The Lowdown: The likes and dislikes from Round 6 of South Australian football
The Power’s old wounds were opened by the Pies yet again at the MCG, and their profile shows their biggest weakness hasn’t been fixed yet. LIKES and DISLIKES from round 6.
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The Crows were dudded by another close call at the Adelaide Oval and the Power soundly beaten by the reigning premiers at the MCG, making for an unhappy week of football at the top level for South Australia.
There’s still plenty to like alongside the dislikes this week in The Lowdown.
LIKES
1. Josh Worrell
There’s not a lot to Crow about for Adelaide at the moment. But one problem the Crows don’t have is in Josh Worrell’s ability to play at the level. Tom Doedee’s move to Brisbane was seen as a blow to the Crows, especially by those not in South Australia, but there was a reason why there wasn’t any real panic at West Lakes, and that was Worrell. When Doedee went down with his ACL injury last year, Worrell came in and showed more than enough that he could fill that third tall defender role. So far in 2024 the Crows have not missed Doedee at all, with Worrell extremely impressive this year. Against Essendon he had 21 disposals, had eight intercept possessions and went at 90 per cent disposal efficiency.
2. Jase Burgoyne
The son-of-a-gun might just be finally cementing a spot at Port Adelaide. Yes Travis Boak has been out and could return this week but against Collingwood Burgoyne put in a performance that suggests he will be hard to shift from a wing for the Power. For the second week in a row he had 21 disposals, a career high, and at the MCG he went at 81 per cent disposal efficiency as well as covering the fifth most distance of anyone on the ground – impressive given the Power’s capitulation after the first quarter. Burgoyne impressed when he played the final eight games of 2022, his debut campaign at the Power, but he played just the five games last year. Even after a strong pre-season he looked to be on the outer when the season actually started but he has well and truly forced his way into Ken Hinkley’s plans.
3. Adelaide’s response to non-call
The Crows have had some practice when it comes to not being awarded a game, and season-defining call. So it is in some ways not surprising that key figures like Matthew Nicks and Adam Kelly refused to use the non-free kick the Crows should have received when Essendon’s Sam Draper dived on the ball in the dying seconds as an excuse for why they lost. If Taylor Walker did get a shot at goal after the siren and did win the game for the Crows, the Bombers would have felt like they were robbed – so poor were Adelaide for most of the game. It won’t please the angry Crows supporters but the focus at West Lakes can’t be on Adelaide being robbed again. The focus needs to be on why a side that looked so promising in 2023 is looking so average in 2024.
DISLIKES
1. Is this just the Crows?
Maybe the footy world got caught up in the hype around the Crows ahead of this season. Maybe the Crows themselves got caught up in the hype and just thought the jump to finals contenders would happen. As mentioned previously the Crows would have stolen a victory on Friday night against Essendon, and were lucky that the Bombers were so inaccurate in front of goal otherwise the game would have been iced early on. Looking at the Crows side on Friday night there’s about six to eight players that you would still have question marks around if they are at the level and can become good AFL players. That’s too many for a team that wants to play finals. Veteran players are also just not performing. Adelaide said that if it doesn’t make finals this year then it would want to have a reason why. Maybe it is as simple as the Crows are just not a finals team and 2023 fuelled some ultimately misguided hope.
2. Is this just the Power?
So far Port Adelaide have played three teams that weren’t in the top eight last year winning those games and two that were and lost those two. Hinkley said post-game the 42-point loss to Collingwood at the MCG was a “reality check that there’s a gap that we’re chasing still”. It is early on in the season but already the Power are being labelled as flat track bullies and it is again going to be hard to argue against that. Somehow the Power lost to Melbourne in Round 3 despite statistical domination and then had a 31-point lead eventually become a 42-point loss on Saturday at the MCG. The Pies have been slow to get going this year but showed why they are reigning premiers after the Power’s fast start. And Port just could not go with them at all. After the demolition of Essendon in Gather Round, and then finding a way against Fremantle, it looked like the Power had all the hallmarks of a top four team this year. Now we have questions about what to make of Port Adelaide this year.
3. Defence alarm bells
During pre-season the big focus at Alberton was on the Power’s defence. Last year, Port leaked like a sieve at the start of season and then in the run-in and finals and the coaching staff identified that this was the big issue with the game plan. Esava Ratugolea and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher were brought into strengthen the defence as well. Six games into the season and the stats say that this issue has not been addressed and the same alarm bells are ringing at Alberton. The Power’s score per inside 50 against percentage for 2024 is ranked 14th in the competition and its points against from turnovers of 44.3 is ninth this year. All of the last 10 premiers have ranked in the top six for this measure, so that’s a huge worry for the Power – who are also struggling with its turnover game from intercept chains.
AND THE LOWDOWN ON …
SA footy fans, especially ones of the Crows, got excited last week when it was reported that Jack Lukosius was viewed as “gettable” by rival clubs. The Crows have been linked to Lukosius almost ever since he was drafted by Gold Coast in 2018, while the presence of good friend Connor Rozee as Port Adelaide captain also has the Power consistently mentioned as a potential suitor for the Woodville-West Torrens product.
It’s understandable why Crows fans would be excited about the potential prospect of Lukosius, given that Taylor Walker is near the end of his career and his understudies have largely failed to inspire confidence about the future of Adelaide’s forward line. But those hoping for a Lukosius homecoming at the end of the year are set to be extremely disappointed. On top of the contract he has until the end of 2026, it is understood Lukosius is loving life on the Gold Coast. He might have been shaken at the reports he was “gettable” and playing in defence might not be his preference. But the Suns have told him he is firmly in their long-term plans, and it looks like there is something special on the way on the Gold Coast.
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Originally published as The Lowdown: The likes and dislikes from Round 6 of South Australian football
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