After Round 16 of 2018, Port Adelaide had already won 11 games for the season and were sitting pretty in the top 4, aiming for a late run at a home qualifying final. The fact that the club could only manage one more win from that point and missed the finals altogether is one of the great unexplainable calamities of last season, and one that Ken Hinkley’s men should be keen to rectify this year.
Looking at the Power’s off-season moves, it seems they are taking a long-term view of the road to success. They traded away established stock in Wingard, Polec, Pittard and Hombsch, and wound up with three picks in the first round of the draft. They also landed Eagles ruckman Scott Lycett in free agency, presumably to play back-up to their former All-Australian big man Ryder. Port are certainly one side whose starting 22 is going to provoke interest in Supercoach circles this year!
Defenders
Feeling Lucky: Tom Jonas ($471,100) quietly had a career year for the Power in 2018, surpassing his previous scoring average by 16 to return 87 points per game. His form dropped off late in year, possibly partially due to a medial injury sustained in Rd 16, but still managed to compile six tons for the season. Definitely one to keep in mind for your draft leagues.
New recruit Ryan Burton ($356,700) was somewhat of a reluctant re-locator during the off-season, but by all accounts he has settled well into the Port life and training routine. Averaged 84 playing off the halfback flank in only his second year and kicks like a disgruntled mule. Had a quieter season in 2018, but the move west may be just what he needs to reignite his previous form. Nicely priced for a player of his obvious talents.
Midfielders
Lock and Load: Part One of the Robbie Gray ($525,500) report regards Robbie the Midfielder. I’m not suggesting you select Robbie as a midfielder of course, but if Hinkley does, you should absolutely pick him as a forward. Confused? The point is that Robbie Gray is the best midfielder at Port by a country mile – the catch is, he has to actually play as a midfielder to be Supercoach-viable. Pre-bye in 2018 he averaged 110 ppg playing as a midfielder; post-bye, he averaged 89 predominantly in the forward line. There may have been good reasons for this forward switch, there may not, only those in the inner sanctum at the Power will know. But Port certainly play better when Gray is in the mids, and so does your Supercoach team!
Feeling Lucky: Hardest of hard nuts Ollie Wines ($528,300) promised so much when he averaged 100 in his second year. And his third year. And his fourth…in fact, Wines has averaged between 95 and 100 for five consecutive seasons. The Power’s vice-captain signed a long-term deal to stay at Alberton last year, could this be the season that The Quadzilla finally breaks into that club of elite midfielders?
Tom Rockliff ($405,900) is an uber-premium who gets injured a lot. Rocky burnt me last year, and the year before that, but he is very cheap. I won’t be going there, but if Tom stays fit he is capable of going 110 and beyond.
If!
Money Maker: Joe Atley ($123,900) is the younger brother of Roos speedster Shaun, and was taken at pick 32 in the 2016 draft. Joe struggled with niggling injuries in 2018 but can get the inside ball, and is one of the prime candidates to step into some vacated senior roles.
Rucks
Feeling Lucky: The problem with writing ruck previews this year is that everyone wants the same combination there, and unfortunately it doesn’t includes the likes of Paddy Ryder ($490,300). BUT as has been pointed out on a number of occasions, Supercoach history suggests that Gawn/Grundy will not be the top ruck combo this year. As the 2017 All-Australian ruck, Ryder is certainly one of the candidates to spoil the ruck party this season – provided he can avoid the regular injury niggles of the past.
Forwards
Lock and Load: Justin Westhoff ($549,500) redefined the term “late bloomer” in 2018. The Hoff has always had the talent but in his 12th season, his new-found consistency saw him finish as the highest scoring forward of the year. Westhoff’s incredible versatility has seen him rewarded with ruck/fwd status this year, and if he repeats last year’s efforts, he is the obvious choice for that coveted swingman role. The big question is: with Ryder back and the arrival of Lycett, will Westhoff maintain that same level of involvement?
