A 66-POINT loss was a tough lesson in AFL football for many Port Adelaide players on Saturday in Albury.
Here's what we took away from the game...
1. Written in the stars
It would have been a remarkable result had Port Adelaide won yesterday, simply due to the sheer weight of 'star power' and experience that took the field against it. Minus their skipper Trent Cotchin, the Tigers were basically at full strength. By comparison, Port's composition was much weaker. Of the team that took the field...
- Eight have never played a AFL minor round game.
- Four of those played in their first ever pre-season game.
- None of the club's seven leadership group players took the field.
- No 'spine' players - Alipate Carlile, Jackson Trengove, Matt Lobbe, Justin Westhoff or Jay Schulz - played.
- The Power's average team experience was 34 games (Matt White the leader on 127 games) and to cap it off
- The team was a man down following the late omission of Jarman Impey with hamstring soreness.
So, unsurprisingly, the Power was coming from a long way back to try and effect a winning result. That's the reality of the match committee's decision to send a younger team to Albury to ensure it goes into Round 1 with as many first-choice players honed.
Disappointingly, the team wasn't able to pressure the Tigers for the first half consistently, and crucial turnovers going forward aided the first quarter duck on the scoreboard.
What these players learned is the value of a strong fitness and skills base and the value of game-long pressure.
There was a big experience gap on Saturday - Arch was one of eight players yet to make an AFL debut while Whitey has 127 under his belt (Pic: AFL Media)
2. Top-down benefit
While the Power looked inexperienced against Richmond, the value of playing the Tigers on Saturday will be felt in the short term when many of these players pull on the black-and-white jumper for the first time.
While the more senior players on Saturday are either considered in the club's best 22, or are pushing to be, many others will spend 2015 playing in the SANFL competition. 14 of Saturday's group played in last year's SANFL Grand Final and will be better for the run in this year's NAB Challenge.
Kane Mitchell was one of 14 men who finished 2014 in the SANFL Grand Final. He'll be pushing to get back into the AFL side after a 26-disposal performance on Saturday. (Pic: AFL Media)
3. Seniors step-up
For those blokes with AFL experience, yesterday was about hard work. Matt Broadbent was good as stand-in captain, Jared Polec had a solid game, as did Paul Stewart, Andrew Moore, Aaron Young and Kane Mitchell through the middle. Jack Hombsch, Cam O'Shea and Jasper Pittard had their work cut out down back, but they too showed their usual run. With the odds stacked against them, it was good to see these guys step up to provide leadership to their younger teammates. That will be important throughout the year as well.
Brogsy was good as acting captain with a good game down back and through the middle (Pic: AFL Media)
4. They've got something.
Many of those younger players showed they have something to offer this year. Johann Wagner - 'The Recruit' - showed his turn of pace several times during the day, while Karl Amon again toiled as a forward-running midfielder. Dougal Howard looked comfortable playing in what will probably be his only AFL game in his home town. Mindful that many of these teenagers (and tweenagers) are still works in progress, their development throughout the year will interest many on the outer.
We also learned Dougal Howard can pull decent 'aggro eyes' (Pic: AFL Media)
And for what it's worth...
We discovered Lavington's marketing department has taken a little 'Portspiration' for its 2015 footy campaign.
