Port Adelaide need Paddy Ryder back after slumping to second-straight loss with makeshift ruck department

PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley clearly had a plan to beat Geelong but while the players seemed to execute it, there was still one glaring deficiency in their game — the absence of All-Australian ruckman Paddy Ryder.

A disappointed Travis Boak after the loss. Picture: Sarah Reed

PORT Adelaide is not Hawthorn. But the Power had good reason to lean on the Hawks’ game plan — with the heavy emphasis on kicking — considering how it unravels Geelong.

And it was brave of Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley to put a 2:1 call on kicks to handballs at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night considering all that has been said in recent years of the Power players’ disposal efficiency (or lack of it).

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The Oval’s old scoreboard still keeps Australian football simple with the numbers that matter most — Geelong by 34 points. But there will be much noted of how Port Adelaide played the Cats (when there is an end to the debate on how AFL match review officer Michael Christian will deal with Lindsay Thomas’ havoc in his first game for the Power).

At quarter-time — with the kick-to-handball count at 68-31 with Power players patiently holding or controlling possession — the way Hinkley wanted this game played was more blatant than Thomas’ heavy second-term bump on Scott Selwood.

The Power didn’t play their usual run and gun game against the Cats, instead trying to kick their way to victory.

At halftime it was 126-66. No coincidence that. Kick, kick, handball, kick, kick ... interesting.

Critically, this theme also meant that while Port Adelaide was holding possession, Geelong was significantly down on its disposal count — another “win” for Hinkley’s pre-game planning.

Well, almost a win had the Power players been more efficient with their kicks inside-50 — as Hawthorn can be.

At three quarter-time, the count was 186-116 on a 60-50 third quarter and perhaps a rethink at halftime as Hinkley dealt with a nine-point deficit — and needing to win rather than just hold the Cats’ tails.

It finished at 239-148 — and a total disposal count of 388 for the Power compared with Geelong’s 348. Clearly, the Cats know much more about disposal efficiency.

Hamish Hartlett was stretchered from the field but remarkably returned later in the game.

As effective as the “2:1” model was in working Geelong into a slower game in the first half, there is still something more menacing about the Power run-and-handball way — as there was with Sam Gray’s quick steps through traffic early in the third term to score his first goal.

Port Adelaide has shown it is prepared to work more than one game. But it is still short of one specialist ruckman.

Dougal Howard was to be a ruckman again on Saturday night. He was the lead-off ruckman to cover the loss of All-Australian Patrick Ryder — ahead of Justin Westhoff and Charlie Dixon (and Billy Frampton in the SANFL) — until the bloodied exit of defender Hamish Hartlett early in the second term forced Howard to return to defensive duties.

A disappointed Travis Boak after the loss. Picture: Sarah Reed

Westhoff became the ruckman again — rather than the “everywhere” man doing everything — while Howard dealt with the new Fijian cult figure, Esava Ratugolea ... until Hartlett remarkably returned after halftime. Regardless of how the ruck dance cards fall among Howard and Westhoff, it is all so makeshift.

Ryder told The Advertiser on Thursday that he is progressing soundly with his recovery from left Achilles tendinitis, but “I’m not pinpointing a return game”.

Ryder has missed four games now. The Power is 2-2 in those matches. And the kick will never go out of the debate on Hinkley’s thinking on how to cover Ryder.

Originally published as Port Adelaide need Paddy Ryder back after slumping to second-straight loss with makeshift ruck department