Last year, Brad Ebert was a breath of fresh air for the Port Adelaide Football Club coming over from the West Coast Eagles.
Critics suggested he should’ve won the Best and Fairest last season at the Power. This year as vice-captain Brad has been one of the most consistent Power midfielders.
He has a steady average of 21.5 disposals a game (with a 59% Disposal efficiency) Brad Ebert’s disposal average this year has a -1.5 difference from last year’s.
Ebert has also been one of Port Adelaide’s most disciplined players averaging less than 0.5 frees against, per game in 2013.
This year Brad Ebert started with a flyer having 30 disposals in Round 1.
Now in recent games he has been quieter because he is floating into the backline.
Hinkley could be using this as a tactical move to cover Jasper Pittard’s position as a small running defender.
Ebert’s defensive pressure has been great this year as it was last year. second on the Power’s tackle count, Ebert has collected 48 tackles (5 behind Cornes).
Nevertheless Ebert’s efforts through the midfield are still highly contributing to the team. Kane Cornes and Ebert are the fuel to the fire of the Port Adelaide midfield engine of Boak, Wines and Wingard.
Next Port Adelaide game, observe Ebert and how he supplies the ball to someone who feeds the ball inside 50.
When Cornes came out as an unexpected winner for Port Adelaide’s Best and Fairest 2012 many critics believed Brad should’ve won the award.
Players like Travis Boak and Justin Westhoff will be high in the Best and Fairest tally for Power but don’t be surprised if you see Brad Ebert with a high amount of votes too.
His season is mirroring much of what Kane Cornes’ was last year; a player who gained possession of the ball, didn’t get as much recognition as other players and did his part for the team.
There is no doubt that Ebert can still add another level to his game this year. Journalists have criticised Brad Ebert for his lack of ability to change a game around or lift the team when they need it.
These critics forget to mention he looks to be one of the only players who has played at least 38/40 quarters this year, compared to many other players who’ve only played 30/40 quarters of football.
The second half of the year has a lot in store for the Power including a tough draw ahead.
Port Adelaide faces Sydney, Collingwood, Essendon and Hawthorn in that order.
The second half of the year will show where Port Adelaide is at, compared to the big clubs of the league and how much improving they will have to do, to eventually compete for a top four spot in the future.
Huge challenges lay ahead for the team which means huge challenges also for the players including Brad Ebert. Ebert is due for another huge disposal count, he also has a chance to silence his critics and possibly even help lead the team to an upset victory.
MFairPlay
Roar Guru
Brad collected 30 disposals, 5 clearances (from memory), at least 4 score involvements including 1 assist on the weekend.
Kevin Martin
Roar Rookie
good article Ben ... I endorse Kerry's comments
Kevin Martin
Roar Rookie
I'm with Franko... Port Adelaide Football Club fathers have their kids play at Port Adelaide Football Club, the same club!!!! Crows can have the others! Funny Crow fans putting shite this week on Kane breaking the games record - saying he's useless etc ... bet they wished they had him .... Incidentally in both years Crows had draft picks before Port so both Cornes could have gone to West Lakes not Alberton!
Franko
Guest
Indeed, I am not interested in F/S from West Adelaide, Woodville, Centrals etc. In fact the Crows can have the lot of them.
Kerry
Guest
Hi Ben It is a pleasure to read a well researched and thoughtful article about the Power. I agree that Brad is very important to the team both on the field and on the training track.. He is a thoroughly professional footballer.I look forward to hearing more from you as we make our way through a pretty tough few weeks ahead. Go the Power. Kind Regards Kerry Smith
johno
Guest
Maybe if Port said stuff the other SANFL teams we just want the Port Magpies F/S's the AFL would then drop the requirements to 100 games. 4 more years and this will all go away.
Franko
Guest
Johno, I'm not asking for the SANFL to feed in to Port. I am asking for Port Adelaide Football Club fathers to have their kids play at Port Adelaide Football Club, the same club!!!!
Napo
Guest
A good breakdown of the stats Ben. I really admire Ebert's steady approach to the game. You would be surprised how important he actually is to the side. Keep up the stories, they are great
johno
Guest
The rules were extremely biased because SA and WA had more SANFL and WAFL teams feeding father/sons. But West Coasts WAFL teams and Adelaide's SANFL teams are now no longer part of their F/S picks and Freo has until 2015 before their WAFL associations end. Freo have only ever used father son to get Brett Peake. Adelaide have never used it, but will reportedly use it to get Darren Jarmans kid in a few years time. Ports F/S ends in 2017. I don't believe Gold Coast or GWS have any such allegiances. At the end of the day the kid can always say no - ala Marc Murphy and Brisbane (or Mark Bairstow telling the cats to get stuffed even though non of his kids have played AFL anyway) Brandon Matera for the Suns was 4 games shy of being a f/s for Freo. His dad played 146 games for South Freo - now that would have p**sed off West Coast fans
Franko
Guest
I know what the rules are but my point is - they are grossly unfair. Mark Williams played 115 games for Port and coached over 250 games, as well as his father playing 150 games and coaching 19 years yet the next generation of Williams are tied to Collingwood due to his 135 VFL games there. How is that fair? When you talk Glenelg you get on dodgy ground because the crows are in fact not Glenelg, having said that I think the Cornballs missed out due to their father having not given 10 years service to the Crows. For Vics to understand this, it is like a young Whitten not being eligible to be FS pick at Footscray, or a Hird ineligible for Essendon, crazy stuff. Jonathan Browns father played 51 games for Fitzroy and they got him FS… Thankfully we have Brad now, he’ll be our next captain make no mistake.
Chaos
Guest
I was disapointed to see Ebert leave West Coast. ... Franko the requirement for Father-son for SANFL for Port is they can select any player whose father has made 200 SANFL appearances prior to 1997 until 2015. As such Ebert missed the criteria by 29 games. The rules were byst to the old VFL. As such Byrce Gibbs dad played 253 games for Glenelg but the rules for Adelaide where they could select any player whose father made 200 SANFL appearances prior to 1990. However he didn't reach the 200 game milestone before the Crows entered the AFL. I'm not sure why Adelaide didn't try and recruit the Cornes under the father son rule. I guess the rules were different and they didn't qualify.
Franko
Guest
I know it is slightly off-topic but how Brad Ebert could miss father-son is beyond me. His Great-Grandfather played 164 games for port, his grandfather played 200, dad played 112, his uncle 171, his other uncle 392, and cousins 58 and 100+ games. Not to mention 5 magarey medals between them, coaching and countless premierships. (It’s over 1200 games in the family) The same is to be said for Mark Williams, whose children are not eligible for Port, but are for either Brisbane or Collingwood (can’t remember which). Back to the story – Yes Brad is playing very well and should serve 8-10 more years of quality for the club. Always looks as though he is giving 100%, which for the current lot, is all you can ask.