Port Adelaide - Sometimes you just get beat.

[mjp]

There seems to be a lot of angst about our performance in the PA game on the weekend - and it is being used as an example as to how we are no good, or at best and average footy team.

I sort of get it - we had it, then we didn't and PA pulled away late but:

- We fought it out away from home in challenging conditions - after a start where we couldn't seem to score we really dominated the middle 2-q's of the game.

- Port kicked some honestly INCREDIBLE goals. Yes, I know they missed a few as well but Boak, Powell-Pepper and Marshall (from the boundary) spring to mind.

- Our mids worked super hard and won at the contest. The forwards - welcome back Cody - looked dangerous and the defenders fought the fight all night.

- Was there some dumb stuff? Liber handball, TOB kick etc? Sure. But you're going to get that stuff...

I get that this has us at 2-3 and vulnerable but, well...after the game I (for the first time) thought we might actually be alright. Great wins are awesome but losing a couple of close ones can really harden a team up...Looking forward to Friday night. Let's go.

[Mofra]

I still have a concern about how our 'effort' translates into scoring.
Mentioned on another thread, we basically have to smash teams to earn a narrow victory. Nothing comes to us easy and I do wonder if our lack of good outside mid options/runners is a major part of that.

We have three wings rotating (Williams, Baker, Scott) who have all shown signs at times but they are basically replicating a wing output that most teams seems to get from two players - 32 to 35 touches and a goal per game.

[Grantysghost]

There certainly was a lot to be positive about.

Weightman back, Jones justifies his recruitment, Bont things, English.

Port are certainly no mugs they destroyed the Lions on that ground in rd 1, and have beaten a very good Swans side. Although mugs for not lining up for Libba, (I expect he said he didn't want it. But still, do it)

Angst for me was getting rinsed by a second year midfielder (albeit a very good one) in the last whilst we seemingly had our two best mids (if you call English a mid) out of the game by design. Were we hoist of our on petard?

High level though I agree with your assessment.

We are in the middle pack, not sure if I expected better - maybe considering the club keeps mentioning top 4 and recruited with that in mind.

It's anyone's season, I really hope we hit our straps as I think at our best we could take most of the current top 4.

[bornadog]

I don't feel as bad about this loss as I did after the Saints game. The Saints game, (the second half) was our worst performance under Bevo in the home and away games since he took over in 2015. It was reminiscent of the dark days under Macca where we failed to kick goals.

My real disappointment was losing a close one, but felt all game it was going to go either way.

[Dogs 24/7]

There seems to be a lot of angst about our performance in the PA game on the weekend - and it is being used as an example as to how we are no good, or at best and average footy team.

I sort of get it - we had it, then we didn't and PA pulled away late but:

- We fought it out away from home in challenging conditions - after a start where we couldn't seem to score we really dominated the middle 2-q's of the game.

- Port kicked some honestly INCREDIBLE goals. Yes, I know they missed a few as well but Boak, Powell-Pepper and Marshall (from the boundary) spring to mind.

- Our mids worked super hard and won at the contest. The forwards - welcome back Cody - looked dangerous and the defenders fought the fight all night.

- Was there some dumb stuff? Liber handball, TOB kick etc? Sure. But you're going to get that stuff...

I get that this has us at 2-3 and vulnerable but, well...after the game I (for the first time) thought we might actually be alright. Great wins are awesome but losing a couple of close ones can really harden a team up...Looking forward to Friday night. Let's go.

It was one of those games where we looked to be struggling but got back into it and didnt push hard enough to press home our advantage. We got out foxed by Hinkley who pulled Lycett and swung Drew on to Bontempelli at the right times. Im not devastated by it but we did let it slide.

[MrMahatma]

Yeah, I was bummed we lost but also reckon Port are decent. It prob just made me a bit cranky that we had to play them over there in this extra round. Reckon we prob would've beaten most other teams to be honest.

I looked forward to across our draw and reckon we can get a bit of a run on if we maintain the intensity of the last few weeks. Hopefully we unlock a few avenues to goal cause we're mighty low scoring this season.

