The Moment on Monday: Why Port’s game plan and playing the kids will be high risk, high reward this season
After Port Adelaide’s Round 1 win over Melbourne coach Ken Hinkley was asked what he liked most about his team’s performance. His answer was surprising but four weeks later makes more sense.
Reece Homfray
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- Wines fit but still finding his way
- Greenwood’s strong case for Crows recall
- Wounded Tigers hold on against Power
- Richmond’s controversial double goal
- The rebirth of Travis Boak
After Port Adelaide’s Round 1 win over Melbourne coach Ken Hinkley was asked what he liked most about his team’s performance. His answer was surprising but four weeks later makes more sense.
DON’T MISS THE LOWDOWN PODCAST WITH HUGH GREENWOOD AND TOM JONAS FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON
“This is going to sound stupid but I like the mistakes,” Hinkley said at the MCG.
“There were so many times when we turned the ball over when we shouldn’t have, but they never lost belief in what they want to be.
“On a day when you get a result, it’s fantastic … (but) as Chris Davies said ‘you can’t be clapping the six over mid-on when you go out first ball sometimes’.
“It’s the luck of the draw — we’re going to play that way — so there will be mistakes.”
Easy to say when you win, not so much when you lose, but you have to wear it either way which is why Port Adelaide has got to take the good with the bad this season.
If it’s going to play fast, attacking, play-on-from-the-mark footy then it’s going to cough the ball up as often as it cuts through a defence, and if it’s going to play inexperienced kids then they’ll give you both a spark and cost you goals sometimes in the same game.
There will be weeks like when Connor Rozee kicks 5.2 against Brisbane then Saturday when he doesn’t score and has 14 touches.
Xavier Duursma was very good on Saturday night, creative on the wing and won some important ball but had the chance to win the game late in the final quarter and missed it.
Trailing Richmond 91-93 with 2:54 left on the clock, he rose vertically for a pack mark.
From 20m out on a slight angle Duursma calmly went back but pulled the kick left and missed what he would normally kick nine times out of 10.
“You talk about his miss — we’re happy that he got the opportunity (but) we’re disappointed he missed,” Hinkley explained post-match.
Duursma, Rozee and Zak Butters all had back-half turnovers under Richmond’s pressure. Butters’ set shot from 50m fell short and former skipper Dom Cassisi was critical of him for trying to kick around the corner too often, and trying to take a hanger when he should have made a contest and gave away a free kick to Shane Edwards late in the game. It resulted in Kamdyn McIntosh’s goal.
But Hinkley was quick to respond to a suggestion that if the kids are down then so is the team.
“You’re absolutely right it’s not their responsibility (to carry the team),” he said.
“I reckon that’s a long bow to draw on young players, I’d say for us it’s more about the way that we didn’t commit to play the game we wanted to play and you can’t put young players into that basket I don’t think.
“People are starting to watch them now and starting to put some real heat on them and they’re starting to feel that.
“But that’s OK, they’ll be fine, they’ll get better.”
The exception on Saturday was Willem Drew who was also playing his fourth game. His set shot goal, his courageous mark going back with the flight, his smother and four tackles.
But next week Drew could well be down and Butters and Rozee step up again.
The bigger concern for Hinkley was the inability of Port’s forwardline to either retain the ball or even make a contest in the final quarter.
Sydney Stack and Dylan Grimes took intercept marks at will. Grimes has played 129 games including a premiership and coach Damien Hardwick described his final quarter as the “most significant period” he’d played for the Tigers.
19 minutes to go: Grimes picks Robbie Gray’s pocket and clears the ball from defence twice in the one passage of play.
18 minutes to go: He out-marks Ollie Wines by pushing him out of the way fairly.
16 minutes to go: Spoils Justin Westhoff who was outnumbered 4 to 1 under a high ball coming in.
9 minutes to go: Out-bodies Willem Drew in the goalsquare and wins a free kick to stop a certain goal.
5 minutes to go: Out-marks Robbie Gray in a one-on-one contest.
3 minutes to go: Marks in between Connor Rozee and Travis Boak deep in defence.
1 minute to go: Out-marks Paddy Ryder and Connor Rozee when neither of them flew for it.
