Game Chat – Melbourne v Port

Written by Motts on March 23 2019

Where and When: MCG, Thursday, March 23, 2019, 1:45pm

Last time they met: Adelaide Oval, round 14, 2018: Port Adelaide 11.9 (75) defeated Melbourne 9.11 (65)

Doubts were raised about Melbourne’s finals credentials after it lost its second game on the trot after a run of six previous wins. In a brutal game, the Power gained the ascendancy late in the last quarter thanks to a Sam Gray goal. Despite leading for most of the night, Melbourne’s inefficiency going into attack was highlighted. It became a theme for Simon Goodwin’s side as the year progressed.

What it means for Melbourne: With games to come against Geelong, Essendon and Sydney, starting the season off on a winning note is important. The Demons are one of the legitimate premiership contenders, so if they can flex their muscles early, they will gain great confidence to roll into the rest of the season.

What it means for Port Adelaide: After undergoing a list redevelopment in the off-season, the Power will expose a number of youngsters to the AFL stage. Despite Ollie Wines missing, the Power still have plenty of playmakers on their team and could cause an upset.

How Melbourne wins: Melbourne was the No.1 centre clearance team in the AFL and by a wide margin in 2018, so Max Gawn and co will again be critical in that part of the ground. The Demons’ focus on playing “forward-half football” is borne out of their midfield dominance.

How Port Adelaide wins: Limit Gawn’s influence with Scott Lycett and Paddy Ryder and force Melbourne to defend fast ball movement. The Demons gave up an average of 108.5 points in their two JLT Series games, which goes to show how leaky they can be particularly without the suspended Steven May.

The stat: Port Adelaide has beaten Melbourne just twice in 10 meetings between the sides at the MCG.

The match-up: Max Gawn v Scott Lycett/Paddy Ryder

Gawn is the seventh-ranked player in the competition after a superb 2018 campaign. Ryder is 14th while Lycett is 249th, although that rating does not reflect his influence on games late last season.

Mottsy’s Tip: Dees by 30

 

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75 thoughts on “Game Chat – Melbourne v Port”

  1. Guys would love some advice as I’m still conflicted in my m4 position. Got Brayshaw there right now but have about 170k in the bank.

    TU – Keep Brayshaw as he will have a big year and saving you a heap of cash for corrections

    TD – Just go a full blown premium and fork out the 600k

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    1. Pretty overwhelming here, got any suggestions ?? Have Macrae, Cripps, Oliver

      TU – Fyfe

      TD – Coniglio

      Or any others?

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  2. Brayshaw M5 & Dunkley F3

    Cogs M4 & Darling F3

    Currently:

    Cripps Oliver Treloar MCrouch Brayshaw* Libba Walsh Butters

    Danger Heeney Dunkley* Greene Setters Drew

    40 min to decide :/

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  3. And no Lewis! Start hore on field? A good move, possibly taking kick out’s. As opposed to other rookies?

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  4. Was tossing up gawn or oliver caprain. Had oliver all week up until today.. looks like it might bite me

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  5. For those of you who didn’t see my rant last night and call for Chris Scott to be charged with war crimes (deceiving us about Danger’s role), I had the C on Dangerfield last night. Really need Oliver, Gawn and the Port rookies to pump out some decent scores today.

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  6. Well at least the wife is having a good start to 2019.
    No Grawndy but she did pick Christian Salem 😉

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      1. she’s actually a life-long bomber and knows a hell of a lot more about footy than i do. the only thing i help her with is the rookies and explain the maths when it comes to trades. she often ignores me!! i can’t even get invited to her competitive cash league. been the same players for over 8 years.

        she was playing SC before we met and reckons the new rules will help elite outside runners who play off HB or wing. she also chose Milera who could also go huge.

        sadly being a bomber, she’s got McGrath, Shiel, Stringer and Ridley and will NEVER include Pies or Hawks in her side as it goes against her religion 😉

        maybe it is a joint effort, but she makes the decisions. a bit like in life!

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  7. Gawn looks like he doesn’t want to be out there.
    Just walking around hand on hips he must be very unfit.
    Pruess might be in the side sooner than we think

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    1. On the flip side, Butters, Drew and Duursma are all killing it. Hore, not to so much unfortunately.

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    2. On Gawn…

      Copped a knee to the head early.

      It seemed to affect him all game.

      He will be back, jump off at your peril.

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    1. Have drew and duursma both on field. Passed on Butters only cause three rookies in one team was too many…so I thought 🙁

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  8. Hore should scramble to 50…

    Butters Duursma and Drew 90 apiece

    Oliver 120 and Gawn 140+

    I’ll back Maxy to have a huge second half

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  9. I can’t say what Port will do, but if I were them Drew, Duursma, and Butters would be at no risk of being dropped.

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  10. A lot of self professed supercoach experts with so much egg on their smug faces this round.
    At least 1 of Grundy and Gawn are must haves to start but both is better because you’ll lose too many points – Fail
    Rockliff no good – Fail
    Boak not a valid forward choice – Fail
    Viney will take points off Brayshaw – Fail
    Walsh the best bet mid rookie – Fail

    Of course they’ll all claim “It’s only round 1” just like they claimed “You can’t evaluate players based on JLT”

    Face it you ego maniacs unless you are the reigning Supercoach winner you know no more about the game than 200,000+ rest of us.

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    1. Coming from someone who selected rockliff, it is only round 1, it’s just a game, and no one says what you should do, just give advise to questions that are asked.

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    2. Supercoach is 60% skill and 40% luck (injuries, role changes, scoring changes, coaching decisions, whether rookies play or not), no matter the logical planning there are just some things that are out of your control. There’s no need to roast everyone on the site for sharing tips about their teams, as they are just being logical and trying to help out.

