Adam The God

I generally agree with you on this point, mate, but we were playing in heat. Richmond, Collingwood and Geelong weren't. That has to have had an impact. Because Preuss struggled to play even a half in JLT1, hence Keilty rucking for most of the second half. I hope Preuss is fitter now, because we really do need him next week.

Don't agree with this entirely. I think it's a mixture of a lack of work rate and losing the contested possessions. I agree with this though. There was and always is a distinctly and stark difference between the average inside 50 against us versus our own forward 50 thrusts. Ours are rarely to the advantage of our forwards and most opposition (certainly teams that we expect to compete with us for the top 8 ) are almost always kicking to the advantage of opposition forwards. Melksham, Fritsch and usually Oliver are our best exploiters of the kick to advantage, but the majority of our list need to get better at this. Spargo pierced a nice ball into Fritsch(?) yesterday. The fact that I can recall one single instance so clearly, shows how often it actually happens. I know the system has evolved since 2017, but we coped that year without Gawn. I wonder if our mids gamble too hard on Gawn's dominance from stoppage, so that when he loses it, we're completely out of position and on the back foot to defend. There was certainly a few moments yesterday where Port managed completely clean clearances out of the centre square, which is just not good enough. We rarely had the cleanness of clearance they enjoyed. Having said all this, I do think that with our system's reliance on CP and clearance, we do rely too heavily on Gawn's influence. I also think Gawn struggles on more mobile types. Grundy beat him last year and we were spanked. I hope our coaching team have some answers to help Max, because Stanley will jump into him the entire game next week and we need to counter it in order to have any chance whatsoever. Great post, mate. I'd say the only time we actually sorted this out was starting with the Sydney game at the 'G late in the year. I don't think we ever dealt with defensive spread in transition on the 'G until then.

It's about system and players who can implement that system. Outside of a clearly underdone Viney and a near-past-it Jones, our midfield and defence was close to the same one that saw us get embarrassed in JLT2. That form was a clear indicator of our inability to implement system with basically the same team. It's laughable to suggest that this game was lost at the selection table. Absolute drivel. It does, however, have everything to do with a bunch of individuals not playing to a consistently high level for long enough, which was clearly evident in JLT2. And as if I'm suggesting yesterday's loss has anything to do with you or I. Laughable again. Nor is it a scaredy-cat view. You were proven wrong and either didn't watch the JLT; or you simply don't understand system; or you were arrogant enough to suggest JLT form meant nothing in the context of an AFL season. You're a very insightful poster usually, so I'd suggest it was the latter. JLT form can mean little when it comes to a premiership game, but when modern footy is so heavily impacted by system and work rate, if you're not bringing work rate in the pre season and implementing your system, what makes you think they'd bring it in the season proper? It's not as if we won the flag last year and we're biding our time for the home and away stuff. No it wasn't. Come on, Steve. You're being lazy again. We lost to Port because there was not enough work rate, which is down to three factors: 1) the pre season, 2) laziness and 3) the heat. You look slow when you don't work hard enough to spread on the outside or shut down space and tackle the opposition coming out of their defence. Of course, our skill level and decision making could be better and smarter, particularly going inside 50, but if no one is presenting at the ball and there's not a decision to move the ball quickly and/or spread into space to present an option, then the back up plan is to kick it long down the line and reset at the stoppage. One of our major problems yesterday was that when the ball was brought down by Port to a stoppage or 50-50 in our forward 50 (due our lack of contested marking), there was not enough pressure on the Port mids and half backs, making their slingshot far too easy. And on Frost and Oscar, I thought they were both terrible at times, each running under the flight path of the ball multiple times, but so often Port moved the ball quickly and there was such little resistance from our midfield and half forwards, that our defenders' jobs were made so much more difficult.

Wowzee, indeed. Pretty weak effort from you this week, Steve. First everyone else is weak for suggesting our JLT and pre season could actually mean something for the season proper, and when you're made to look like a goose, you can't even bothered to analyse the game.

How about our prelim performance? FWIW, I thought Oliver, Brayshaw and Jetta were okay. Gawn and Viney certainly had stinkers though.

Interesting. I stand corrected, mate. I could have sworn he laid 2 or 3. Well, then I'll say that he didn't do enough as this is one of the reasons he's in the team. Jeffy Garlett's work rate and hardness is sometimes questioned, but you'd have to think he'd be a big chance to come in next week.

Indeed, mate. And we really suffered from a lack of contested marks today. I lost count of how many times Tommy Mac, Gawn or Weideman ran to the footy and the ball slipped straight through their hands. I'm guessing maybe sweat on the footy played apart, but I'm reluctant to give them an out such as that.

I reckon Melksham's still carrying something. His sideways/backwards pass from 35m directly in front to 40m almost a 45 degree angle to Jones was the clincher. And I thought Spargo was okay. He too dropped a simple mark, but he also laid some good tackles and created a bit from centre-wing-half forward.

From what I saw today, the 666 hasn't severely hampered our ability to win clearances, but it may well have impacted the cleanness of those centre clearances. We don't have natural crumbers in our forward half, which hurts when we win a centre clearance. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jeffy recalled next week.