Power forward Brad Ebert said the team played into Grimes’ hands.
“Those intercept marks just aren’t acceptable,” Ebert said.
“They end up trying to sit a free back from that winger, and Grimes is able to slide off and impact and we weren’t able to adjust to that.
“We can try to change the lanes a bit but a lot of it comes down to being able to compete and you don’t have to mark them but bring them to ground.”
GAME NOTES
CROWS V KANGAROOS
IS IT time to put Josh Jenkins in the ruck full time a’la what Port Adelaide did with Charlie Dixon last year? If Sam Jacobs doesn’t return this week then not to punish Reilly O’Brien but for the sake of getting Jenkins into the game. He’s kicked 46, 45, 62 and 46 goals in the past four seasons but it’s just not happening this year with four goals from four games. On Saturday night he at least had the chance to make a physical statement by running into Robbie Tarrant who floated in front of him to take an intercept mark, but appeared to pull up as if he was surprised by the defender suddenly in his way.
IT’S hard however to be too critical of the forward line when the Crows only have 36 inside 50s. That was their lowest since Round 13 last year when they produced their worst game of the year against Hawthorn at the MCG.
THE more worrying thing about Adelaide’s game on Saturday night is they not only looked slow but they looked like they were standing still. The midfield was reactionary like Jed Anderson running straight past Matt Crouch at a stoppage in the final quarter and the forward line was flat footed. No more so than when Tom Lynch kicked inside 50m to Lachlan Murphy standing on his own, only for Jy Simpkin to come from behind and steal it. Even Brodie Smith was run down by 201cm Kangaroos’ ruckman Todd Goldstein in a head-scratching moment.
HOW important has Alex Keath become to Adelaide’s side? He’s playing career-best footy deep in defence and on Saturday night had 20 disposals (at 85 per cent efficiency), four intercept marks and a game-high 10 intercept plays in total including a couple of big spoils on Ben Brown.
CROWS fans who want Taylor Walker dropped are selective with what they’re seeing. Yes he kicked one goal — a big set shot in the final quarter — but he also had a team-high three goal assists. His spoil running back with the flight and subsequent handball gave Jenkins a goal and his tackle on Jared Polec on the wing led directly to Rory Sloane’s goal. The question for the Crows is do they want that from Walker up the ground or do they want four goals from the square?
POWER V TIGERS
KEN Hinkley can say he doesn’t waste time worrying, or “doesn’t care”, about the double goal free kick to Tom Lynch and that’s admirable. Port had adequate chances to win the game, but that was so soft against Ryan Burton and the 50m penalty against Dan Houston which handed Lynch his fifth goal was just as bad. In a game decided by seven points it hurts but perhaps the bigger worry is how did Lynch get out the back into space in the first place?
BURTON copped it for giving away the double goal but his overall game was very good. He caught two Tigers holding the ball with savage tackles and his set shot from the pocket was clutch. He had career-high 19 kicks and is looking better each week.
THE speed of the game looked like it had caught up or even gone past Travis Boak 18 months ago. Well he’s caught back up. His work in traffic and clean hands were a standout on Saturday. Twice his hard-ball get and handball led to Sam Gray goals and his one-take off his boot laces later led to Ollie Wines’ set shot goal later in the game.
STEVEN Motlop will be nervous at selection this week. He only had three touches to half time and finished with seven. After only 14 against Brisbane last week he could be squeezed out.
WHAT’S going on with Port’s tackling? They had 53 against Melbourne and 75 against Carlton in a wet, stoppage heavy game, but in their two losses to Brisbane and Richmond they dipped to 47 and 39 (15 less than the Tigers on Saturday night).
QUOTED
Have we ever seen a soft red head? Let’s be honest in our great game, they’re all hard nuts.
— Jonathan Brown on Willem Drew’s mark.
