They might have finished ninth last season, but Port Adelaide have pushed their chips into the middle of the table.
The Power haven’t had a top-35 draft pick since the 2013 draft, when they took Jarman Impey at pick 21, and next year’s second-rounder has already been spent as part of the Charlie Dixon deal.
It’s a calculated risk by the Power. It potentially leaves a hole in the list a couple of years from now, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. For now, the priority is to return to September action.
Are they up to it? A lot of last year’s numbers were indicative of a middle-of-the-road team: seventh in scoring, eighth in points against, seventh for time in forward half, ninth for inside-50 differential, seventh for centre-bounce clearance differential.
Where then, is the Power’s improvement going to come from?
At 27, Robbie Gray and Travis Boak are already at the peak of their powers. Justin Westhoff is 29 and Jay Schulz almost 31. Hamish Hartlett’s mighty right leg could shift the Earth’s orbit, but at 25 and with 112 games under his belt, he should be a better player by now.
Young guns Chad Wingard and Ollie Wines certainly have scope for improvement, as does 23-year-old key defender Jack Hombsch. While two of the most important players for Port Adelaide loom as Jared Polec and off-season recruit Dixon.
Polec doesn’t scream difference maker, but players who can break the lines and penetrate by foot are worth their weight in gold. After an impressive 2014 season, he managed only five games last year. When healthy, Polec makes Port better.
Just how Dixon will function in partnership with fellow deep forward Jay Schulz remains to be seen. He does, however, address a weakness: Port were tenth at winning one-on-one contests in attack last season (as per Champion Data) and Dixon is one of the game’s best in that area.
The injury-prone goliath won 42.6 per cent of his one-on-one contests in 2015, the same number as big Cat Tom Hawkins and slightly below Travis Cloke’s mark of 44.3 per cent. If he can stay on the park, he should make the Power more potent offensively – they ranked 14th for converting an inside 50 into a score in 2015.
Can they cover the loss of Patrick Ryder? Matthew Lobbe is a capable ruckman, but he’s not the dynamic footballer Ryder is. However, Port were a better clearance team in 2014 when Lobbe was the number one tapman, so they’re not giving too much away at the stoppages.
As disappointing as 2015 was, Port weren’t a long way off the mark. They were 2-0 against the Hawks and were one of only a few teams to push the Dockers when Ross Lyon’s charges were red-hot in the early stages of the season. And they were 3-5 in games decided by 1-12 points.
There’s no doubting the talent at the top of the list. Gray and Wingard are stars – arguably both top-five players at their position – and skipper Boak is an A-grade leader and footballer. Wines has A-grade potential. After that, there are a lot of middling to good footballers – a few of whom have at times been very good.
This is an important season for Port Adelaide. The feelgood factor of 2013-14 has worn off and the club has invested heavily in the now. Expectations are high inside and out.
It won’t be an easy climb, though. Geelong, Greater Western Sydney and Collingwood – who filled the three spots below Port – all look improved teams and the teams that finished third to eighth won’t surrender their finals positions meekly.
Port’s best footy is certainly good enough to push them into the eight and even towards the top four. Just how often they’re capable of performing to that level is the question that remains to be answered.
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