Port Adelaide should consider using Dougal Howard to tag Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy
THE Power is running out of chances to make the top eight and with big men Paddy Ryder and Charlie Dixon injured, should consider getting creative to nullify Collingwood star Brodie Grundy.
- Could Billy be a hero for Port Adelaide
- Port’s finals dream hangs on power of positivity
- Tight-game complex tearing Power apart
- McGovern sledges brother after matchwinning goal
ONE of Port Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney will be on holidays come September.
Hard to believe, considering since round 18 each of the aforementioned sides has been placed inside the top four and, I repeat, one is almost certain of missing out.
The reason this looks so likely is the team with the easiest draw over the final two rounds is Geelong, which is currently residing outside the top eight. The Cats take on 13th placed Fremantle and 17th placed Gold Coast, both at home.
Melbourne with a high percentage need just one more win to qualify, but has to travel to Perth to take on the Eagles this weekend before finishing off with GWS at the MCG.
Sydney has the lowest percentage, but with 13 wins already, needs just one more to lock away a finals berth.
The challenge for the Swans is they play two sides currently inside the top four, GWS and Hawthorn. Not an easy task by any stretch.
Then there is Port Adelaide who at 11 wins and four losses after 15 matches were equal second on the ladder and eyeing off a the double chance. Fast forward five weeks and they are on the brink of missing everything at 12 and eight.
Add to that the disastrous weekend they had on the injury front and Port fans have every right to be edgy.
With a relatively low percentage, the only way to guarantee a finals berth is to win the final two games.
One win would see the Power relying on other teams losing games to qualify for September, and no wins … I think you know the answer.
So that makes the game against Collingwood this Saturday the perfect opportunity for Ken Hinkley and his team to be bold — both at selection and with tactics during the game.
Let’s start with selection. After losing contested possession again (-23), Sam Powell-Pepper has to come back in.
A week off to freshen up and his pride dented, he strikes me as a young man who wouldn’t let you down if you gave him an opportunity.
Riley Bonner is the next youngster they must embolden.
With the absence of Dixon, fastball movement, run and attack has to be the order of the day. While Bonner may have some defensive flaws in his game, when he runs and takes the opposition on, things happen for the Power.
Give him a license to take the game on.
Here’s where it gets creative. Dougal Howard tags Brodie Grundy as a ruckman.
Grundy is one of the most dangerous ruckmen in the league, as much for his work around the ground as in the ruck. If Grundy went forward Howard would be assigned to him, so why not everywhere around the ground?
The defence can afford to hand him over, because apart from Mason Cox there is not a lot of other tall timber in the Collingwood front six. That also allows you to play someone like Tom Clurey on Cox and try and use his run to exploit the big man.
It does sound risky giving up 18cm in height to an opposition forward, but Cox averages under five marks a game and just two of those contested. That points to a lot of game time when Clurey would have the advantage on the deck.
The other option in ruck is first gamer, Billy Frampton. That would also be a bold move, debuting at the MCG on Grundy in front of 50,000 fans, in one of the club’s most important games in recent history. Only Hinkley knows if he is ready, and able to compete against one of the game’s best.
Dom Barry must also be strongly considered. Collingwood and the MCG present many challenges and one of them is space. The Pies have used this to their advantage with the injection of a number of outside runners into the side. While Barry hasn’t been in sparkling form in the SANFL, he is a running machine and will be able to match the Pies in defence and challenge them the other way.
Port has a lot of grunt players who do heavy work on the inside, Barry along with Bonner give the team a better inside/outside balance.
After selection and tactics the other intangible is the Port Adelaide players actually believing they can win.
They will start heavy underdogs. With key players missing, and a string of close losses and missed opportunities fresh in their memories, there is bound to be doubts. This is where Ken Hinkley and his coaches will spend much of their week.
They need to come up with an alternate game style and convince the players that they cannot only execute it, but do it to the level that will overcome another finals aspirant.
They say, with great risk comes great reward. The reward, a finals berth is certainly a big one. Will Ken be prepared to take a risk big enough to chase it?
Bring on Saturday.