KICK-TO-KICK
Anyone expecting this game to live up to the billing of two young teams which both had something to prove would end up sorely disappointed. Port, who’d played so aggressively though the corridor against Adelaide and the Eagles in their practice matches, instead settled for a meek and conservative short-kicking style that the Kangaroos were all too happy to follow. The opening stanza was less like two boxers feeling each other out, and more like two paralegals trawling through paperwork before a very tedious trial about minimum kicking distances.
In this very stodgy start, it was Port who seemed to have the upper hand – the chip disposal game seemed to suit their ball-using core of Rozee, Butters and Bergman, while North began like their legs were still asleep. Todd Marshall, in his new role in defence, got two intercept marks in the opening three minutes, the first leading to a whole-ground rebound that allowed Byrne-Jones to open the scoring. North generated their own chances which, and I cannot stress this enough, moved at the speed of an English period drama, but conversion was a real issue.
It gave Port Adelaide some kick-in practice, which was nice. Much as they did against Adelaide, they opted for long bombs that hoped to crack the zone defence, much in the way one runs headlong into a masonry wall to dislodge a loose brick. Their third attempt was perhaps the first use of the overlap run all day and watching it felt like the moment a hangover wears off. This resulted in yet another whole-ground rebound and Port goal, which proved so successful that the Power failed to do it again all day, presumably as a sporting act of fairness.
The run game would creep more and more into the game throughout the day but the first term was largely an uncontested marking affair – whenever North would try it, Port’s groundball pressure would force them into loopy hospital balls that constantly killed their momentum. North’s only way out was the trusty dump kick, which only yielded a result when big Souv was mismatched on Watkins. This was a momentum turner, North having had more entries with only the poor ball usage fans have grown so familiar with letting them down. Luke Parker, who wound the clock back today, entered the game and found Cam Zurhaar who would prove far too mobile for Port’s tall trio of Marshall, Aliir and Ratugolea. The two sides entered the first break fairly even, but Port had seemed the better side.
Rozee continued a stunning first half-hour by generating his tenth touch to kick off the second term, and Port pressure led to a turnover on North’s first rebounding attempt. This resulted in Port’s big feel-good moment, Jack Whitlock’s first goal of his career. This was to be his high point of what would turn into a big of a sour day, but the kid’s got huge upside. He’ll be one to watch in a few years. Port’s scoring was still coming on the back of their superior hunger around the ball, pressuring North’s players into decisions so awful they could qualify as Essendon list managers. But then came a huge turning point.
TURNING UP THE WICK
Dylan Stephens had started blisteringly, which is incredible considering I had no idea who he was until about the five minute mark of the first quarter of this match. Eight touches in the first ten minutes, this kid had, and he was about to have his most pivotal. Forced to run through the corridor in a rare foray, a counter-attack that resembled a game of Ker-Plunk spat the ball out to Stephens on his lonesome. He runs to the flank and drills home a fine finish that showed North that they could use an asset they had in spades compared to their rivals – pure, youth-driven speed.
Colby McKercher really came into his own by outpacing anyone that cared to take him on, and the side attacked with renewed energy. It was Port’s turn to fumble around on the floor like they were looking for their keys underneath the couch, forced to rely on the chip-kicking game more than ever. On one particular passage, Port hoiked it around the back half for at least 90 seconds before hitting the trigger. North had become impatient and irrational, like a teenager watching their grandpa working a computer, overcommitted and Port found a central option. It generated a very good chance which, unfortunately, was given to someone who’d spent time at Carlton. Corey Durdin hit the post. North, who’d clearly seen how effective this strategy was, tried it themselves and were rewarded with a deep forward entry. A game of pinball saw it in the hands of Kane Farrell. The Port man suddenly forgot the changes to the holding the ball rule, braced for contact and Cooper Trembath laid the tackle that resulted in a free in a spot where not even Tom Lynch could miss from.
This marked the point where the roles had properly been recast. North were now the aggressive, running side while Port were stumbling around like a drunk outside a kebab shop at 2am. Even Bergman drilling one from the outer suburbs of Narnia couldn’t shift what proved to be a permanent momentum change.
WHAT DO THESE TEAMS STAND FOR?
