we would have more freedom to trial Judd in the middle and continue with Rivers in the middle.

Its probably not a popular option but I do think Salem with a proper preseason training with the mids could be a good option as well. Given how late the news was of Gus retiring I felt like we threw Salem in there with little preparation and it hasn't worked too well. With a proper preseason and health I think its worth another try. We are desperate for better ball use in the midfield.

Houston started as a mid. He was a mid until Butters and Rozee took over. He's a perfect Gus replacement due to his flexibility.

This is from his profile on the Port website. You could be reading about Gus:

"A true all-rounder able to play up forward, in the middle, or down back, Dan Houston has continued his rise as one of Port Adelaide's most important players."

I think what his recruitment would do is enable us to wax Rivers, McVee and Houston between midfield and half back. They are all ball carrying players, and in the case of McVee and Houston, are elite kicks. It enables Salem to hold the fort at half back, and even dip in for some mid minutes if required.

If we can get Houston for a future first, it's a great piece of business.

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Binmans PA

25 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

Houston started as a mid. He was a mid until Butters and Rozee took over. He's a perfect Gus replacement due to his flexibility.

This is from his profile on the Port website. You could be reading about Gus:

"A true all-rounder able to play up forward, in the middle, or down back, Dan Houston has continued his rise as one of Port Adelaide's most important players."

I think what his recruitment would do is enable us to wax Rivers, McVee and Houston between midfield and half back. They are all ball carrying players, and in the case of McVee and Houston, are elite kicks. It enables Salem to hold the fort at half back, and even dip in for some mid minutes if required.

If we can get Houston for a future first, it's a great piece of business.

Agree with all of the above. You won't see him much at centre bounces. His contested ball work is a bit of a weakness, but as Hinkley says he is a 'good out-number player' meaning he is someone you bring up as an extra at stoppages across the ground for an outlet as an elite ball user.

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Young Blood

20 minutes ago, Young Blood said:

Agree with all of the above. You won't see him much at centre bounces. His contested ball work is a bit of a weakness, but as Hinkley says he is a 'good out-number player' meaning he is someone you bring up as an extra at stoppages across the ground for an outlet as an elite ball user.

This is the set up I hope we go back to next year, circa 2018.

And if you have more guys like Houston and McVee that don't turn it over, you can be even more aggressive. Windsor is another one who rarely turns it over.

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Binmans PA

17 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

Are they much like the one's who have a niggle about winning in Perth?

It’s going to be difficult to top 

“We fluked a Premiership”

which has been trotted out regularly by certain poster

On 12/08/2024 at 08:50, Jaded No More said:

I would love a medal,....

So I just wanted to point out, that had you actually read this thread from the start, you'd know that straight after the game the ONLY comment I made was about our skills and decision making costing us the game. I never mentioned injuries. All I wanted to do was point out that you forgot to mention May in your list of outs. I even made a joke about him not being great, you know, to lighten the mood.

 

🥇There you go. 

PS. Cheer up. I had read your comment at the start of the thread, hence your reward. 

And thanks for pointing out May and attempting to lighten the mood, that was an oversight. Blinded by my frustration. Do better on your jokes, huh? ;)

On 12/08/2024 at 07:14, binman said:

Yes, that's the team I'm talking about.

The same one, bar Georgiades, that beat the Swans the previous week by, checks notes, 136 points.

Not quite sure of your point?

I said we were undermanned and did very well against the side sitting second on the ladder.

I didn't say they had their very best side available - though it's a stretch to compare their outs to ours - no AAs in that lot, let alone one of the best players of the last 30 years.

And arguably, of those five only Georgiades and SSP are in their best team.

And only SPP has a case for being one of their top six players, whereas we have three such players out.

Am i right to assume you don't agree we did well?

Before the game, did you think we were a realistic chance of winning on Saturday night?

That's to say, did we perform above or below your pregame expectations?

Do you think we did a better job against port than the Swans, the favourite to win the flag, did the previous week?

Some might argue we did 134 points better. 

Mate, you need to check your notes better. Port beat the Swans by 112 points.

And if you think Soldo and Finlayson aren't in their best 22 you also need to brush up on your footy. You did say arguably, which I do disagree.

If you're asking me about the game, yes I thought we were a realistic chance of winning the game, we did ok in patches, and not in others. Overall, we didn't do well, with some of our players output and skills disappointing me. Kozzie was a shining light and nearly went a long way to winning the game. He and Max were huge. It was a dire struggle littered with howler errors - some from pressure, others poor skill execution and poor decisions. So they performed below my expectations.

As for the Swans - they were well off in all areas (unusual for them) as Longmire admitted and rightly got pantsed. 

 

Back to your first question. You weren't sure of my point on my last post. 🤔 The point is both teams were missing "arguably" 3 - maybe 4 starting players. Every team at this time of year are missing some players (for whatever reason). You rate SSP as one of their top 6 players - I'd rate Georgiades up in their top 6 most important. How could you not, he is that important for them up forward. So take your rose coloured glasses off somewhat and understand that both teams didn't field their best 22/23. And both whilst a little undermanned - weren't severely undermanned.

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by H_T

Goodwin's mantra when appointed head coach was 'Fearless Football' and for the most part, that's how we've gone about it.  Most games in fact

Hard at the contest, win contested ball, solid defence, 2nd & 3rd efforts, excellent zone defence, pressure acts etc etc

So against Port we did all that and the lazy Port turned up

What we lacked was a decisive attacking mindset with speed, when we were on the attack.  Do that and we blow Port out of the water

Our use of the corridor when on offense was minimal yet at the same time we denied Port the corridor

So a few tweaks on our offense with a fully fit list to choose from and we'll be a force next season

We should have beaten Port but it was all academic as our poor percentage and W/L record would have denied us a finals spot anyway

Edited August 14, 2024Aug 14 by Macca