[The Underdog]

I still have a concern about how our 'effort' translates into scoring.
Mentioned on another thread, we basically have to smash teams to earn a narrow victory. Nothing comes to us easy and I do wonder if our lack of good outside mid options/runners is a major part of that.

We have three wings rotating (Williams, Baker, Scott) who have all shown signs at times but they are basically replicating a wing output that most teams seems to get from two players - 32 to 35 touches and a goal per game.

I agree with the OP but also these are all salient points. Given the upper tier of the talent at our disposal I don't understand why the games, going back to last year, feel like absolute slogs. Everything feels so difficult. Outside run and defensive running feel key but can't be all of it.
I was disappointed but close to ambivalent after Saturday night, it felt like a game where we had chances but were the slightly lesser team on the night. The conditions made it difficult to really accurately judge but whereas this seemed to help us last week, I'm not sure it did on this occasion. I didn't really get the vitriol I was reading in the Game Day thread, but maybe that's just de rigueur in a loss.
It however also felt like a pretty accurate reflection of where we are.

[Boots]

Thanks for this post mjp - you're bang on.

I don't mind losing to Port. They're always close, entertaining games and I quite like a few of their players. For my part, I took the loss hard because of the lingering shadow of the first two weeks of the season. I think had we won one of the two first rounds I'd be able to take that as a close but competitive loss in a difficult six weeks.

In the context of those two games however the emerging theme is of a team that struggles to take its opportunities when they present themselves, while their opponents have no such trouble.

On the other hand, Port are a much better team than anyone gives them credit for. Boak is underrated, people forget how good Wines is, and Dixon is still good. JHF is young and mercurial, but we should have expected him to have a game like that. Even Marshall, who had two very good goals, is hardly a surprise packet.

I'm as guilty as the next person of feeling a bit entitled to wins because of the hype our list gets, and then vacillating to catastrophising when we lose. But there has to be space between "we're the best" and "we're bog average garbage".

[AshMac]

I think it?s just falling away completely at an important part of the game again. And not taking our chances when we are dominating play over the game to put pressure on the scoreboard again.

Yes they didn?t score when we fell away this time, but it reeked if the same old problems from last year with some better pressure and stronger midfield performances across the board.

We have to get our best players in the middle when teams gets run out of there against us

[The Underdog]

Thanks for this post mjp - you're bang on.

I don't mind losing to Port. They're always close, entertaining games and I quite like a few of their players. For my part, I took the loss hard because of the lingering shadow of the first two weeks of the season. I think had we won one of the two first rounds I'd be able to take that as a close but competitive loss in a difficult six weeks.

In the context of those two games however the emerging theme is of a team that struggles to take its opportunities when they present themselves, while their opponents have no such trouble.

On the other hand, Port are a much better team than anyone gives them credit for. Boak is underrated, people forget how good Wines is, and Dixon is still good. JHF is young and mercurial, but we should have expected him to have a game like that. Even Marshall, who had two very good goals, is hardly a surprise packet.

I'm as guilty as the next person of feeling a bit entitled to wins because of the hype our list gets, and then vacillating to catastrophising when we lose. But there has to be space between "we're the best" and "we're bog average garbage".

I don’t disagree, although there can be some cognitive dissonance going on. Pretty sure we won the Brisbane game precisely because we took chances (Jamarra’s 5.0 to Daniher’s 0.4)

[Sedat]

Everything makes sense in the opening post, but when you are 8 points up (having kicked 4 of the last 5 in horrid conditions) and dominating field position well into the last qtr, and then give up 4 goals on the bounce from nowhere, it is ultimately a failure and an opportunity lost for a team with claims to top 4 and contention (their words/expectations). And it continues a pattern of performance that has unfortunately reared its head regularly since the 2021 GF when were were similarly in a position of massive strength/momentum deep into the 3rd qtr.

