You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a dream. No team on top of the ladder had lost by 100+ points since 1983. It had only happened twice before in the V/AFL (the other time was in 1933) and neither of those times were nearly as late in the season.
You certainly wouldn’t consider Port Adelaide, a team that was always better than average but susceptible to too many lapses in statement games, to do it either. You could justifiably think Port might beat the Swans, who have been on a slide, but not even the most blinkered Port Adelaide fanatic or Sydney hater would have chalked up a triple-digit margin.
And yet, it happened. Sydney had the first inside 50 and then it went downhill from there. When Port Adelaide had the ball they were too skilled, too fast, too well-drilled for Sydney (a team that’s meant to be all of these, as well) to catch. When Sydney had the ball, Port grabbed them by the scruff of the neck and shook them until the ball and their pocket money dropped out.
I’ve seen article upon article in the last 24 hours (as I write this) about what Sydney did wrong. The decline of Sydney. What they need to do to right the ship. This will not be another of those articles, but instead the reverse. Let’s look at what Port has done not only in this game but leading up to it, that led to this astonishing outcome.
Team lineup:
Ah yes, the infamous booing incident that prompted the revival.
Full disclosure – I am a Port Adelaide diehard and a Cheer Squad member. No, I did not boo (I considered that disrespectful in the extreme), but I could understand those that did. The problem with people who want Hinkley gone is he is someone who can’t win the ‘big one’. Which is fair, if we’re being honest. The capitulation to Brisbane and the subsequent collapse outside the eight just set things in a horrific motion.
But the booing incident didn’t push Hinkley to despair, because he’s someone who is honestly one of the more resilient coaches in the AFL. He’s got a knack for taking incidents like these (the ‘untenable’ comments from Port Adelaide legend and now board member Warren Tredrea also spring to mind) and taking the challenge on.
He decided to shuffle some magnets starting with a tight win over St Kilda and progressing until this game.
Starting from the forward back: small forward Jed McEntee was dropped and former Geelong players Frankie Evans and Quinton Narkle inherited bigger roles, along with a returning Willie Rioli. In the middle, Jason Horne-Francis and Connor Rozee sacrificed time in the guts to spend more time forward to provide some elite smaller options. Todd Marshall got injured, so Esava Ratugolea was switched forward where he found some excellent chemistry with Charlie Dixon and young gun, Mitch Georgiades.
The middle also became more settled. A more balanced rotation meant they had the pacey class of Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis to go with the blue collar Ollie Wines and Willem Drew. Jordon Sweet would also finally make the #1 ruck spot his own at Alberton, taking full advantage of being in a location where he can find opportunities.
Defensively has been the biggest change, arguably. Ratugolea only went forward the last two games in their run of five wins in six games, but it’s turned into a much better result than people imagined. Brandon Zerk-Thatcher has had an astonishingly good year at Alberton and has thrived as fullback since Aliir Aliir has found some of his old All-Australian form, and the team has some exciting young talent down back in Miles Bergman, Lachie Jones, and midseason draft pick, Logan Evans.
So they’re the changes that were made to the team since (or slightly before) the Brisbane game leading into the Sydney game. So let’s look at some parts of the game that demonstrated how it all coming together. I’m not going to go into overkill, but simply three specific passages of play (descriptors are all correct at the beginning of the 🙂
1:41 to go in the 1st Quarter: Port 6.3 (39) Syd 0.0 (0)
The last goal of Port Adelaide’s first quarter onslaught was probably the most telling in terms of how everything came together. A mix of a relentless Port outfit, a panicked Sydney, and all in a cauldron of chaos:
Port Adelaide intercept a Sydney handpass as the Swans try to get out of their defensive 50, and shuttle it back in. Darcy Byrne-Jones grubbers a kick from the pocket into top of the square to put pressure on Sydney.
Ollie Florent is first to the ball and picks it up clean. Immediately, he has two options available. He can quickly handball it to his left, or he can handball it to the goal line where a sweeper is coming around (apologies, the screenshots are a bit blurry).
Florent, however, hesitates under pressure, and picks a poor third option. He tries to break the tackle of Esava Ratugolea, someone who’s built like an Olympic heavyweight boxer and just as hungry. He can’t shake him, is spun and completely panics a handball to Mitch Georgiades, a player who doesn’t exactly need help kicking goals.
The crowd roars before Georgiades, who can scarcely believe his luck, scoops it up and kicks a goal. Port are known as a forward half pressure team, but that had abated slightly during their form slump. However, this was how scary they can be at their best.
