First Impressions - Round 01 - Port Adelaide Vs Geelong

Port Adelaide 14.12.96
Defeated By
Geelong 15.15.105

Well, it's good to have footy back.

Last nights game was a bit of a disappointment for me personally. It seems that - once again - we failed to play the whole four quarters.

After a slow start in which Port managed to skip away to a 12 point lead, we got a run on and were 31 points clear.

Then the rot set in.

I know it's the first round of the season, but these guys are paid to kick a ball, yet were regularly missing targets by hand and by foot.

Take a bow Kane Tenace. Not only was his disposal woeful, prompting my viewing partners to groan every time he went near the ball, but when under the slightest pressure he panicked. Handballs straight to the opposition were particularly frustrating to watch.

Probably the worst thing to see was how Tenace would handball to a player surrounded by opposition players. I know he's struggling to keep his place in the side, but attempts to get his teammates injured are just plain wrong.

And where is the supposed speed that allegedly enables him to continually get a game? Not once did I see him chase, let alone a tackle.

The defence was a bit lax at times, running off their men when we were exiting the defensive 50, only to watch the ball sail over their head to awaiting opposition players on the overlap. At one point a trio of Port players raffled it 15m out from goal with nary a feisty feline in sight.

Another aspect of our game that gets me worked up is the "play on at all costs" mentality. I know that- for the most part - it makes our team a pleasure to watch, however it isn't appropriate when it means that you play on from 30m directly in front only to get corralled and have to chip it backwards to someone in a worse position than you started in.

Well, enough whingeing...time for some highlights.

Hawkins showed some promise with a huge pack-busting leap nearly coming off and a great checkside goal from deep in the pocket.

Mooney seems to have maintained his self-control, accepting some shonky decisions that went against him.

Trent West showed he has what it takes to become our number 2 ruckman, while Mark Blake looked like he spent too long in the gym and not enough time with the ruck coach.

Joel Corey amassed 30 possessions, which was good for my supercoach team, shame the Cornes brothers outshone him (but again great for my supercoach).

Chappy's back. Enough said.

All up I'm glad we got the win, but we looked like we wished we were somewhere else at times. While my opinion may change with future viewings I will end by saying that I will be expecting more effort next week.