Mick McGuane: The players and coaches under the spotlight in Showdown

The heat is coming for Port Adelaide after its disastrous after-the-siren loss in the Showdown. These are the players leading analyst Mick McGuane says Ken Hinkley badly needs more from.

Friday night is footy’s biggest stage and this week three of the four teams had nowhere to hide.

Port Adelaide’s after-the-siren loss to the Crows has left Ken Hinkley and his players badly exposed at 0-3 and his their top-four dreams in tatters.

Yes, it’s only three rounds into the season but here these the players and coach coming under serious heat according to leading analyst Mick McGuane.

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PORT ADELAIDE

Connor Rozee

The greatest challenge for any player is to re-establish themselves each year, particularly when you’re a young player that’s had a great year.

Rozee comes to mind as someone who has not been able to re-establish himself based on what we’ve seen in the first two games.

He’s averaging 9 disposals (down from 16), 0.5 forward 50 ground balls (down from 1.6) and 4 score involvements (down from 5.2).

For a talented young player with the speed that he’s got, he’s had three front-half tackles for the year.

Is he preoccupied with just being an attacking player only?

Leigh Matthews used to say to us, ‘Players with renowned speed must bring chase and tackle intent and it must be immediate’.

It’s not immediate for some of these Port Adelaide forwards like Rozee.

Port Adelaide’s Connor Rozee is so talented but needs to re-establish himself this year. Picture: Getty Images

Mitch Georgiades

It has not been an easy start for Georgiades, who is getting more opposition attention without Charlie Dixon on the park.

I rate him highly and have previously stated he has the talent to be a future Coleman medallist capable of kicking 60 goals in a year.

That assessment was based on a reliable goal kicking technique which turned shots into goals.

But Georgiades has had six shots on goal in the first two weeks and has kicked one major.

For a widely-renowned beautiful kick, he has got to assume the responsibility and convert those opportunities when he gets his chance.

Todd Marshall

Like Georgiades, Marshall carries a huge expectation and is a player with enormous upside as an aerial threat in Port’s attacking 50.

He’s got the capacity to grab a game by the throat.

With Dixon sidelined, Marshall had a chance to own his position in the team.

But to this point, he hasn’t taken the bull by the horns.

After two rounds, Marshall rates poor among key forwards for disposals and one-on-ones and below average for forward-50 marks and goals.

In his sixth season, it is time for Marshall to step up and become a beacon for his team in the forward-50.

Port Adelaide’s Todd Marshall needs to be a beacon for his team inside-50. Picture: Getty Images

Jeremy Finlayson

It wasn’t a great surprise to see the former Giant dropped for the Showdown.

Finlayson was recruited to the club as another opportunistic tall forward but didn’t kick a goal in the first two weeks when the Power need him to.

Coach Ken Hinkley has given Finlayson some things to go back and work on in the SANFL, after admitting his forward was “not in good form”.

At GWS, Finlayson looked to have great understanding and spatial awareness, but he doesn’t look well suited to Port’s deep-entry game style.

He’s not the contested mark that Dixon is and instead needs good isolation and separation from his opponent.

When he comes back, does Hinkley think about another position for Finlayson to maximise his talent?

Ollie Wines

Yes, I know Wines won the Brownlow Medal last year.

But just for a moment, let’s compare him to Gold Coast’s Touk Miller, who plays a similar role.

This year, Miller is averaging marginally more disposals than Wines (33.5 to 32.5), but almost twice as many contested possessions (17 to 9.5), significantly more metres gained (789m to 477m) and more than double the clearances (8.5 to 3.5).

Miller has also had 14 inside 50s, with the Suns retaining 66 per cent of them.

Wines has had 10 inside-50s, with a 40 per cent retention rate.

As much as Wines is finding the ball, Hinkley would be challenging him to be better with his ball use, particularly going inside-50.

Hitting up a forward when on the run is what separates the best from the rest.

Reigning Brownlow Medal winner Ollie Wines has not been at his damaging best for Port Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

The Key Defenders

On the back of Aliir Aliir’s injury, it is up to one of Tom Jonas, Trent McKenzie or Ryan Burton to take their games up a gear this week.

Aliir finished third in the Power’s best-and-fairest count last year and was the No. 3 ranked player in the competition for intercepts between the arcs.

They are big shoes to fill, but Port has to do its best to fill them if it wants to win the Showdown.

ADELAIDE

Matthew Nicks

I’ve seen a distinct style change from the Crows under third-year coach Matthew Nicks this year.

They are clearly wanting to increase their marks so their defence does not get hurt on turnover.

Last year, they ranked 18th in the competition for uncontested marks.

This year, they are ranked fourth.

Against Collingwood last week, the players too often did what they wanted the coach to do and tried to find the uncontested mark, when they could have instead pulled the trigger and attacked the game.

The slow and predictable ball use only helped Collingwood set up the ground defensively.

It appears to have been a slight overcorrection from the Crows.

With the talented young players they’ve got, I would be looking to go back to a little bit more corridor play and get the ball inside-50 more quickly to give their forwards a chance.

Let’s see if Nicks releases the shackles somewhat and allows his youngsters to play the game on its merits.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks needs to release the shackles on his team. Picture: Getty Images

Matthew Crouch

Crouch has got an incredible appetite for the footy.

He’s averaging 29.5 disposals this season.

But let’s compare him to a similar player who has changed his game this year in Carlton’s Patrick Cripps.

Cripps is averaging only slightly more disposals than Crouch (32.5 to 29.5), but has had more than twice as many clearances (9.5 to 4.5) and almost three times more metres gained (592m to 195m). Cripps and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca would be joint leaders of the Brownlow after the first 2 rounds.

Crouch provides leadership and ball-winning ability, but if he can orchestrate better depth in his game and become a more damaging player out of clearance, it would help the Crows immensely.

The Young Forwards

Riley Thilthorpe had a stinker against Fremantle in Round 1 and was consequently dropped last week.

He’s still a young and developing key forward, but without Taylor Walker in the team he finds himself in the position as the No. 1 man in attack.

The Crows lacked a key target against Collingwood last week, which is why Thilthorpe must return for the Showdown.

In the absence of Walker, can Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty and Eliott Himmelberg complement each other?

For them to challenge the Power’s key defenders getting isolation and separation is paramount. Without Aliir and Tom Clurey to contend with, there is no better to chance for this trio of Crows to announce themselves as key forwards of the future.

FINAL THOUGHT: In Friday night footy, there is nowhere to hide.

Originally published as Mick McGuane: The players and coaches under the spotlight in Showdown