13:39 to go in the 2nd quarter: Port 9.4 (58) Syd 0.0 (0)
Pressure is a key component for most of these passages. When Port do look like flag threats, it’s because their pressure game is up and running. We’ll use an example from a different part of the game, the centre bounce.
Sydney are reeling but actually win this centre bounce, they run a handball train and it ends up in the usually capable hands of Chad Warner with plenty of space, so he surveys the situation.
The problem is he then stops still before moving lateral. He’s unwilling to bang it forward and instead tries to evade Zak Butters and Connor Rozee coming for him. He doesn’t want to waste it, but the problem is his hesitation and lack of forward movement results in an afro wearing black and tiel hurtling at him from the opposite direction:
The ball spills out and the other Sydney mids that have floated forward are now hopelessly out of position. Byrne-Jones’ opponent has not followed him to hold up the play. Port scoop it up and bundle it forward to Rioli, who makes no mistake in slotting home yet another goal for Sydney’s horror start.
3:33 to go in the 2nd Quarter: Port 12.7 (79) Syd 1.2 (8)
Port take a free kick for insufficient intent and bomb it forward as they like to do. Kane Farrell is aiming for Charlie Dixon (as they do, sometimes to a fault), but Sydney have this well countered with a good defensive system that makes a contested mark near impossible.
The ball actually overshoots Dixon somewhat and Aaron Francis looks set to intercept, but then Georgiades comes out of nowhere and uses this opportunity to show that Mitch Georgiades: Olympics High Jumper could also have been a thing. He throws himself into the pack and ends up almost perfectly horizontal (and probably should have given away a free kick for an unrealistic action to be totally fair), forcing Francis to throw a fist at it and just deflect the ball to the square. Georgiades simply had no intent of letting Francis get this ball. No easy D50 possessions were permitted. Pressure, again.
That pressure now forces another rushed and low percentage decision from a Swan. Peter Ladhams ends up with the ball in the square and all he had to do was rush it through. It was the definition of being under pressure and he had time. Inexplicably, he instead tries to handball it past Jordon Sweet, a man who’s listed at 205cm and ominous like the evil henchman of a Bond movie. Not one of the good ones, but not one of the horrible ones. Something like a Thunderball or a The World Is Not Enough calibre movie here.
Sweet then reacts faster than anyone else, boots it off the goal line and celebrates the easiest goal he might ever have in his career, as well as the best individual passage of play he’s had in the AFL. Again, just utter, overwhelming pressure of a quality outfit.
7:54 to go in the 3rd Quarter: Port 16.8 (104) Syd 2.3 (15)
This is a bit different for the final highlight, more demonstrating how incredible Port’s ball movement can be if it’s unrestricted in the corridor. Port Adelaide and Sydney are the two top teams in the AFL for corridor use and it was always a battle of who would control it (three guesses who it was in this game). This also starts from a defensive action, namely Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (who has had an incredible season) spoiling Peter Ladhams, which pinballs the footy around until it got to Ollie Wines.
Wines sweeps to his left to find Zak Butters, who doesn’t hesitate and whacks it to a one-on-one featuring Jason Horne-Francis. Notice Ratugolea behind them and somehow left alone, and coming into the contest for if it crumbs to ground or gets past the contest. Also notice Darcy Byrne-Jones at the bottom centre of screen with Sydney assigning air to defend him.
The ball comes off hands behind the contest, right to Ratugolea, who wastes no time giving to Byrne-Jones who’s sweeping past. Byrne-Jones runs into the 50 and is met with such lax defending that Rioli could have flown to Paris, watched the Olympics while having a coffee and croissant, and then come back to roll the goal through.
Devastating ball movement that’s very hard to stop. Sydney were just outrun, outpressured, outskilled and outdesired (not sure that last one is actually a word) by Port for four quarters.
But what does this mean for Port on the run home, are they contenders to you? I’m not here to say if they are or not, but your opinion would be welcome. They’ve fooled people before, but with such an even comp it feels like being one of the teams with undisputed momentum could be an invaluable edge. They currently sit third, they could finish anywhere within the top eight still.
The one thing we can say is the bookies are taking notice. They went from $25 as flag contenders to only $9 off this win, and it feels like they have the momentum and the team fit right.
What do you think? Are they here to stay for the rest of the year or did they just take advantage of an out of form Sydney?
You be the judge.
