Why Port Adelaide needs to find a new mix in attack to make the most of its opportunities
The Power is getting plenty of footy inside forward 50 but it isn’t converting that into high scores. Chris McDermott says it’s time for Ken Hinkley to shake up his mix of forward.
Port Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from Port Adelaide. Followed categories will be added to My News.
No team gets the ball inside its attacking 50m area more than Port Adelaide.
The Power ranks No. 1 in the AFL for inside-50s, with just over 60 per game but turning that delivery into a shot on goal is a different story.
The Power averages a dismal five inside-50s per goal. That’s an uninspiring average of just 12 goals a game.
Ladder-leader Geelong kicks one goal every 3.5 inside-50s and with just over 50 entries a game, that equates to a far more impressive 14.5 goals per game.
It’s a significant difference and the reason the Cats are the team to beat and the Power is 11th.
The Crows have also been labouring in this department, with a goal coming every 4.7 inside-50s before yesterday’s heartbreaking one-point loss to Brisbane.
Melbourne is even worse.
The one-time premiership hopeful is third for inside-50s, with 58 per game, but 18th for effectiveness, with a goal coming every 5.8 inside-50s. That’s an average of just 10 goals per game. It is not the efficiency of a serious finals contender.
Demons’ coach Simon Goodwin has a major problem.
Ken Hinkley has a similar issue that also must be fixed and not fobbed off as bad luck.
Facts are, the Power does not have a player in the top 30 for goals kicked in 2019. Not one.
Considering only two players have kicked more than 20 goals, it’s not a big ask. Rookie Connor Rozee is its best, with 11 goals ranking equal 32nd, alongside team-mate Sam Gray.
Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray,
Brad Ebert and Jack Watts might all be missing but for a team that gets the ball in the right spot so often, there is something drastically wrong at Alberton.
Geelong has Tom Hawkins, Gary Rohan and Gary Ablett at its disposal in attack, all ranking inside the top-10 for goals this season.
Hawkins has kicked 19, Rohan 17 and Ablett 16, providing multiple avenues to goal and at least one tall target capable of standing under the football and making a contest for his smaller forwards to feed on.
Its time for the Power’s coaching panel to get creative. To think outside the square.
To find a saviour before its chances of making the finals are not even mathematically possible.
The first piece of the puzzle is to find a player more than six-feet tall to make an aerial contest.
Justin Westhoff and Todd Marshall have failed to do so in recent times but it is not their strength.
Both are players who fly into contests, not stand under packs and cause spillages. Not surprisingly, the Power does not have a player inside the top 20 for marks taken inside 50m.
Westhoff leads the way in 22nd place with just 13 and five of those were taken in the opening round of the season against Melbourne, when he kicked five goals.
He has taken just eight since in seven games.
Collingwood has four players better than Westhoff. Jordan De Goey has taken 22 marks, Jaidyn Stephenson 20, Brody Mihocek 15 and Jamie Elliott 14. The Power does not have another player in the top 45.
Scott Lycett and Paddy Ryder are in a similar boat.
Both are geniuses at stoppages and capable of kicking goals but they are not natural key forwards. They do not think like one. Or move like one. Not like good ones.
Dougal Howard is the current favourite on the back of his two goals against the Crows in Showdown 46 but he was there for a brief time and took just one contested mark.
He may have begun his career as a forward but Howard has spent the majority of it down back and his defensive instincts have become more powerful and more natural than his attacking ones. Could Tom Clurey do it for a short period? He hits the ball hard, can take a mark and certainly cause a spillage.
He leads the Power for contested marks in 2019, with 10.
Yes, you rob Peter to pay Paul, but this is the game to do something different.
A front six of Westhoff, Clurey, Butters, Sam Gray, Rozee and Motlop could work.
Clurey would play the role as key target inside 50. Westhoff can return to his original role as floating forward. Butters, Gray and Motlop can all hunt the ball at ground level and Rozee can provide the energy and creativity that is becoming such a feature of his game.
Six very different players, all with something very unique and important to bring to this team.
But will they kick 14 goals is the big question.
If the midfield, including Lycett and Ryder, chips in with four between them, the answer is yes.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It’s time for the Power to try something. To experiment.
Footy legend’s health revelation: ‘I thought I had cancer’
Who better to get the real story out of the AFL champion turned media controversy magnet than his own father?
Track watch: Port gives glimpse into Lukosius plans
Port Adelaide recruit Jack Lukosius has long been adamant he is best used as a forward – but, as we learnt on Friday, Ken Hinkley might have other ideas. Get all the latest match sim intel.