Where's Port Adelaide

Where's Port Adelaide........??? N/T.

What is going on with them? They've cost me 3 tips in the last 3 weeks!

In all seriousness though they are in all sorts of Barney Rubble down at Alberton at the moment. Seems like they've got a massive case of 'success' hangover after such a barnstorming year last year.

Perhaps they thought it would just happen this year.

Shades of Adelaide 2013, go within a kick of a GF and then fall in a heap the following year.

i'd suggest other teams work out what they do & try to nullify them, as you'd expect all teams to do against each other, the other thing that comes to mind is they've been playing with total passion, adrenaline, basically going full throttle & so forth, no team can keep this up over a long period & maybe they need a different message just to change things up a bit.......while i'd love to see it i don't believe their season is done & dusted yet

Their strategy looks all over the shop.

They over do the team defence at times - several times they got the ball in defence and then turned it over as they had no players at all forward of centre to give it to.
They do not seem to be getting the run off half back they had last year. When they do run they will often ignore support players in favour of a long bomb into the forward line where they are often outnumbered.
Their fabled fitness seems to have deserted them - rumours of over training so rather then being primed for the season the players are stuffed already and they cannot wind it back without making them less fit.

I suspect we over-rated them based on the first half of last year and a couple of spectacular games and they are reverting to what they actually are - a good mid table team fighting for 5th to 13th position.

Only won 9 (that includes their 2 finals wins) of their last 22 games since being 10 and 1 last year.

Paul wrote:Only won 9 (that includes their 2 finals wins) of their last 22 games since being 10 and 1 last year.

geez !!! that puts it into a slightly different perspective to my way of thinking

Had reasonably good form until the last 3 weeks this season
They have beaten Hawthorn
Almost beat Freo in Perth as well , which is excellent form

Team probably better suited to dryish conditions
Not sure twilight and night games suit their football style

11 of their last 26 now.

an ABC commentator said pre match as i was driving down to Woodville Oval that he believes Port are ''spooked'' & added that they are now second guessing each other & aren't taking the game on anywhere near what they have in the past

Carlton v Port Power
Port Power were losing by 29 points in the last quarter
16-7 to 11-9
They were brave to get within 4 points siren time
Sure they played well below par most of the day, but they never gave up

With a minute to go there was a bizzare decision that prob cost Port Power winning

Colquhoun received a pass well within kicking range of goal
I had considered that he would have prob kicked a goal

However
One umpire called a mark
One umpire called play on as the pass was deemed as  touched off the boot

The decision
A bounce up
Ends up being a terrible terrible bit of luck for Port Power

If it was at least play on it appeared Colquhoun would have been able to have a shot for goal

That umpiring adjudication may cost Port Power a finals participation this season

if your description is correct then how can it be a ball up ? it is either a mark & it stands or it is play on, that's a baffling call in my book

It was a ball up and a balls up !

The umps conferred
The game stopped
So there is probably provision in the AFL laws that would state it is deemed as a ball up if 2 umps give differing decisions on mark or play on

Port were unfortunate
Carlton were fortunate

bayman wrote:if your description is correct then how can it be a ball up ? it is either a mark & it stands or it is play on, that's a baffling call in my book

Fairly sure the umpires decision was correct in that situation.

There was a Norwood v North game several years ago at the Parade, when Norwood were junk and North were up and about. Gallagher marked the ball at Half Forward when the secondary field umpire came running in from 50 metres away. Gallagher twigged to what that umpire was calling (that the kick had been touch off boot), so immediately played on and kicked a goal, but the umpires disallowed it and called for a ball up instead (same as todays action).

I was astounded at the time and made same inquiries the following week, and surprisingly found that the correct action had been taken. So I think the umpires did the right thing today, Im just not sure that the rule is correct.

well as they say you learn something everyday

Whats the answer to stop this from happening again ?

Should it be, and oval is marked in 3 sections ?
One ump in each section ?
Defence
Centre
Attack

Why is there a need for 2 umpires to be making decisions in Ports forward line at the time?

Common sense might decree this :
The mark should always over rule the touched off the boot in any part of the oval
Possession should be the over riding factor
Colquhoun clearly had possession irrespective of the decision

i'll try & catch the end of the match over the weekend on tv & make a much more informed comment then

www.afl.com.au/video/2015-06-20/watch-the-last-two-minutes-carl-v-port

Watch the incident with 1:12 left

just watched it on fox footy, we've all seen this type of thing before granted it is usually the umpire has called ''touched play on'' to a ball that ends up being marked & that player being grabbed & commonsense prevails with a ball up being called rather than holding the ball, today the umpire whistles the mark & another umpire over rules it, so yes a ball up is the likely right call, big call by the over ruling umpire though, however i doubt one passage of play can be seen as costing a team a match, surely the previous hour plus of footy would have some bearing equally on the match as a whole anyway

seeing Geelong got beaten today perhaps the hard, fast game last week took its toll on both Port & Geelong this week

Well, where does one start after a performance like that?

