AFL 2022: Graham Cornes lashes Crows, Port Adelaide ahead of Showdown
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has responded to the club’s 0-2 start while captain Tom Jonas and his players have extra motivation for the Showdown.
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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch says every single person at the club needs to take responsibility for the Power’s winless start to the season, but believes it hasn’t added to the already “intense pressure” on senior coach Ken Hinkley.
Meanwhile, Power captain Tom Jonas has defended his side’s form as critics say a line can already be put through Port’s flag aspirations just two games into the season.
For the first time ever the Power have ended a round as 18th in the AFL after Saturday night’s horror show against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.
Following the 64-point loss, Port fans took to social media to criticise Hinkley, but Koch said “every single person at the club” needed to take “shared responsibility”.
“I sort of deal in the facts, our win-loss record over the last two years has been better than any other AFL club,” he said on FIVEaa.
“Here in South Australia there is an intense pressure on him (Hinkley), you talk to the AFL gurus in Victoria and they shake their head and say for the last two years you’ve got one of the winningest coaches.
“The preliminary final last year was ugly and a terrible loss and Saturday night was a terrible loss as well, but we’ve just got to bounce back from that and show the fortitude we’ve got.
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“Our members are incredibly well educated in football and they have high expectations and that’s the privilege of being involved with the club.
“You’ve got to meet those expectation, you’ve got to cope with those expectations because that is what our club is all about and we don’t shy away from that.”
“We have to meet those expectations on this Friday night and redeem ourselves.”
Port won most statistical categories on Saturday night yet were blown away by the Hawks on the scoreboard.
Despite superiority in areas such as clearances, inside-50s, disposals and contested possessions against the Hawks, the Power have already started to be written off as contenders this year.
Jonas said the Hawthorn loss would hurt, but the Power were still a good side.
“People say a lot of things, don’t they,” he said.
“Look, we’ve put 24 months of hard work into this group in the connections-based space and the game plan, we haven’t made wholesale changes, so we really should be confident based on what we have done in the past.
“But right now we really need to focus on what isn’t right and get back to playing good footy.”
Jonas and the Power players were booed off the field by fans after the 64-point loss.
He said that would “burn”, but the players needed to repay the fans.
“When you walk off at full-time and you know you have disappointed a lot of Port Adelaide supporters on what was a really important night for the club, you certainly shoulder a bit of that,” he said.
“And I think that should burn our players and really drive us.”
Charlie Dixon could be back in the Power side for Friday night’s Showdown, but Jonas said the club needed to make sure their spearhead was 100 per cent to go and not panic.
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said on SEN “I think you have to be worried about Port” and questioned whether complacency could be a factor.
“Their personnel is a real issue at the moment,” he said.
“There are undeniable truths that end up coming to the fore ... if you haven’t gotten your premium and not even necessarily premium talent.
“Sides do find a way... obviously Hawthorn weren’t expected to go well this year, they were going to be a work in progress and to see that sort of performance in round 2 against a side that is being touted as being a bottom-four side and you are a top-four side it is a big wake up call.
“(Complacency) I think it plays a part and it does affect the psyche of the group.
“It is a concern and it was a listless performance.”
North Melbourne legend David King has already written off the Power, declaring “their premiership campaign is over”.
“They look like a group to me that have lost their asset, I know Aliir Aliir didn’t play on the weekend. But I look at the mechanics, one out, one in, it should just be as simple as that,” he said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“Then you start to drill in a little bit deeper. They have some great accumulators in the midfield, but do they really impact? Do they really have the (Christian) Petracca types, the strikers.
“They’ve got to make a decision on Todd Marshall, is he the answer or not going forward? He ended the game down back.
“I look at Connor Rozee, he’s gone from a headache to a migraine, this guy. Is he a contested possession player? Is this what he is. If he is, I think they’re in a bit of trouble.”
Cornes turns up heat on Showdown shockers
The alarm bells should be ringing at Port Adelaide while Adelaide’s ball use is “inexcusable”, inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes says ahead of Friday night’s Showdown.
For the first time in the 25-year history of the fierce rivalry the Crows and Power will go into a Showdown winless after the two SA clubs had horror days out on the weekend.
Despite having 12 more inside-50s, 73 more possessions and 25 more clearances than Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, the Power were humbled by 64-points.
Cornes said despite winning those key stats Port Adelaide wasn’t willing to move the ball quickly.
“It was just a contrast in how Hawthorn were so efficient in moving the ball forward and Port Adelaide were just so poor with their disposal and their lack of intent how to go forward,” he said.
“They just seemed reluctant to go forward, you’ve got to give your forward line players every opportunity by getting into them quickly, and Port Adelaide didn’t do that.
“It is definitely cause for concern and it is compounded by the fact that they are missing key players
“But at the same time they just look like they are playing within themselves, it appears to me that they don’t want to make mistakes, and their hesitancy is causing them to make mistakes.
“Their method of moving the ball is so disappointing, they have no effective transition from defence to attack.
“The centre clearances were 18-8 in Port’s favour and they got absolutely smashed by 64 points, it is absolutely unheard of.”
Cornes said while there was still plenty of time, the poor start put the Power right up against for 2022.
“So it is alarm bells ringing for them, it is very difficult to make the top four from here,” he said.
Power senior coach Ken Hinkley conceded that he needed to find answers quickly after the “different” kind of defeat.
“In the past we’ve been able to get a pretty clear indication of what happens when we play poorly, but this was a different look,” Hinkley said.
“We clearly failed going forward, we clearly couldn’t convert our opportunities going forward, and the flip side of that is that they were able to turn all their opportunities into scores.
“We broke down badly in offence and we broke down badly in defence and that’s a different breaking point for us.
“Usually, we’ve been really strong in defence and our offence has been building.
“It was really clear that our front-half stuff being, able to hit the scoreboard, being able to execute with any confidence at all, was just not there.”
Prior to the Power’s loss, the Crows slumped to a 42-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG.
It was a performance again littered with inconsistency and poor ball use by Matthew Nicks’ side.
Nicks said his side wasn’t able to “bring the contest” after a promising start.
“Our fumbling of the ball, we were missing handballs, it has to be a full balanced game,” he said.
“It can’t be get one area right and not the other.”
Cornes said while he had the Crows a “50-50” chance at best to beat Collingwood, there were some big concerns.
“For the second week in a row their use of the ball was shocking, it is just inexcusable,” he said.
“The statistics don’t show it but looking at the game of footy they don’t use the ball effectively.
“They were stiff against Fremantle, their first half was poor but did anyone predict them to Collingwood on the MCG.
“So I think that was a 50-50 game at best, and probably less chance of winning that.
“But the thing that is concerning about Adelaide, their endeavour seems to be there but their skill under pressure is so sadly lacking.”
Cornes also said the Crows selection should be queried after Riley Thilthorpe and Wayne Milera were dropped, as well as Jake Soligo being made the medical sub, after just one game.
“How do you leave Riley Thilthorpe out? I know they want him to get a bit more confidence,” Cornes said.
“Wayne Milera picked the week before when he was clearly not ready and they drop him after one game and say he won’t be back for a couple of games until he gets a run and some form.
“And then they have a young kid in Jake Soligo who makes his debut and then they drop him, so their coaching staff can’t escape criticism for that.”
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