Port Adelaide is hungry again and winning contested ball, clearances and hit-outs

A FOCUS on contested ball in pre-season backed up by actions on game day is behind Port Adelaide’s rise from competition battler to top-four contender this season.

Brad Ebert, training at Alberton Oval on Monday, ahead of his 200th AFL game this weekend. Picture: Sarah Reed

A FOCUS on contested ball in pre-season backed up by actions on game day is behind Port Adelaide’s rise from competition battler to top-four contender this season.

The Power has gone from 13th in contested ball differential in 2016 to sixth after Round 10 this season and 14th to sixth in clearances and 18th to ninth in hit-outs to advantage on the back of ruckman Paddy Ryder’s return.

On the eve of his 200th game this weekend, midfielder Brad Ebert who is in career-best form, said a focus on winning the hard ball and playing bigger bodies in the middle was behind the turnaround.

“As a group we’ve really nutted out a few areas that we thought we needed to work on,” Ebert said on Monday.

“With contested ball itself - we’ve addressed that with playing some different guys in there at times and gone back to playing some bigger bodies in there as well with myself, Ollie (Wines) Peps (Powell-Pepper), Brendon Ah Chee, Boaky is still a strong guy and then you get Chaddy (Wingard) and Robbie (Gray) rotating through there as well.

“It’s probably one of those little areas that we concentrated on in the pre-season and it’s good to see that it’s working for us as well.”

Ebert said the team had spoken about Charlie Dixon’s shot clock blunder late in Thursday night’s loss to Geelong and had identified that his teammates could have done more in the circumstances.

“He was obviously really disappointed straight afterwards and since then he’s been able to move on,” Ebert said of Dixon who had the chance to ice the game with his set shot but was called to play on.

“That was the first time I’ve seen that happen, but the rule is there and I guess Charlie will speed up next time.

“As the guy that takes the mark and goes back for the shot you’re focused and you go into your routine.

“So the other guys around could have been a bit more aware, and those little instances can really help you progress with general awareness of the team.”

But Ebert believes there are still positives to come out of the match that they will take into this Thursday’s game against Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval.

“As a team we’re trying to grow and build across the season and so far our losses have been disappointing but you’re showing improvement,” he said.

“Now we need to take that to the next step and really continue winning, Hawthorn will be a great challenge for that and we need to build on what we’ve been able to do so far.”

The 27-year-old said he was incredibly proud to play 200 AFL games with both West Coast and Port Adelaide where his family has a long history.

“It’s come up pretty quick I guess, I still feel quite young and I guess I’ve been fortunate to play a fair few games consecutively,” he said.

“That’s sort of led to being able to play 200 games, it’s a great achievement and I’m proud to say I’m playing my 200th game but won’t get too carried away with it I guess.”

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