Port Adelaide must stop playing dull footy to save its season, writes Matthew Lloyd
PORT Adelaide has become a safe, conservative football side and it’s getting them nowhere but coach Ken Hinkley can save the season by flicking the switch, writes MATTHEW LLOYD.
Matthew Lloyd
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THE time has come for Ken Hinkley to release the handbrake on his Port Adelaide side.
The Power’s season is slipping away; they have lost four of their past five games and are averaging a paltry 67 points a match in that time.
Last week’s after-the-siren loss to West Coast should not have come as a major shock to anybody — they had it coming given the manner in which they are playing their football.
Port Adelaide has become a safe, conservative football side.
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Against the Eagles, the Power kicked their final goal last week at the nine-minute mark of the third quarter to go 28 points up.
This was a game played in front of a parochial home crowd against an Eagles side missing Nic Naitanui, Josh Kennedy and Andrew Gaff.
Port had troubles of their own, losing Paddy Ryder and Charlie Dixon. But how do you excuse the fact that the Power then went 54 minutes without a goal to lose by four points?
They were trying to save the game instead of putting the foot to the floor to win it.
In the end they lost the inside 50 count by 15. They were asking for trouble with their slow and safe ball movement and got what they deserved.
The rot started in Round 17 when Port Adelaide lost to Fremantle by nine points.
If you put scoreboard pressure on the Dockers you win the game as they cannot score and lack key targets.
Port Adelaide was restricted to just 50 points that day.
Hinkley’s team has played on from a mark less than any other side over the past five weeks and while that isn’t everything, it does say a lot about why they are not scoring and why they
couldn’t hold off the Eagles.
In that time, Port has been ranked No.1 for defence, conceding just 66 points a game. But where has it got them?
You cannot hold off teams like Richmond and GWS while scoring fewer than 85 points in a game, so Hinkley has to adjust his thinking and his methods.
Like Geelong for most of this season, the Power look like they are trying to protect their defence by moving the ball slowly.
This restricts the damage the opposition can do to you on the turnover, but also stifles your own ability to score.
This style of play is keeping the Power in games, but not allowing them to put a side away.
Even without Ryder and Dixon, the Power have top-end talent everywhere with the likes of
Robbie Gray, Chad Wingard, Ollie Wines, Justin Westhoff, Travis Boak, Tom Rockliff and
Jared Polec.
Ken Hinkley needs to let them off the leash, along with the inconsistent Steven Motlop and Jack Watts.
If they think they can beat Collingwood trying to contain them, they are kidding themselves.
Jordan De Goey, Jaidyn Stephenson, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Josh Thomas are all in red-hot
goalkicking form, while Brodie Grundy, Steele Sidebottom, Taylor Adams and Scott Pendlebury will keep asking questions of the one-paced Port Adelaide midfield.
Collingwood has gone to the next level this season because of the connection the midfield now has with the forward line.
The speed of ball movement has improved dramatically, which has allowed its dynamic forward line to get out in space in one-on-one contests inside 50m.
There is no reason why Robbie Gray and Chad Wingard couldn’t kick eight goals between them if Hinkley released the shackles on his side and gave them more freedom and authorised controlled risk.
I will never forget the exciting football Port Adelaide was playing in 2014 when they were one kick away from playing in a Grand Final, losing to Hawthorn by three points.
The Power’s best players in that game were Boak, Ebert, Robbie Gray, Hombsch and Jonas, who are all still playing, as well as Wingard who almost got Port over the line in a scintillating last quarter.
Port Adelaide has not won a final since the 2014 first semi, where once again they were just too quick and dynamic for Fremantle in Perth.
Robbie Gray, Wingard and Wines kicked 11 goals between them.
In 2018, the Power have topped 100 points just three times, most recently against the Bulldogs in Round 13.
Their other 100-point games were way back in Rounds 1 and 6.
The benchmark of the competition, Richmond, has kicked 100-points plus 12 times this season.
So I ask the question again: what is Ken Hinkley trying to achieve by playing so conservatively?
Port Adelaide has the talent, but the time has come for Kenny to let them loose.
Instinctive football is always the best football.
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