Feeling Lucky: Part Two of the Robbie Gray ($525,500) conundrum: if he plays as a forward, does he get a spot in your Supercoach team? This is really a coin-flip decision, and at this early stage I’m not prepared to call it either way. It’s probably slightly safer to stick with the Dangers, Heeneys and Dev Smiths in your frontline, but Robbie is going to have to be watched closely!
Scott Lycett ($441,200) is now a premiership ruckman and a relocated free agent, and if you predicted that before last September, you are lying. Lycett’s role at his new home will most likely be as a forward and secondary ruck to Ryder – which is the role I thought they had Westhoff for? I’m not sure exactly what Port are planning to do with all these talls, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
Money Maker: Local product Connor Rozee ($189,300) was taken with Port’s first pick (fifth overall), and early signs are that he is a well-rounded, exciting player capable of playing a number of roles. Still developing physically and make take time to establish himself, but the talent is certainly there.
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Great write up Chillo, wanted to put the Hoff in my side but with Ryder and now Lycett ahead of him , is it more likely he’ll be a stay at home forward?
It’s a good question, and I really have no idea myself. Before they picked up Lycett, I had Westhoff locked into my forward line, but there’s too much doubt there now.
Maybe he’ll be a decent upgrade target after his price drops off a bit and we have more info on his role? A bit of ruck cover would be nice.
Zero chance hoff plays pure forward – hes been used on the wing the last couple of years and he’s been excellent at it. He was even a dual position mid in sc recently!
Great write-up Chillo.
Won’t be touching any Port supposed premos this year. See Port dropping significantly on 2018 with closest to the weakest midfield in the comp. Just don’t think Gray’s body is up to playing any more MID-time than he did last year. Likely less you’d think.
I’ll be interested to see what roles Burton and Mayes get. Would LOVE to see Mayes playing half-back/wing this year. Speed merchant and elite endurance making him v attractive with the new 6-6-6 rules. Fell out of favour at BRL last year and now ticks every box for ‘mid-price madness’ picks.
High-draft pick, 24, 100 games, ave’d 30 more in SC pts (two season’s ago) than he’s currently priced at and has moved to a new club (back home). Trouble is I’ve seen/heard nothing about him this off-season 🙁 So will have to wait and see, but would expect decent points and min. $150k returns as a stepping stone to a premo, if he plays!!!
Burton ticks all the boxes too, just to a lesser extent; younger, less games and lower score/price differential. Though there is news he’s tearing it up on the track (isn’t everyone?!?)
Will be watching both v closely through JLT. Any PTA fans on here who can shed more/any light on these two? Would be much appreciated.
Thanks again Chillo.
Re: Mayes (as i suspect one of the few port supporters on here) hes training for a spot on the wing and not halfback – he spoke about it in his press conference recently. We have a mountain of half back flanks (hartlett, lienert, bonner, broadbent etc). Mayes will be in contention for the vacant wing spot that polec used to play. The other wingmen on Ports list include: Westhoff, Watts (training to play wing this preseason), Amon and Bonner.
Other things if note about Port currently from recent match sim/open training:
Boak doing purely midfield work
Ebert playing forward
Rockliff yet to resume full contact work
SPP much slimmer than last year
Unfortunately for SC farrell and Lienert played last year and drove up their price of they’d be great rookies. Atley appears one who has to break into the team at some point, but I see Rozee and Butters much more likely early in the season. Butters likely to play the Jack higgins role for us. Garner and Patmore are also a chance to get games but I’d be surprised.
Thanks Duffer. Excellent.
So if you weren’t a Port fan, who would you pick from PTA this year and why?
When I look at our team I don’t see any standout SC picks sadly. The best options to my eye are:
Hartlett – Underpriced, likely to score around 80ish making him a stepping-stone and an injury prone one at that.
Burton – Almost certainly underpriced, he scored poorly last year but Port’s defence tends to share the ball a lot and almost all of them score 74+. Again just a stepping-stone at an awkward price.
Powell-Pepper – Slimmed down over the preseason, is running more and smashing all club expectations. Will improve his ToG (only 75% last year, likely to head towards the 80-85 mark of Oliver, Coniglio etc) and should see an increase in scoring as a result. Can’t start him though at 425k.
