VFL: Port Melbourne coach Adam Skrobalak reveals where his list needed to improve
Following an extensive list review, Port Melbourne coach Adam Skrobalak has revealed how 14 new recruits will help his side improve in 2024.
Victorian Football
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Firepower was at the top of Port Melbourne coach Adam Skrobalak’s off-season shopping list.
Despite a year that netted six wins, he coach felt his group “weren’t too far off” and just needed to improve in three specific areas.
They first and foremost wanted more avenues to score, then an injection of speed in the middle and intercept ability in defence.
“Even though we only won six games last year, we were in most games,” Skrobalak said.
“It was just patches where we let ourselves down; our end of season review and list review told us that we probably needed to fill a couple of spots.
“Them being a bit of speed around the ball, firepower up forward and some intercept power down back – they’ve been our main areas of focus.
“It’s (the list review) has helped us with our recruiting, instead of bringing in talent as a whole, it’s been certain types of talent to fill in those spots.
“We think we’ve done a really good job so far, now it’s just about putting the team together and bringing in some cohesion.”
Skrobalak knew it was his side’s conversion inside 50 that let them down the most in 2023.
“We averaged 49 inside 50s per game and we were above that (at times) as well, I think we were 53 at one stage, which puts you fifth or sixth in the competition,” he said.
“We slid in that late in the season but our scoring percentage was around 38, the year before it was around 43.
“We lost Fletcher Roberts the year before – he was really good for us – he either won or halved the contest, we lacked another key forward last year.
“Paul Hunter missed a lot of footy with injury, Jordan Lane missed a lot of footy with injury, so Archi Manton was left one-out as a tall and we played younger kids around him.
“We felt we were one or two tall forwards off, so that was probably our biggest one to get done.
“We got it done early and we’re hopefully not far away from getting another one.”
Port Melbourne has not made finals since it finished seventh in 2019 with a 10-1-7 record.
Skrobalak understands the expectation that comes with coaching the Borough, but expects the foundation they’ve set to “do some damage” in years to come.
“I think you expect it when you come into Port Melbourne,” he said.
“I guess the thing around us for the last two years, I understand from the outside people were hoping to rise up quicker, but what we’re trying to do is build a foundation.
“So not only do we want to make finals but when we do we want to be in a position to do some damage.
“We’ve laid a lot of foundations, reset a lot of standards and strengthened the whole program. We’re now in a stage of getting the right people on the list.
“We hope we can really push forward this year, there will certainly be expectation for us and we’re fine by that.”
Finals footy will be even harder to come by in years to come, with SANFL giant Port Adelaide expected to move into the VFL.
However Skrobalak won’t shy away from another AFL aligned club entering the competition, confident his players will be encouraged by the opportunity to play against more of the best players in the country.
“From a Port Melbourne point of view, we want to give our players the opportunity to play against the very best and that’s by staying in the VFL competition and being a threat against anyone we play,” he said.
“We think we’ve made some strong leaps forward so far, obviously the season will be the tail of that, but whoever they bring in, we’re keen to hang around.
“We’re keen to play against the very best and give our players a chance to showcase that and hopefully get a chance at league level.”
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