He dropped three sitters and handballed to a Port player on the members wing. My concern is that I concur with you somewhat. I'm not sure who else to replace him with. Maybe KK when he's fit, but there's no way that's going to happen because we lack leadership already and you don't drop captains.

But even when Lever was playing, we saw a lack of dash from Hibbo. I reckon his natural attacking game has been squished out of him and it makes him a far less influential player. Do May and Lever's inclusions mean he can be released more?

Let's try and have a reasonable and level-headed discussion about where Nathan Jones is at. He could be underdone, but I'm not sure that's a great excuse. I'm on record as saying he should have hung up the boots last season and that certainly this should be his last season, but it's worrying to me that he is probably still one of our better leaders.

But see, I'd argue that the lack of system in our forward half and therefore the lack of work rate, enabled Port to waltz out of our forward 50. And with 18 man team defence, the midfield really let us down at times too. It only takes one or two weak links in the chain and your system completely falls over. Our problem was we never worked hard enough to see anything that resembled our system today. More pace in the side wouldn't hurt us, particularly in the forward half (FWIW, I don't think Hunt is the answer to that), but our structures and team defence would stop exits at the source if we were switched on. We weren't. On Hunt though, I'm hoping he gained a little bit of confidence from today's game because his run from half back or a wing is a great plan B. Hibberd did it once today, but I hardly remember Hibberd showing much dash or rebound in 2018 either. It's certainly a deficiency of our game and list, but I think we can beat any side with our current system if we bring the work rate. We'll agree to disagree, I guess.

I thought playing Jones and particularly Viney underdone was arrogant too. I'm still not convinced it's a lack of pace. It's a lack of system and work rate IMO.

We may have been outplayed, but more to the point, we were thoroughly outworked by a side playing a bunch of kids. Although admittedly, their leaders in Boak, Ryder and Rockliff really stood up. The work rate was there from one side and not from the other, hence the vast discrepancy in UPs.

Unfortunately, I reckon May will take a little bit of time to settle and gel with his team mates back there. As with Lever last year, he'll be learning a new system too.

On the contray, I wasn't in the game day thread because I was watching the game, but the post game discussion seems quite reasonable to me. No one has acted like a five year old.

It doesn't mean the coaching staff didn't review it and take lessons from that game to incorporate into our system going forward.

It'll be interesting to see how we recover next week. Dreading the trip down to General Admin at the Cattery. I reckon it might just be a maulling. With our pre season, we were always in a bit of trouble. The JLT was enlightening and anyone who wasn't disturbed by how easily we conceded inside50s and scores doesn't understand football. That trend continued today with a clearly underdone Jack Viney (a real lack of leadership to declare himself fit when he so clearly isn't - I saw him limping around during the warm up on Instagram - the guy can hardly move) and Melksham seemed to be sore too, hence many miskicks and not wanting to take basic shots on goal. Our midfield is such a one way running midfield. I thought we'd got past this, but it seems to be a combination of fitness and desire. The heat today didn't help either, but Port seemed fine. The other aspect that was unacceptable was that Tom McDonald (who did the same thing during the JLT) and Gawn, each went for multiple marks one-handed. Gawn seemed to be in self-preservation mode for much of the game. He refused to go back with the flight at one point too. Not to mention, he was thoroughly outplayed by Ryder and Lycett. The positives were few and far between, but Corey Wagner and Tom Sparrow did nothing to harm their selection for Round 2. Brayshaw was good in the clinches but was run off his feet on the rebound, as were Clarry and Harmes. Salem was probably our best, but not much to take away from today other than that we are so overhyped it's ridiculous. List wise we don't have many holes, but there has to be a question mark over our tall forwards and whether they can deliver and our lack of pressure forwards is notable when you look at Collingwood and Richmond. We're not even close to their pressure. We had absolutely no system today and the way to beat us in 2018 is still how to beat us in 2019. Get it on the outside and you run us off our feet. We have no answer and can't generate anything without Max dominating in the ruck. How we bounce back next week will tell us everything about whether or not we're a premiership threat. I have a feeling we're nowhere near it.

Paging @stevethemanjordan...

Let's see how they go this year with a tougher draw. They had a breezy fixture last season that was frankly ridiculous. As for Treloar, he's still an absolute butcher by foot and I reckon he showed a distinctly soft side tonight. I hope our boys were watching that and get into him when we come up against them.

Rance organises them so well. I reckon he prevents at least 2 goals a game. They're not the same team without him. Their premiership challenge is in massive trouble. Their defence is ordinary without Rance.

There is a difference between being soft and not having the body for physicality. Fritsch is in the latter category.

Settle down, Steve. It's not defeatist. It's logical. No continuity with the backline and no continuity with the midfield. There's a reason pre seasons are important. Nowhere have I said we won't make finals and nowhere have I said we won't make the top 4. I said we'd struggle to start with. I hope I'm wrong, but let's wait and see.

He does some good things, particularly his disposal, but his decision making and lack of genuine physicality leave a question mark over him for mine. Certainly as a defender, he made multiple errors in the back half of 2018, but he was playing his first AFL season and had to cover Lever, so we should give him some leeway. 2019 should be the season that he locks down a wing position. Let's hope his tank is up to it.