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We have overrated Port Adelaide

Expert
21st May, 2015
31
2084 Reads

Throughout this season, Port Adelaide have frequently been referred to as a member of the ‘Big Four’. The truth is, they don’t deserve to be bracketed with Fremantle, Hawthorn and Sydney.

The pundits and fans who have put them in that elite group have been a shade generous. Or, perhaps, they have just been seduced by the manner in which Port started and ended the 2014 season. That certainly is understandable.

After Round 14 of last year, the Power were atop the ladder with an 11-2 record and a percentage of just under 150. Given in 2012 they won just five games all season, their rise was truly startling.

Port’s finals efforts were even more incredible. First they manhandled Richmond, smashing the red-hot Tigers by 57 points. Then they engineered perhaps the biggest upset of September in defeating Fremantle by 22 points in Perth.

Finally, they were just a skerrick of luck away from beating Hawthorn and facing Sydney in the grand final.

It was a brilliant September by Port, and one which justifiably prompted many people to label them as major premiership threats this year.

But what happened in the nine rounds before the finals, and in the seven games since, has to be considered when judging just where the Power sit among the AFL’s top teams. Of those 16 games, they have lost 10.

In analysing Port’s poor performance over those periods, Fox Footy’s On The Couch revealed some damning statistics:

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  • Port had won only 11 quarters of football in 2015, ranking them equal 12th in the competition.
  • Port had conceded 60 inside 50s this season, the most in the AFL.
  • Port were averaging 18.7 fewer points for and 13.3 more points against than last season.

The second of these statistics is most illustrative of their struggles. Opposing teams are having nary a problem cruising down the ground and launching the ball into Port’s defensive 50-metre arc. The manner in which the lowly Brisbane Lions did so last week was gobsmacking.

Brisbane, so horribly inept for most of this season, suddenly appeared to be a perfectly-programmed unit of footy-bots, carrying out attacking forays with the precision and speed of a computer processor. The confidence and calm they exhibited in moving the ball forward was a by-product of the shameful lack of pressure applied by the Port players.

This is a Power side which made its name as an ultra-fit group whose players traversed the turf like thoroughbreds. The most vivid image of Port at their best last year is of black-white-and-teal tsunami sweeping down the ground.

And while they were a wonderfully potent attacking side, this overwhelming movement of Port players was bidirectional. The same footballers who sprinted into the forward line showed similar desperation in darting back to assist their defenders.

This manic effort has disappeared through large parts of Port’s games this year, as it did regularly during the last nine rounds of the 2014 season, and coach Ken Hinkley clearly is frustrated by the trend.

A fine defender during his time playing for Geelong, Hinkley is well aware how important it is for midfielders to help out the back six. Too many Port players have become preoccupied with seeking the glory associated with bursting down the ground and having an impact on the scoreboard.

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The ‘Big Three’, as they should be known, rarely have such issues. Fremantle, Sydney and Hawthorn are the most disciplined and best organised defensive units in the AFL.

Until Port can match that facet of the game, they should not be bracketed with them.

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