Pre Match:
- Welcomed back captain David Neitz to the team. As he hadn’t played since Round Two, this was a huge bonus. We also got Nathan Jones back after he missed last week with an ankle injury.
- It was important to get off to a good start against Port, as they have been in as good form as any team in the competition.
- We focused on our start after last week’s costly first quarter against the Swans.
- Had a good lead up to the game, the team morale was high, and training was at a quality standard throughout the week.
- Travis Johnstone was playing his 150th AFL game for the Melbourne Football Club.
- Port Adelaide had been very good at stop plays in previous weeks, having the Burgoyne and Cornes brothers, along with ruckman Brendan Lade, in great form. We had to thoroughly look at ways at reducing their impact on the contest.
During the Match:
We have generally been good starters this season, apart from last week against the Swans. Port had the better of us in the first term, but we were only nine points down at the break. We needed to improve our ball movement into the forward 50. We had it inside our forward 50 on 51 occasions, as opposed to Port’s 49.
An even second quarter saw both teams kick four goals. We were starting to control the ball, but struggled to capitalise on our possessions. We ended the game with about 70 more possessions than the opposition, including 35 more kicks.
At half time we moved Lynden Dunn to run with Chad Cornes, after Cornes had 17 possessions in the first half. Dunn was reasonably effective for the second half.
We continued to have intensity around the ball, and our tackling went up another level this week. We ended the match with 56 tackles, compared to Port Adelaide’s 42.
We had our opportunities to win the game, especially when kicking for goal. We kicked three goals and eight points from set shots, which was a disappointing result. Our second half consisted of three goals and eleven behinds.
Both sides had chances in the last quarter, each kicking one goal and five behinds each. The players showed good intensity throughout the match, and continued with their persistence in the last quarter, when we came very close to a win, but only just missed.
Post Match:
We showed that we are getting better, and there were many improvements made against Port Adelaide, in numerous areas. There were many positives to take out of the game.
Our midfield group were terrific at centre bounces, winning the centre clearances 12 to six out of the middle. Jeff White and Paul Johnson gave their onballers first use of the ball, while Yze, Brown, Bruce, McDonald, Bate, and White had plenty of the ball and are in good touch. Ricky Petterd played another good game of football in only his second outing.
Godfrey again did a great job, restricting Shaun Burgoyne to just nine possessions, while Rivers and Carroll were solid in the key defensive positions.
Daniel Bell restricted Ebert to just a single goal after he had been in great form over the past few weeks.
It was good to have the captain back on the field, and he’ll be better for the run.
We will be looking to take the positives, the improvements, and our form into the Bulldogs game.