R Gray – Really interesting one as he’ll still play a mix of midfield and forward. Has struggled with soreness for a few years now with his groin which I expect to still be the case. It’s likely that where he plays is heavily dependent of how the rest of the team is going/if he’s feeling sore.
Boak – Appears that he’s going back to a real midfield role, but I don’t think it’s enough to make him pickable. 478k for someone who’s best year was 6 years ago. Worth keeping an eye on him early in the season though incase he turns back the clock ala Westhoff.
Westhoff – Will play wing again this year. Likely to score just below last year but unlikely to be terrible. Last year he scored 100.7 with Ryder in the team and 102.7 with Ryder out of the team. His role didn’t really change in that way. Now, he still scored from doing some hitouts so I think he will drop – just not by much.
And that’s kind of it outside of rookies. Rozee will play early, as a bit of a roaming forward – not sure how well he’ll score though. Butters is really exciting and will start his career as a small forward (think gresham or higgins) but isn’t doing contact training yet so won’t quite be ready for round 1 I expect. Duursma will need to show a bit in the JLT because his body isn’t big enough yet but could still break into the team given we have a few spots open. The other guys we recruited this year I either don’t know enough about (e.g. woodcock) or are project players (riley Grundy).
Of our older rookies Atley is someone who should be breaking the house down and playing midfield for us, but he doesn’t seem to be there yet. Garner is playing as a half back which means he’s unlikely to get games unless we realise our season is doomed early on and play the kids. Patmore is much the same but there’s less competition up forward imo.
Thanks mate. Very in-depth. Appreciate it very much.
Nice info Duffer who do you think will benefit most from the loss of Ollie early? Will Gray play more mid until he gets back?
Looking at Burton i am on the fence on how he will perform at Port. At the Hawks It was interesting looking at the 2017 stats when comparing him to Sicily.
10 games Burton scored 90+ and 4 were tonnes. Of those 4 tonnes the scores of Sicily were DNP, 31, DNP, 25. Only 1 other game Sicily didn’t play he scored 80 he copped a knock in the 1st qtr but returned to field.
When Sicily scored a tonne, Burton scored 64, 77, 93, 90 and DNP.
Looking at the 2018 season Burton had a shocker start getting and average of 51.5 over his first 6 games. 1 game was an injury and he only played half a game and scored 27. He played at CHB in these games marking the defender. For the mid part of the season it is unclear where he played in defence but it is known towards the end when the stats picked up he played the HBF. In his last 6 H&A games he averaged 75.8 and coincidentally Sicily was out injured in all these games.
To me this tells me he wasn’t played in the right role for SC at Hawthorn and when he was placed in the HBF role his scores improved and Sicily was another factor that influenced his scores.
So at Port will he take over the reigns of the HBF position and improve his scoring with another pre season under his belt? Or will there be another player that has an influence on him like Sicily?
Great stuff Nato. Let’s wait and see if the JLT can shed some more light on this …
After i wrote this i checked Twitter and saw this:
Port Adelaide: The body is feeling great.. My knee is good so I can’t wait for the season. – Ryan Burton via @1629senSA
Just saw this article from the Adelaide Advertiser (19thJan)
Sam Mayes has his eye on filling former Lion teammate Jared Polec’s shoes at Port Adelaide
Jesper Fjeldstad, The Advertiser
January 19, 2019 3:07pm
Brisbane recruit Sam Mayes has begun zoning in on former Lions teammate Jared Polec’s position on the wing as the Port Adelaide on Friday held its first open training session for the year in front of more than 500 fans at Alberton.
Mayes, who was crossed from the Lions at the same time as Polec found his third home at North Melbourne, is comfortable in a range of roles, be it halfback, half-forward or runs through the midfield
But the wing position has looked attractive since he first started contemplating a shift back to his native South Australia as he struggled to break into Brisbane’s senior side last season.
