Alberton scratch match looks better for Port than the Crows | Graham Cornes
You can’t tell much from a trial game but Sam Powell-Pepper won’t be the only one with something to think about this weekend, writes Graham Cornes.
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It started as a bruise-free trial game but it didn’t take long for the competitive juices to fuel the aggression.
The Irishman, Mark Keane, who has looked so impressive, got flattened in the first quarter and will probably have to enter the concussion protocol.
That’s bad news for Sam Powell-Pepper who will have to confront the AFL’s stringent new attitudes to headhigh contact.
Not that long ago, in another football era, it would have been applauded as a fair bump – but not today.
Nobody really likes trial games – except perhaps the coaches.
Even then they would much prefer to get on with the real stuff.
What do they hope to get out of it? “No injuries”, would be the most common reply. You can add “no reports” to the wish list as well
There was nothing riding on Friday night’s trial game between Port Adelaide and the Crows, although someone must have forgotten to tell the Alberton crowd there was nothing riding on the game.
The Port fans brought their vociferous best to their spiritual home.
The Crows fans turned out in decent numbers too. However, it was a much more family-friendly atmosphere than you get at a normal AFL game.
Both coaches, Ken Hinkley and Matthew Nicks, know by now what their line-ups will be for the opening round. There will be minor tinkering but what we saw on Friday night, in the first three quarters at least, won’t change much for the first game of the season.
It looked very much like both teams started with their strongest line-ups.
Fans of both teams want to see improvement and both teams need to improve if they are to advance further than they did last season.
Port’s dismal exit from the 2023 has impacted on the club.
Their notoriously impatient members who sometimes occupy an alternative universe, demand change and they demand success, as if it’s a commodity that can be dialled up and delivered by MenuLog.
If Friday night is an indication, that improvement may be imminent. Port’s football department has been working overtime during the summer break. For a team that had serious deficiencies in three of the four key areas, Port did remarkably well to finish in the top four in 2023. But it all came crashing down in September. Your weaknesses will be fearfully exposed in September.
With injury to, and inconsistent form of Scott Lycett they struggled in the ruck. In defence, they were lacking one tall defender.
And in the forward line, injuries to Charlie Dixon, Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall constantly disrupted their forward line structure.
Too much was left to Jeremy Finlayson who tired towards the end of the year.
But there is much to like about the form of the newcomer Ivan Soldo who relished his opportunity to play in the ruck on Friday night.
Soldo won’t be complaining about trial games because his form looks certain to give him another AFL opportunity.
But there is also Jordon Sweet, who wasn’t going to play second fiddle to Soldo. Both ruckmen competed strongly against Riley O’Brien but Soldo perhaps has greater flexibility to go forward.
In defence in 2023, Port always appeared to be too small.
They were lacking a third tall intercept marking defender. But they have managed to pry Esava Ratugolea away from Geelong.
He was quietish on night Friday – almost as if the confines of Alberton Oval were strange to him and beneath his talents, but he has impressed all since arriving at the club and is one player who can make Port a better team. Brandon Zirk-Thatcher was the big surprise.
He stood Taylor Walker on Friday night and more than held his own.
Expectations weren’t particularly high when he walked into Alberton for the pre-season but he has made the coaching staff notice him for the right reasons and it will be hard to leave him out in the opening round.
Friday night didn’t solve Port’s forward line issues.
In 2023 it was a constant work-in-progress, and Charlie Dixon who at his best is their key forward, is not completely free of injury.
He rarely gets an easy kick and restricted as he sometimes is, finds difficulty to get separation from his opposing defender.
Mitch Georgiades is back but will need more time.
The most impressive performance from a Port forward came from young Tom Scully in the fifth and sixth periods.
But he’s unlikely to unseat Dixon, Marshall or Lord. Still, with the improvement in defence and the ruck and their truly elite midfield, Port should again be a contender.
The Crows starting midfield was O’Brien, Dawson, Laird and Rankine.
That big-bodied, explosive midfielder that they desperately need was nowhere to be seen. There is no doubt that Izak Rankine who seems certain to rotate more often through the centre is explosive and he can find the ball, but he is not big-bodied.
Besides, he is of much more value in the forward line.
Small forwards of his class are difficult to find and it can be argued they are the most important player in today’s football teams.
Think Eddie Betts, Bobbie Hill, Charlie Cameron, Tom Papley. At halftime a former Crows champ stopped to chat as he walked by.
“It’s still the midfield isn’t it”, he said with an air of resignation.
Still, they do lay it all on the line for their coach and Jake Soligo is to come back, but the growth and improvement will have to come organically – that word again.
The under-fire and undersized defence took another hit with the injury to Mark Keane but the one player who caught the eye – again – was James Borlase.
I like this young man.
It’s a football disgrace that he is still on the rookie list.
Surely with the team’s stocks in tall defenders so low, he must be given an opportunity.
Crows fans expecting to catch an early glimpse of their first-round draft pick Dan Curtin were disappointed.
He did make an appearance later when the heat had gone out of the game and the stars had been subbed off.
He took a nice mark but we saw little of him. It’s not such a bad thing.
He’s still young, still growing into his football body. He may still be a chance to play in the opening round but better to give him time.
He has plenty of that.
The most positive thing to emerge from the match from the Crows perspective was the form of Riley Thilthorpe.
He looks bigger and stronger and threatens to make one of the competition’s best forward lines, even stronger.
In the end it was a trial game, played over six quarters in windy conditions.
Port won but it means very little, other than their fans went home happy. From the flimsy conclusions you can draw from a trial game, Port look to have improved overall; the Crows not so much.
Hope I’m wrong.
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