Panic handball cost us: Wines
POWER vice-captain Ollie Wines says the Power’s inability to kick despite orders from the coach’s box showed it couldn’t handle West Coast’s pressure.
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PORT Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines says Port Adelaide needs to get back to kicking the ball after it was trapped into being handball-happy in its 42-point loss at Perth Stadium on Saturday night.
The Power had more handballs than kicks (193 to 187) while the Eagles played more traditional football (145 handballs to 230 kicks).
It means two things.
One, Port Adelaide was under pressure — real or perceived — when it did have possession but panicked into treating the ball like a hot potato all too often.
Two, even though the two teams had a similar amount of disposals — Port Adelaide actually had five more — the Power gained next to no territory when it had the ball.
“We like to play quick footy, exciting footy,” Wines said.
“I don’t know what the handball stats were, but we just couldn’t cope with the pressure and over-handballed and it led to turnovers.
“The amount of times we were told, ‘kick the ball; kick the ball ...’
“But we continued to handball which showed that we couldn’t handle West Coast’s pressure.”
Wines put down the Power getting beaten around the ball to attitude.
The club had the right setups; it was a matter of being harder at the contest.
“It probably was a desperation thing,” Wines said. “Our method around the footy, we think, is pretty solid. Our setups around stoppages are reliable.
“It just comes down to us as players wanting to put our head over the ball and win it.
“We weren’t able to do that at crucial times and West Coast did that and were able to do that.”
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