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Will the real Port Adelaide please stand up?
Is it the team that beat Hawthorn twice last year? Or is it the side that lost to Brisbane and Carlton, clubs that only won four games each for the season?
Port were the feel-good story of 2013, made a thrilling run through the finals in 2014, and were all the rage for the flag this time last year, a season in which they did not spend one minute sitting in the eight. So, where to from here?
CAM’S ESSENDON BOMBERS PREVIEW
CAM’S CARLTON BLUES PREVIEW
CAM’S BRISBANE LIONS PREVIEW
CAM’S ST KILDA SAINTS PREVIEW
Let’s have a look at their best side, bearing in mind they don’t have access to Paddy Ryder or Angus Monfries after their suspension due to the Essendon drugs saga.
| B: | Jack Hombsch | Alipate Carlile | Jarman Impey | |
| HB: | Matthew Broadbent | Jackson Trengove | Jasper Pittard | |
| C: | Hamish Hartlett | Ollie Wines | Jared Polec | |
| HF: | Sam Gray | Justin Westhoff | Robbie Gray | |
| F: | Jay Schulz | Charlie Dixon | Chad Wingard | |
| Foll: | Matthew Lobbe | Brad Ebert | Travis Boak | |
| Int: | Nathan Krakouer | Matt White | Tom Jonas | Aaron Young |
| Emerg: | Brendon Ah Chee | Jake Neade | Jimmy Toumpas |
The back six looks like good enough on paper, but it’s hardly award-winning. There is a decent set of talls back there, and nice versatility in the smalls.
The talls are all good, solid defenders, but don’t provide much attacking flair. Jack Hombsch is arguably the pick of these, even if he is the youngest. Most things he does are impressive, but he could do with backing himself even further.
Jackson Trengove looked like becoming a genuine gun three years ago, but hasn’t gone to the next level. Alipate Carlile often takes the biggest key forward from the opposition, so the other two need to get off the chain a bit more.
Jasper Pittard provides most of the run, and most of the heart palpitations for Power fans. Taking the game on is an admirable trait, but his decision-making needs to mature. Maybe it will as he turns 25.
Matthew Broadbent provides the grit and length in ball use. Jarman Impey plays the small defender role, but also doesn’t win enough ball, and probably doesn’t use it well enough when he does.
With Impey and the three talls only averaging about 12 disposals a game, it’s not enough in the day of rebound-from-defence footy. You can carry a couple of low possession winners back there, but not four.
Nathan Krakouer and Tom Jonas, good players, are also there to run through the backline when required, so Port do have some depth in that area.
The Power midfield appears to be a great mix, with plenty of class and plenty of grunt. Why then have they been less than the sum of their collective parts over the last season and a half?
The midfield is led by Travis Boak, a very good player but not a great one. He does have that intangible quality that sees him lift at big moments for his team though. Ollie Wines is a lot of people’s favourite, and how can you not love him. He’s a captain-in-waiting if ever there was one.
Hamish Hartlett has tantalised with some exceptional football over the years, but we must still say he hasn’t capitalised on his talent. He did lift his defensive game last year though. Brad Ebert is a good ordinary player, as Jack Dyer might have said. Jared Polec’s run was sorely missed last season, and he will be welcomed back.
Matthew Lobbe is an honest goer, but not in the top half dozen ruckmen in the league.
The player that sparks Port’s engine more than any other is the best midfielder-forward in the game, Robbie Gray. His last two years have been superb, regardless of whether his team has been in a peak or trough.
His namesake Sam Gray may get a chance to cement his spot this season, in the absence of Monfries. Chad Wingard is one of the league’s magicians, for reasons explained in Ryan Buckland’s article from Wednesday.
The tall forward mix is going to be one of the talking points of the Power season, with ex-Sun Charlie Dixon joining Jay Schulz and Justin Westhoff.
Dixon and Schulz are cut from a similar cloth, both at their best as straight-running, hard-leading full-forwards, in possession of a beautiful set shot when ‘on’. Dixon is more of a pack-buster, while Schulz is a more athletic leaper.
They don’t appear the obvious fit as key forward partners, so how they work together will be telling.
Justin Westhoff is the best swingman in the game, albeit he alternates between the forward-line and playing loose man in defence rather than taking a man. It’s an indictment on Port’s three tall defenders and their midfield that he is so often required down back.
The Power have some measure of experience outside their best 22 with the likes of Paul Stewart, Cam O’Shea, Kane Mitchell and Jimmy Toumpas with over 200 games between them. Toumpas has looked good in the early stages of the NAB Challenge, and is staking his claim for a spot in Round 1.
In home-and-away matches from Round 13, 2014 to Round 16, 2015 Port only won ten of 26. They did win six of their last seven last year to take momentum into the off-season, picking off wins against stragglers like Essendon, St Kilda, Greater Western Sydney (who were finished by then), Gold Coast and Peel Thunder.
Do we overrate the Power players based on the spread of talent that we see, demanding a consistency they’re not capable of? Perhaps Ken Hinkley isn’t that great a coach, despite the acclaim he received for rejuvenating a club on its absolute knees.
Ultimately, a coach becomes a victim of expectation. While Hinkley over-delivered to the extreme in his first year and a half, his time since then has been underwhelming. Port were downright poor too often in 2015.
If the bookies are to be believed, Port are expected to bounce back and play finals this year. There’s no doubt they’re capable of it. But perhaps they’re equally capable of a further slide.
Predicted ladder spread: 8th-15th
Predicted finish: 14th
Best and fairest: Robbie Gray
Leading goalkicker: Chad Wingard
All-Australian potential: Robbie Gray, Chad Wingard, Jack Hombsch
Rising Star candidates: Maybe Riley Bonner