“I think naturally my best position is wing/half forward,” Mayes said. “I’ll try to nail a spot down on a wing but if Kenny (coach Ken Hinkley) needs me to play any position I’m happy to do that.
“I guess the talk of ‘Polly’ leaving that wing spot caught my eye a little bit.
“I can see myself filling that position so that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Stability was another thing that had made Port Adelaide attractive to Mayes.
During his time in Brisbane he had played under three coaches while Ollie Wines, who was drafted in the same year, has only known Hinkley as his senior coach.
“It changed around a fair bit while I was there,” Mayes said. “Different game plans, player movement was a big thing up there as well — I think last year in Brisbane I think there were maybe five other blokes who were there from the first year I was drafted.
“There wasn’t that continuity there.
“Blokes have been around here for a while and the stability of the team is good.”
Mayes has been impressed not just by the intensity of training, but also by the intensity surrounding a footballer in a football state.
“In Brisbane open training sessions are not as busy as this,” he said with a chuckle, gesturing to the crowd.
There have also been a few players who have taken the eye of Mayes, 24, who chalked up 101 games for Brisbane in six seasons and was a rising star nominee in 2013.
“I think there are some obvious names like Travis Boak and Sam Powell-Pepper,” Mayes said. “Those sorts of blokes train at a very high intensity.
“Brad Ebert is extremely fit. And one of the new fellas, Zak Butters, has taken my eye. He’s pretty competitive and has a crack.”
Mayes comments came as the Power would up a training session rich in match simulation, drills and running.
______________
Interesting …
So, a little inside info from Port Adelaide.
Dixon mostly likely won’t play until round 4.
Atley not developing as well as they’d like.
Boak will spend more time in the middle.
They’re trialing Ebert across half forward.
Hinkley is keen to squeeze Rozee,Butters and Duursma into their 22 for round 1, even perhaps at the expense of more senior and experienced players.
Dougal Howard is killing it. Looks likely to take another step forward in 2019 (probably isn’t SC relevant though)
Powell-Pepper is another one who is having an incredible off season. Looks a completely different player. Super fit. Topping all of the charts and tests. Seems to have matured over the summer. He’s priced awkwardly at 425,800 though.
That’s excellent OGC. Thanks for the heads up 🙂
Thanks Chillo, but you left me a high and dry … got the juices flowing with his intro on traded players Wingard, Polec, Pittard and Hombsch.. then nada … I was waiting for a run down on who might step into their roles… great write up nonetheless.
Will be interesting to see how Hinkley fits in Ryder, Dixon, The Hoff and Lycett .. will Hoff go back?
Thx OGC ans Allsaints for providing further insights .
I currently have Rozee and Duursma as my on field DEF rookies.. I figured with the number of good players exiting it would make room for some of the newbies.
Will keep an eye on Mayes and Butters and SPP.
Haha, sorry to disappoint Lazza! I was intrigued by Port’s list shake-up as you were, but then I looked more closely at the probable replacements and struggled to find Supercoach relevance for them. If Hamish Hartlett gets back to the form of a couple of years ago then he’s definitely worth a look at 350K, but coming off an ACL you’d be brave to expect that.
Hoff possibly finds more time on the wing, although he’s a completely different player from Polec. Mayes might get that spot, as allsaints mentioned above, although I’m not even confident he’s best 22 at the moment. And then you have to look at the rookies as well, which are always an unknown factor….
I guess what I’m trying to say is, I don’t have any Power players in my team at the moment, and it’s not because I don’t rate them….there’s just too many questions at this stage. Time will tell!
Great write up!! Who gets the captaincy? Has to be Wines I’d think.
He’s the clear choice, I think you’re right.
If so, do we think he’ll shine with the responsibility? Doesn’t look like the shrinking violet type somehow.
Ollie Wines has done his shoulder.
Thanks Chillo thats gold coz I know nothing about Port.
Is there a chance of the Hoff becoming a permanent defender? I notice that forwards are getting taller every year but I don’t know what sort of height the Power have in defense and Hoff has regularly been switched to defense in seasons previous