Match Day. Round 1 Sydney V Port Adelaide SCG. 4.35pm.

**Nico** · 25th March 2017, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Auntie.Gerald

I must say I thought harry Cunningham had a real dig today

What with a shovel in the forward pocket.

**barry** · 25th March 2017, 10:30 PM

Off those missing only henney would have made a difference. No team has 100% availability.

That towers and Cunningham still get games shows or lack of depth. There are simply no alternatives.

**stevoswan** · 25th March 2017, 10:32 PM

Yes, our list suddenly appears to be lean on cattle.

**Scottee** · 25th March 2017, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Auntie.Gerald

I must say I thought harry Cunningham had a real dig today

I agree. He isn't a great wet weather player but he really gave it a go.

Sent from my SM-T805Y using Tapatalk

**Nico** · 25th March 2017, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by Ludwig

We played the back end of last year with Naismith and Nanka sharing the ruck duties and XR playing Reid's role and we were flying. Surely with Tippett and Reid coming in for Nankervis and Xav Richards is a considerable improvement.

The problem is that given we are missing Heeney and Papley, we need to have some quality ball winners running through the midfield. With the personnel we have, we should get Aliir and Newman in defence and release Mills and Lloyd into the midfield. Lloyd is not a great defender. It seems he is playing there to take the kick ins. He can be a big ball winner in the midfield. We can reconsider the situation when Heeney and Papley are back.

I would prefer Edwards to Towers, at least to give it try and see how it goes. I would also like to see Dawson get a run. He can play forward and run through the midfield. He's another big body with footy smarts and good skills.

Agree with your comments. How could Edwards not be a better alternative to Towers. Our forward pressure was lamentable. It appears Horse stacked the forward line with our bottom 6 who simply refused to apply pressure. When there are 3 Port players standing at CHB and our fringe players are behind their men you have to think they didn't like the hard stuff.

**Velour&Ruffles** · 25th March 2017, 10:40 PM

Originally Posted by Wardy

And why Are we still not able to cope with a slippery ball ?? Port did ok AND they were accurate in front of goal.

Yep, immensely frustrating. To paraphrase the famous cricket quote, there were two teams out there today but only one of them was playing in the wet. A familiar refrain in recent years.

**ugg** · 25th March 2017, 10:48 PM

Wouldn't put a line through Foote's career just yet. It is just his second game and he looked like he hadn't adjusted to the quicker pace just yet. What didn't help him was being selected as a forward when he hadn't played there in the preseason or in the NEAFL practice game. I thought he was a little better in the second half when he had acclimatised a little

**Scottee** · 25th March 2017, 11:01 PM

Trying to assess the bigger picture:
1. Port are further into their training than us due to missing the finals and our last game being in October.
2. Paddy Rider is a brilliant ruckman who has just come back fit and fired up after a year off. Gave Port a big advantage.
3. We were down a player with Robinsons injury.
4. That was not the Hanners that I know. What is wrong?
5. Towers has confirmed the doubts. Non contributor.
6. Despite the errors, Marsh stuck his hand up to be a member of this side tonight and fought it out to the end.
7. Foote is a very ordinary player.
8. Florent would be better off with some time in the NEAFL and is not ready yet.
9. Aliir to come into the side hopefully but no other obvious replacements for Robinson, Foote and Towers who surely do not get another go.Possibly BJ for Foote and Newman to play back and free up Mills.
10. I hope that there is still some improvement in fitness and skills next week, if not we could be in for a long season.

Sent from my SM-T805Y using Tapatalk

**Auntie.Gerald** · 25th March 2017, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by barry

Off those missing only henney would have made a difference. No team has 100% availability.

That towers and Cunningham still get games shows or lack of depth. There are simply no alternatives.

no paps nor AA nor Rohan ?

i think they make a difference

**mcs** · 25th March 2017, 11:06 PM

Just home after a disappointing trip up the highway. I will comment more tomorrow but in summary port were consistently leading us to the ball all day and thoroughly deserve the win. Only other thoughts for tonight are our bottom six were dreadful and showed our issue with depth, i just don't get towers, and welcome back sammy reid - him and buddy were our best two on thr field i thought.

Itll get nasty next week if we play like that against the 21 man fairypuppies.

Oh and joel ridge - keep the corporate afl wankery to another thread please....

**Ludwig** · 25th March 2017, 11:09 PM

I just checked the ladder. All is not lost. We're still ahead of Carlton.

I wouldn't be too harsh on some of players, although they deserve criticism. Given our injury situation we were faced with playing too many inexperienced players, or players like Towers, that don't perform when the pressure is on. Usually the stars of the team have to carry the burden during such times, but so many played poorly, as has been noted. We can only hope that players like Hanners, Parker, Smith and Tippett will get back to their best soon. We are unlucky to have a pretty tough first 5 games this year. We could have used an easy run until we get settled in.