I've had some pretty disappointing days in years gone by watching my side play, but I thought and believed those dark days of pre-2013 were gone. I certainly have more faith in this group of players than I did 4 years ago but my faith in the processes the coaching staff are adhering to is surely being questioned.

Whilst we didn't cop a hiding on Saturday there were so many, many facets of our game that have gone from being a mild concern 6 weeks ago to downright worrying now.

1 - Our skill level in the basics of the game. Marking the ball when clear of opponents, kicking the ball to an open team mate and hitting the player in front with hand balls to release and create run. Much of this is confidence based, the players who are making fundamental mistakes have shown they have the skills they are just not executing them at this point and it is killing us. Broadbent, Ebert, Hartlett, Jonas, Trengove to name a few on the weekend looked like players well below AFL standard and 2 of them, Broadbent and Hartlett are known competition wide for their skills, especially by foot.

First quarter, just outside Port's forward 50 and Ebert in space drops a ball about waist height that should be gobbled up. Turn over, Carlton goal.

2 - Our ability to use the ball under pressure, in fact, not even use the ball but simply get a handle on it ( see skills above ). Our skills under pressure have been terrible for several weeks, probably began in the Sydney game and were hidden by wins over Adelaide and Hawthorn before being found out against Richmond, Brisbane, West Coast, Geelong and now Carlton. When under any duress we just cough the ball up and concede goal after goal from turnovers.

3 - The most frustrating aspect of our current form. When we don't have the ball we are not working hard enough to win the ball back. This, as shown by Carlton on the weekend, is based on application and attitude and not talent. Intent to tackle, intent to chase and intent to compete has nothing to do with skill level and everything to do with mindset. Our mindset is the most disappointing part of the last few weeks for me. too many missed tackles, opposition players bursting from stoppages, defenders not creating body pressure in the one on one contests. All mind set.

4 - Now, all clubs pretty much know what all the others clubs do as far as game style goes. With scouts watching opponents, video analysis, heat maps etc etc it's very easy to identify how clubs like to play. No secrets that we play the corridor, our intent is to square up and run through the middle.

Well, folks, the opposition clubs are cluttering that space and outnumbering us in there yet we persist on tracking along that path. In the last 5-6 weeks the amount of times we have been without a target through half forward is downright worrying.

Defence and mids look to the corridor after 3 summers of training that way but the forwards are playing wide as they can see the space is filled with defenders! So, which one gives? The defenders and mids need to be aware that the forwards are leading to space they previously weren't, why can I see that and our back/mids cant?

A couple of positives before I get angry.

Chad v2.0 is delivering numbers up there with his AA season. Averaging more disposals, more marks and more goals. His last month has been electrifying after a slow but not poor start to the year. Perhaps the fact he's alone inside F50 at times is the reason for his increased goal scoring output.

Wines, Boak and Gray. Our three key mids are still in form and doing their fare share. 19 clearances between them on the weekend ( and Gray missed the second half ) means that are doing their bit. All still averaging high 20 possies per game.

Hombsch. Clearly our most reliable defender who through sheer desperation was sent forward on Saturday as he seems to be one of very few big men who are currently reading the ball in the air at Port. Sadly he had about 5 minutes forward before Henderson lost Carlile in traffic and Hombsch had to go back to shut down the Blues key forward. We didn't get a chance to see the ball in his area forward of centre to see if he could offer something.

Colquhoun - Sammy was an important part of the later half of 2013 and was one of our best the night Geelong beat us in the semi final in Melbourne. His return has been nothing short of spot on. Some solid games with the Magpies late last year and early this year with a deserved recall into the AFL side and he's been solid at worst since his return. A real positive.

On the flip side, Monfries is playing a defensive forward role that takes his most potent weapon of leading up and marking away from him and makes him chase/harass seemingly first and foremost, Westhoff is all out of sorts and struggling to take a grab in a goal scoring / dangerous position, all his best aerial work is down back, Schulz looks to be right out of touch ( Saturday and his wifes hospitalization aside - I hope she is ok ) and Jonas who has been very reliable has a dose of the fumbles.

Not sure what the coaches see in Mitchell, his "motor" is super so if he is picked then make him do a full shutdown role as his ability to kick to nobody is the likes of which I have never seen. Bagging your own is not something I'm happy to do, at SANFL level he tears it up and can actually use the ball. I'm not sure if it's lack of time at the top level or his skills are limited.