think we are stuck with lots of 30ish year olds and then drops remarkably to 22 23 year olds not many decent 25 26 year olds,i would keep on the youth policy,hope westoff retires try and move a few players like watts motlop even rockliff ,contracts mean nothing these days,let howard try and play the westoff role,trade powell pepper and try and bring some speed and efficient ball users into the midfield backline is solid midfield great stoppage team and inside 50 team back lacks polish and and outside speed forward line the tricky one Dixon not working out and not getting any younger,but big forwards hard to get and think we need someone like him,love to see rozee in the middle,think he will be a star but like him forward also,could kick a lot of goals,seem to have heaps of back flankers,maybe get burton into the midfield….perhaps even follow hawthorn lead and consider trading Robbie gray and boak,see what we can get for them don’t think they will be part of ports next premiership love loyalty and all that but want to win a premiership think we need to become a bit more ruthless like the idea of ryder and sam gray leaving lycett/hayes/ladhams farell/butters/ebert plays that role

did you read this article before you commented make it easy for you ITS NOT ABOUT CROWDS AND GROWING THE GAME IN CHINA…..ITS ABOUT MONEY

don’t know why people keep knocking the china games [im a port supporter] the afl aren’t over there to promote the game to the Chinese community,how stupid would that be no one knows anything about it over there,kochie even said it,its all about sponsorship and business deals,trust me saints got very well paid very hard to get sponsors especially in Melbourne when you have so many clubs in the one state.it was ports idea and I for one think its very smart buy them,biggest economy in the world

meta ratings tells me its only round 6 and im over footy already,… will tune off until early august major football overdose ,over analized over rated

not a fan on booing,booing some umpire decisions or players that have changed clubs will forever happen but booing through presentation of awards after the game is totally disrespectful and a utter disgrace,loved what buckley said after,i follow port,

definitely feels like there has been a major… lets call it attitude change at port,total buy in from all players and to add burton butters drew duursma lycett and rozee into that team and a few positional changes and game plan overhaul all over a summers break is quite impressive so far.have had my doubts over Hinkley [not as much of some facebook port supporters] more to the point hes been there 7 years now and apart from a couple years have been a middle of the road team.i wouldn’t underestimate a couple of coaching appointments either,havent watched all games,should have beaten Brisbane,didnt deserve to beat Richmond..but probably should have,that would make for interesting reading,still not sold on them for a genuine contender this year ….just starting to feel there has been a shift for the better,to still have hartlett,motlop,dixon,broadbent ,amon farell and lienert on stanby makes it interesting

port supporter here guys,happy the lions are up and about and gold coast for that matter,my opinion has always been to many sides in afl so need qld teams strong and competitive,you guys definitely on the up,agree below what tomc says, didn’t think our game was anything special to watch apart from a couple of kids one on either side showing us there special talents didn’t think port where going to make 8 and still have some players to come back in to that side,think bigger test await you than last couple of games,good luck if we don’t make the eight and you guys do im behind you guys all the way

everyone entitled to their opinions not trying to be a spoiler or anything,its round 2 think there is a few rounds left,lol

don’t know where you going with that headline or what it actually means,yes we are 2-0 ,yes we have some good young kids and experienced players are playing better atm so getting an even spread across the ground,we beat Melbourne who geelong smashed by 80 points the following week and probably beat a bottom 4 side at home by a couple of kicks,just putting things in perspective,im not as excited as most port people seem to be.once the season settles and we find out who the better sides are then we will see,port always start season ok and we know how last few years have ended,didnt have port in my 8 and wont change my thoughts just yet

if westhoff was playing in Melbourne he would be spoken about and more highly rated than what he actually is,people at port know how good he is ,he has become nearly every coaches dream,he has kicked 10 goals in last 2 home and away games and you could start him on the wing this week or play him a kick behind the play when we get in trouble, I think superstar and star is a word used on way to many afl players,keep hearing the media talk all these guys up but to me the hoff is right up there with the best of them,250 games this week hope the boys come to play for him cause he deserves to be carried off a winner,such a team player

bit like the swans ,people say Sydney play better without franklin [not comparing the 2] not so buddy orientated ,although he arguably one of the greatest players in this era,im obviously a port fan and my favourite ever all time player was tony locket,things he could do was amazing big strong kick it to me type player,talk about matchwinners. I agree with you ditto in a small way, best example of it was the westcoast elimination final I think it was 2 years ago ,he probably played one of the best games for a big man or power forward for some time ,took a ridiculous amount of contested marks and think he kicked 1 goal 7 behinds if I recall correctly,we lost I think by 5 points.last year I cant remember him leading out from the forward line to take a mark they just bombed it on his head[had to be game plan]bomb it in and try and keep it in,felt sorry for him actually,always 2 or 3 coming over the top of him.I am wait and see on him,coming off a very bad injury ,game plan has changed think it will suit him he is capable of 50 plus goals a season,just need that right mix up forward ,so not so 1 or 2 dimensional