I’m an Adelaide fan which, of course, means that Port are The Enemy, and must be hated forever more. One thing I’ve always been able to respect about them though, as my Crows change styles every year like they’re the Milan Fashion Show, was that the Port side always had a brand – aggressive, hard at it, never-say-die, the famous Creed. They’d lost it a bit in the Hinkley Years but I had hoped that under Josh Carr, a disciple of that Mark Williams team that exemplified everything Port had always stood for, would revitalise that. Instead, Port would roll over and expose their soft underbellies. Sheezel, under pressure, is forced to retreat. Comben marks, and Mitch Georgiades gives away a totally unnecessary 50 metre penalty. Charlie, in a moment where if it was in a movie ominous thunder would shake the cinema, booms one from 55. North then go on to score two disgustingly easy goals straight from centre clearances as LDU began to dominate.
This wouldn’t be an issue for traditional Port Adelaide sides, as the half-time break arrived to allow the sides to reset. But, if anything, Port showed up with even less endeavour when the match resumed. LDU and Stephens continued their midfield dominance, and within a minute Jy Simpkin had added six points to the gap. North Melbourne adopted the running game en masse, they applied pressure and hard tackles, and for the first time in many years, they looked like what the North Melbourne Football Club says that they’re all about – the Shinboner Spirit. They played for each other, provided runs, and got back when a teammate overcommitted. Port…didn’t.
Esava Ratugolea and Aliir Aliir have been good defenders in the past, but they’re by no means number ones. Not anymore. Combined with a Todd Marshall who began to look more and more out of his depth the more defensive work he had to do, and with the absence of their true number one in Zerk-Thatcher, they showed how little faith they all seemed to have in each other. There were no less than two occasions where Esava did what the Fox commentators did more than once, i.e. confusing Aliir for himself, bumping into the former All-Australian and allowing a North forward to goal as a direct consequence. Luckily, the second one was overturned by the ARC but Port, seemingly desperate to allow North a goal, directly turned over the next two kick-ins, all the while rotating takers like Prime Ministers in the 2010s.
The lack of chemistry extended to the forward line, Whitlock fumbling what looked a sure goal over the line rather than offering a block. Mitch Georgiades was providing the only resistance up front, scoring a couple, however, as his side was clearly given instructions to be as terrible as possible at the half-time break, he also made sure to give away an even more unnecessary 50m penalty, which Jack Darling turned into a goal after some fantastic efforts. Butters and Rozee had gone missing by this point, while Dante Visentini’s stamina had faded which allowed Tristan Xerri to get best use at most contests. With all their drivers having clambered into passenger seats, Port’s resistance ran off the road and the game was all but over and, to add injury to insult, Todd Marshall rolled an ankle trying to get involved in a contest that Ratugolea had already taken care of, giving away a free kick to boot.
STATE OF THE REBUILDS
So Port lost, heavily and convincingly, but what does this say about the rebuilds that are going on in both camps? Port’s rebuild has, of course, only just begun and they’re playing like it. Missing links are abound as they are desperately trying to cover many experience gaps left by departing faces and while this resulted in a laissez-faire performance, I get the feeling that the side will sharpen up upon the returns of Lukosius and Zerk-Thatcher. They are crying out for a Butters replacement though, should he depart, as when his impact waned after half-time they didn’t just look a worse side, they were a non-combatant. Their youngsters weren’t bad, but they weren’t exceptional either, and anyway their main issue was that their established players just failed to perform, without exception.
The Roos are clearly on the other side of the rebuild bathtub curve, as you’d expect for a team who began rebuilding ten years ago. Dylan Stephens had his best game by a mile and a half, and the midfield group rose to meet his production. Dovaston and Blamires, while far from perfect on the day, already show that they belong well at AFL level, while Cooper Trembath was making a mockery of much more experienced players with his monster leap and alongside the young Curtis and a Zuhaar/Larkey combo that still have five elite years at least left in them, give a lot of hope for North fans in the not-too-distant future. Charlie Comben had his best game that I’ve seen, with the caveat that most of his time was spent on a first-gamer in Whitlock, and while Griffin Logue still absolutely isn’t the answer for the Roos down back, he and Pink did a good enough job when the game was there to be won.
I wouldn’t read too much into this one for either team if I’m honest, though – North won’t face a real test until April, while Port’s major assessment of how inept they are will be reserved for next week’s clash against a surely much-worse opposition in the Bombers. But, for now, it’s a welcome relief after so, so long to finally see a hint of the old Shinboner Spirit breaking through.