You often hear the term ‘Statement Game’ and the meaning of it can vary. It comes in regard to the performance of individual players, a coach, an entire team… and then you have the rare instance when you combine all three of those aspects.
And that is what we got from Port Adelaide, as they massacred the Sydney Swans on Saturday night.
The league leaders were humbled by a Power team that took the infamous Swans’ slow starts, used them against Sydney, and established the tone for the evening. It was a dominant midfield, a spread of goalkickers inside fifty, and a backline that, truthfully, didn’t have to do too much in the first two quarters.
When you review a game like this, it is always difficult to get the balance right. How much do you lavish praise on the efforts of Port? And how much do you lament the inadequacy of the Swans? Where is the real story, and how do you accurately cover it?
The two stories are linked, but they are also very separate issues, so in order to do both aspects justice, I am going to separate the two teams, and separate the two stories. Port will get their chocolates, and deservedly so. From there, we can drill down on what Sydney are doing wrong – hell, it might be easier to list what they did right, come to think of it.
Here’s The Mongrel’s Two Sides of the Coin Review.
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