they will beat good sides through the year as they did last year ,and they will loose games throughout the year ,being so inconsistent has been a issue for a couple years,everyone has injuries blah blah blah on paper I think they should be better than last year ,especially lycett and burton for Wingard and polec I would take that,add 3 first round draft picks who look like they can play ,Farrell lienert howard hartlett Broadbent Dixon wines pushing to play, so can only be good for depth, one thing that I keep hearing coming out of alberton that im hoping is right is team care,playing for each other,playing as a team…no egos team mentality ,with that coupled with new game plan that seems to suit them at this stage,and youth and speed added only time will tell but future looks brighter than I did 7 months ago

hi Cameron, just your thoughts on this please,i am a port man ,watched Saturdays game ,I never take to much out of round one apart from some confidence you get for what you did over summer .new recruits and draftees showing good signs etc etc [from all clubs] but my question to you would you play ollie wines ? talk is he is available this week against carlton, has not played one game all pre season ,I didn’t expect port to beat Melbourne so perhaps if we lost you would want him back pretty quick smart,willem drew deserves another shot after his debut,all the talk about viney jones etc underdone [don’t understand why they play if they are] I would put him in the sanfl magpies this week

don’t read anything into 1 round,teams that missed finals last year always ahead of others in prep post op surgeries etc etc, don’t watch much afl apart from port who I follow and the odd bits and pieces of others,as a port man it was enjoyable to watch new game style port is going with [player driven I am told] couldn’t bear to watch them last year even when we where winning games..boooooring. not sitting here saying they will play finals but you can tell even if it was little bit here and there that the 4 debutants can play,early days I know but seeing Brisbane and fremantle also produce something similar to port [although I was starting to see signs out of Brisbane last year] can only make the comp more interesting

pretty sure rockliff played in the middle last year rested forward as most do,so don’t blame coaches,he was ordinary even by his own admission,do some research first

sometimes we need and out from defence having westoff and ryder/lycett either side of ground to kick to could be handy,have concerns about boak and powell pepper in starting 22 drew, butters duursma should play games this year ,like what lienert did late last year only hope patmore garner atley etc can show something, I predict we will finish between 8 -13 think our long term future is looking brighter than our short term future

Jonas clurey byrne jones
hartlett howard Houston
westoff wines motlop
burton marshall rozee
ebert Dixon ryder
rucks lycett rockliff r gray
bench boak powell pepper bonner farell

good chance we are 2-6 after 8 rounds with the draw they have early, hope I am wrong but very realistic, wines out 1st month Dixon by all reports just started running so with no preseason under the big fellas belt wont get too much from him until latter part of season .My faith in Hinkley has diminished bit by bit over last 4 years, after losing the prelim. final to hawks in a thriller we have bought in all these players ryder, polec, watts, motlop, rockliff, Dixon trengove toumpas etc etc list goes on and we have basically gone backwards. Boak gray westhoff are not young any more like the 3 youngs ones brought in this year but cant expect much from them early days ,seems our current 2 or 3rd year players haven’t broken into the team farell played a few think marshall will be good in time others either injured or not coming along. seems like we are the old Richmond cant see things changing in the near future either . Will be interesting to see what they do with Hinkley, he has been here 7 years has a fully funded footy budget and made major list changes each year but still says he has complete faith in the group each year, he has now broken a long standing tradition of ports captaincy [95 percent of members voted against co capt] everyone has their opinion im against it for a number of reasons , don’t think Hinkley had the runs on the board to make such a big decision , by all reports he had his bags packed for gold coast job year ago,could be sacked or quit anytime,he wont care he will be gone along with a great tradition of our club,he wont be remembered as a premiership coach just the coach that broke with tradition ,you may say get with the times blah blah, can tell you 2 captains wont result im more wins and if they whinge about its too much for 1 person just ask them how much money they earn.

might say that’s a understatement,thought he would be under enough pressure this year as it was and then he goes and does this,bold move ,this could well be the start of the end for Hinkley as coach,think the members are unhappy now…if they don’t play finals I smell blood……think he has put a noose around his own neck