I am struggling to trust our mids to pivot their mindset from total offense to harm minimisation when needed. We are either all duck or no dinner in our midfield and we continue to double-down after conceding multiple goals on the bounce. Our greatest strength is seemingly also our greatest weakness, and we have a big enough sample size to make that evaluation. We can talk ad nauseum about Hannan, McComb, TOB and all the other 22-26 players but we always live and die by our mids and our top tier players.

Should Bevo go the nuclear option and drop a big name to make a definitive statement on internal expectations/non-negotiables, akin to what Ross Lyon did with Dal Santo/Milne all those years ago (or GWS did with Coniglio more recently)? Whatever levers we have pulled in the last couple of years hasn't changed the behaviour.

Agree with the OP in relation to us being a good team and putting in a very honest and solid shift in hostile territory on the weekend. I just expect us to be better than good.

[Rocco Jones]

Agree with the OP. The real issue is the first two games we put up. Reduced our margin for error and obviously tested our patience/faith to breaking point.

We have Freo, Hawks and GWS up next. All have struggled this season. Win 3 in a row, 5-3, not a bad spot. If we can't win at least two, well I will join those saying we are done.

[SonofScray]

True. Sometimes you get beat.

In isolation, I?m happy enough to walk away from that game and acknowledge the effort and performances from a range of players that should have, could have been match winning. Two horse race, someone has to lose in a close one.

That doesn?t resolve any angst for me though. The recurrent themes and patterns of behaviour from what is a talented, capable team, with a talented, competent coach remain a massive concern.

[Danjul]

True. Sometimes you get beat.

In isolation, I?m happy enough to walk away from that game and acknowledge the effort and performances from a range of players that should have, could have been match winning. Two horse race, someone has to lose in a close one.

That doesn?t resolve any angst for me though. The recurrent themes and patterns of behaviour from what is a talented, capable team, with a talented, competent coach remain a massive concern.

This is the window to the problem.

These people are professionals. They might have a bad game but if it?s happening so regularly it?s not the players ability.

Last year we saw them defeat st Kilda. Less than 10 games later St Kilda wins by 10 goals. We didn?t get 10 goals (or even close).

This is a sign that it?s not what he is doing that is the problem, it?s what they (collectively) are doing.

Look at the last game. Our aim seemed to be to get the ball as close to the left boundary line as possible.

I saw Richards get ball near CHB and use all his immense talent getting the ball to the team?s favourite spot. What happens there? Invariably we form a huddle sandwiched between the line and 3 opponents. The regulation number of handballs occur. Followed by a turnover to the unmanned opposition player who runs towards goal or a blind kick or handball (Treloar and Libba) which can still bring us undone. The good result is a pressurised low quality entry to the forward line (usually making their defenders look better than really are. Result is three talented forwards kick 1 goal between them.

So what might fix our problem?

It is not looking at the VFL. Just Get our good players a way from the boundary line.

The teams that defeat us don?t go there. That?s why they don?t need as many handballs and can kick to position.

[JanLorMill]

It's not that we got beat, it's the realization that we a bottom of the 8 side at best.

[Stevo]

It's not that we got beat, it's the realization that we a bottom of the 8 side at best.

Its certainly sowed some seeds of doubt in me. I hope we can beat Fremantle to even out the year so far for us.

[mjp]

It's not that we got beat, it's the realization that we a bottom of the 8 side at best.

That's the spirit!!

[bornadog]

It's not that we got beat, it's the realization that we a bottom of the 8 side at best.

I was expecting top 4 this year.

[Danjul]

I was expecting top 4 this year.
Still possible.

But not unless we get rid of the modern KPIs like minding grass 15 metres from the opponent.

Need to get back to basics. Instead of kicking into the forward line start kicking into the forwards hands. Then Lobb will start kicking 3 goals a game like he averaged against us last year.

[Bulldog Revolution]

I was expecting top 4 this year.

I was hoping for top 6 with real growth shown from our youngsters - that catapult us into contention at the end of the season - now that last bit may be the overly optimistic view

That said, I kind of agreed with mjp, port just beat us, we werent that bad, we just werent that efficient, and jaysus they kicked some unbelievable goals