Opinion
We’ve heard in the media talk about all these big signings such as Adam Treloar, Adam Saad and Zac Williams, but the most influential signing might have slipped under the radar.
That signing is Aliir Aliir joining Port Adelaide for Pick 40.
Over the years, Aliir Aliir has been a very hot and cold player, at times being a formidable force in defence, coming across and intercepting opponents, but at times, his poor decision making has lead to his great intercepting being overlooked.
As well as poor decision making, John Longmire has been moving his magnet around putting him at times, especially over the last two years, in the ruck and even the forward line at times where he has had flashes of brilliance but other than that he had been pretty average which has seen his stocks fall.
Port Adelaide saw an opportunity to pull off a potential steal. With Aliir having one year left on his contract and wanting to play his natural defence permanently, Port thought they could get him cheaply and get the best out of him as well as address the lack of height in their defence with their key defenders Tom Clurey, Tom Jones and Trent McKenzie all standing at 193cm, 188cm and 191cm respectively.
Port Adelaide were able to complete the trade, only parting with Pick 40 which could prove to be an absolute steal and the potential signing of the season.
Aliir is a perfect fit for Port Adelaide. Jonas and Clurey both have reasonably low contested defence loss percentages, with Jonas at 22.9 per cent and Clurely at 23.1 per cent while Aliir Aliir averages 2.4 intercept marks per game, the sixth-highest career average in the comp with it being particularly impressive considering he played at least ten or more of his 64 games in the ruck or forward line.
Clurey and Jonas would be able to take the two most dangerous key forwards with their job to nullify them, which will allow Aliir to have a lot of freedom to come across intercept dangerous balls coming inside the 50. This can make one of the most solid defences that conceded the fewest points last year even more solid and make for one of the most difficult teams to score against once again.
Aliir was unable to play his natural game at the Swans as their ruck stocks were often depleted and their key defenders, other than Dane Rampe, have been unreliable meaning he has had to take the opposition’s best key forward at times, leading to him being exposed due to him not being a natural one-on-one player.
But now with Aliir able to play his natural game freely and able to maximise his elite athleticism he could be one of the best defenders in the comp and even crack the All-Australian squad.
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