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    3. it is only Rd1 mate. i can’t add anything else really.

      perhaps consider last year. Billings and Greene massive in Rd1. similar sort of comments emerged. how were their owners feeling six weeks later?!?

      it’s a long season, that’s all i’m gonna say.

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    4. I can only imagine your statements this time last year, something like

      Dustys the new perma captain
      Billings will be the top scoring forward
      Bonner a must have
      West Coast and Collingwood won’t make the 8

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    5. Your claim that SCT are no better than the average punter is false. The advice and contributions on SCT are the best of any SC website, and it’s totally up to you what advice you take and what you disregard. You only cherry-picked 5 things out of about a thousand, that’s a pretty good strike rate I’d say.
      It’s a game based on the performance of 600 or so humans over 23 weeks, so if your rookie scores a few points less than you hoped, it’s nobody’s fault.
      We’re all here because we love footy, don’t forget that.

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    6. Don’t validate the troll, everyone. It thrives off your responses to it’s own negativity and self-loathing.
      We can’t be correct 100% of the time and shouldn’t expect to be. Just enjoy SuperCoach for what it is.

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  11. I had josh Corbett in my team all pre season as a fwd rookie, but he’s injured due back next week or 2. But since he’s just a fwd rookie I’m thinking of putting him in over petrucelle for drews score, who is on my bench. ONLY considering this because he’s a fwd rookie, mature aged and due back in 1-2 weeks. Thoughts?

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      1. Had the Vc on Cripps all pre season but changed it to Danger and now Cap Gawn…

        So I’ve lost 92 points. There goes my season

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    1. Grundy actually scared me away from Gawn, wanted to see if it’s a ruck thing this season?
      Went macrae instead. Very nervous now(of him going massive) worst case barring injury he gets tagged for a 90, so not so bad.

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  12. G&G looking terrible at the moment.

    Westhoff will tempt a few.

    I’m happy to hold for now.

    Oliver was very average.

    Anyone else take a punt on ROCKY?

    Looking forward to the Crows v Hawks game, should be a belter!

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  13. **250 SC pts still to be allocated …

    FULL TIME
    Port surprise Melbourne …

    MEL: 9.7.61
    Christian Salem 134
    James Harmes 99
    Angus Brayshaw 85
    Jake Melksham 85
    Max Gawn 79
    Bayley Fritsch 71
    Nathan Jones 67
    Clayton Oliver 67
    Alex Neal-Bullen 65
    Michael Hibberd 64
    Sam Weideman 63
    Tom Sparrow 60
    Jayden Hunt 59
    Corey Wagner 58
    Tom McDonald* 57
    Christian Petracca 56
    Marty Hore 56
    Neville Jetta 41
    Sam Frost 41
    Jack Viney 38
    Charlie Spargo 33
    Oscar McDonald 20

    PTA: 12.15.87
    Justin Westhoff 139
    Tom Rockliff 128
    Travis Boak 113
    Willem Drew 99
    Brad Ebert 89
    Robbie Gray 88
    Dan Houston 88
    Jack Watts 85
    Riley Bonner 84
    Ryan Burton 79
    Darcy Byrne-Jones 72
    Karl Amon 71
    Xavier Duursma 69
    Scott Lycett 67
    Connor Rozee 65
    Zak Butters 65
    Patrick Ryder 65
    Tom Clurey 63
    Steven Motlop 62
    Tom Jonas 62
    Sam Powell-Pepper 51
    Todd Marshall 46

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    1. Great lol, now a heap of people will jump on rocky and break his shoulders again(smily face).

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  14. Not sure if i’m getting worse at supercoach or it’s getting harder to pick a team but i’m still tinkering with shit up until now 🙁

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  15. Why the panic ?? Only r1. Last years winner only got to the front r22. Its not as if Having the c on gawn, and Oliver on the field, will be done by only a handful of people.

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  16. FINAL SC SCORES

    Melbourne Demons: 9.7.61

    Christian Salem 139
    James Harmes 103
    Angus Brayshaw 89
    Jake Melksham 88
    Max Gawn 87
    Bayley Fritsch 74
    Nathan Jones 71
    Clayton Oliver 71
    Sam Weideman 68
    Alex Neal-Bullen 67
    Michael Hibberd 67
    Tom Sparrow 62
    Christian Petracca 62
    Jayden Hunt 62
    Corey Wagner 61
    Tom McDonald* 59
    Marty Hore 58
    Sam Frost 43
    Neville Jetta 42
    Jack Viney 41
    Charlie Spargo 35
    Oscar McDonald 21

    Port Adelaide Power: 12.15.87

    Justin Westhoff 149
    Tom Rockliff 138
    Travis Boak 119
    Willem Drew 103
    Brad Ebert 99
    Robbie Gray 91
    Dan Houston 91
    Jack Watts 90
    Riley Bonner 88
    Ryan Burton 81
    Darcy Byrne-Jones 76
    Karl Amon 73
    Scott Lycett 69
    Patrick Ryder 68
    Xavier Duursma 67
    Connor Rozee 67
    Zak Butters 67
    Steven Motlop 66
    Tom Clurey 64
    Tom Jonas 64
    Sam Powell-Pepper 52
    Todd Marshall 48

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  17. I hate to say I told you so…. but I told you so. Sorry!

    Perhaps I should have gone Westhoff over Lycett though… still, he won’t kick five goals every week.

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  18. So it turns out I should have fielded Drew… and I forgot to put the E on him, so I can’t do a Motts Manoeuvre. Oh well.

    Sparrow wasn’t bad by the looks of things. Could be a handy corrective rookie trade if he can hold his spot.

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