MR ONE PER CENTER
Who are the unsung heroes of SA footy? The players who have an impact on their team without hitting the stats sheet. Champion Data records one per centers by tallying spoils, knock-ons, shepherds and smothers every game. Here’s the leaderboard from Port Adelaide and Adelaide after Round 4:
34: Tom Jonas (Power)
28: Daniel Talia (Crows)
24: Dougal Howard (Power)
23: Tom Clurey (Power), Alex Keath, Jake Kelly (Crows)
18: Scott Lycett (Power), Wayne Milera (Crows)
13: Paddy Ryder (Power)
12: Ryan Burton, Brad Ebert (Power)
11: Justin Westhoff (Power), Brodie Smith (Crows)
10: Rory Laird (Crows), Darcy Byrne-Jones, Dan Houston (Power)
9: Riley Bonner, Jack Watts (Power), David Mackay, Kyle Hartigan (Crows)
SUPERCOACH TOP 10
There’s no slowing Power midfielders Tom Rockliff and Travis Boak who combined for 274 SuperCoach points on the weekend. Not surprisingly, given Adelaide struggled to get its hands on the ball against the Roos, Port had seven of the top 10 SA SuperCoach scores:
1. Tom Rockliff (Port) 140
2. Travis Boak (Port) 134
3. Brad Ebert (Port) 130
4. Alex Keath (Adel) 107
5. Rory Laird (Adel) 106
6. Ryan Burton (Port) 106
7. Brodie Smith (Adel) 104
8. Dan Houston (Port) 99
9. Tom Clurey (Port) 97
10. Ollie Wines (Port) 95
TIPS
COLLINGWOOD to be too good for Brisbane at the Gabba and ESSENDON and WEST COAST to both win on Good Friday. GWS to beat Fremantle, MELBOURNE over St Kilda, RICHMOND to continue Sydney’s misery then the DOGS over Carlton, ADELAIDE to celebrate Eddie’s 300th over Gold Coast and GEELONG to beat the Hawks on Monday.
Last week: 3 Running Total: 19
POWER RANKINGS
1. GWS (3-1)
The Giants have rocketed into top spot on the rankings. After belting Richmond at home they’ve rolled the Cats on the road.
2. GEELONG (3-1)
Their early-season bubble has burst with a surprise loss to the Giants at home and now they could be without Dangerfield for Easter Monday against the Hawks.
3. WEST COAST (3-1)
Made hard work of it but always in control in the Derby. Andrew Gaff excellent again.
4. ST KILDA (3-1)
Huge win for the Saints. 3-1 who would have thought?
5. GOLD COAST (3-1)
Biggest surprise of the season. Gutsy, spirited, never-day-die win.
6. BRISBANE (3-1)
Big disappointment after such a strong start to the year. Blown away by the Bombers to continue their horror MCG record.
7. RICHMOND (2-2)
Huge win. For their spot on the ladder, for team spirit and belief in the wider squad given they were missing so many stars.
8. COLLINGWOOD (2-2)
Couldn’t afford to lose to the Dogs on Friday night and flexed their muscles in the final term. Brodie Grundy showing why he’s a million-dollar-a-year player next contract.
9. HAWTHORN (2-2)
Lost an arm-wrestle against the Saints at Docklands when they seemed to be outworked in a crucial final quarter.
10. PORT ADELAIDE (2-2)
This week’s big slider after such a promising start. Sam Powell-Pepper needs to steady when he gets the ball and use it rather than trying to kick the air out of it all the time.
11. WESTERN BULLDOGS (2-2)
Got a lot closer to Collingwood than a lot probably thought but can bounce back quickly against Carlton and Fremantle coming up.
12. ESSENDON (2-2)
The Bombers are back and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is now fourth on the Coleman Medal tally.
13. FREMANTLE (2-2)
At least they weren’t smashed in the Derby without Nat Fyfe.
14. MELBOURNE (1-3)
Spirited win from the Dees and loved how excited Max Gawn was every time Braydon Preuss did something worth celebrating.
15. ADELAIDE (1-3)
What is going on? Horror loss that could cost them a spot in the eight and Easter Sunday against the Suns is suddenly a big game.
16. NORTH MELBOURNE (1-3)
Finally on the board and Polec and Pittard both in their best.
17. SYDNEY (1-3)
Melbourne on the three-game rebound were always going to be tough but the Swans have to find a way to win at home.
18. CARLTON (0-4)
You cannot give Gold Coast a sniff and that could be mortal for Bolton and the Blues.
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