Absolute must-win for Frankston this week. Getting smashed by the top sides isn't good enough anymore. With how competitive the league is this year, we need to be claiming some big scalps.
Wins now against North Melbourne, GWS, and a draw against Southport.
We still haven't got our best side on the park yet either, but it was great to see Anthony Anastasio back this week and he brought that creativity and work rate that is trademark Red. He also kicked an absolute ripper goal crumbing deep in the forward line in the first quarter.
I had to leave just after half time unexpectedly, so am looking forward to seeing how the second half played out.
Could Charlie Lazarro be in Liston medal contention? He's been very consistent in my opinion.
Crowd at Frankston last night was apparently only 1500. Not a bad figure but probably our lowest attendance for the year so far.
We improved somewhat in the final quarter and did close the margin, but at no point did a win feel remotely possible. Our last goal to narrow it to 17 points came after the siren. If anything, that last quarter makes the rest of the game even harder to accept. Why couldn't we have played like from the beginning?
There's far too much rhetoric around the club of "oh at least they fought back" or "oh it's too hard competing against the aligned teams" and it honestly needs to end. If we have any intention of winning a flag we need to stop accepting one good quarter in an otherwise crap performance. On paper we have a superior list to last year and yet our wins are largely unimpressive while our losses are becoming blowouts. And our run home is not easy. Multiple sides occupying finals positions, Port and Coburg who are improving (and Coburg will want blood after last time.) Finals is going to slip away from us if we don't improve.
UptheDolphins, you make great points about the mindset going up against AFL sides and getting past that to be a genuine premiership contender.
I will say that Port Melbournes best footy this year has been against quality AFL opposition and that I think we are more vulnerable going up against the standalones and the lower ranked sides.
I also omitted to mention that another quality inclusion this week was the return of Lachie Rankin, who is a terrific player at this level and has been slowly missed this session.
Great win by Port Melbourne. I had not been entirely sure what to expect given the much-discussed state of the forward lines, but the team really delivered. It was very good to see better goalkicking - this is the third time this season that we've kicked more goals than behinds (the other two being the wins over Preston and GWS), and when you take into account how heavily the wind was favoring one side of the ground, the improvement over the last game is even more apparent. With the wind we kicked 9.3, compared to 5.9 against it, so most of the misses came from genuinely more difficult kicks. North kicked 9.2 with the wind and 2.5 against it, so Port did a much better job of playing against the wind than North Melbourne did.
Interestingly North won a lot of the stats, so while there were still some instances where our team defence really broke down and gave them easy goals (but far fewer than there were early this season), our players were moving the ball more directly and forcing North into overpossessing it.
NorthPort, I expect we'll have to string together some more wins for Lazzaro to be in Liston contention - right now the losses probably mean he's not among the leaders now just as he's not among the leaders in the coaches' votes, but if we maintain this form I agree that he should poll well. This was another very good game from him.
Jimmy Miller of course was in great form, Lachie Rankin slotted back in as if he hadn't missed a game, and Hooper, Hird, Cahill, and Clarke were very good also. Prior to the game I had been somewhat skeptical of the idea of Hird being part of the midfield rotations for the whole game rather than playing at halfback (a move I'd guessed would happen from him being named on the bench in the team posted in the team announcements on the VFL site), but he played well there, and at halfback Rankin was very good and I thought Sparkman made a solid club debut.
Upthedolphins - I reckon no matter what happens in this competition they'll always be people saying it's too hard v afl sides. It can be proven over and over and it won't sink in, I hear it at Port when things don't go right. Gaazi in the early days said a stand alone would never win a 🏆.and despite Port winning it twice (once undefeated), Williamstown playing in around 10 consecutive preliminary finals a stand alone grand final last year - you still have the defeatist naysayers stating its too hard. To cut a long story short (too late now) it's not too hard and just like anything in life using that kind of language will lead to a lack of achievement as you were saying.
Moving on, WELL DONE PORT !!! Truth be told its been a frustrating 4 seasons mainly due to not living up to expectations after recruiting well (league expectations not just clubs expectations) but finally things feel like they are beginning to turn and that better days are here to be enjoyed. Being 0-4 the feeling of no not this again, another underperforming season was beginning to creep into people's minds, that feeling now being replaced with a huge sigh of relief. Having said that, theirs a huge amount of work to be done and it would foolish to rest and be satisfied with where we are at.
Miller unbelievable yesterday, seen him play some great games but none better than yesterday. 4 great goals and a great set up to Hird which showed great vision and execution. Good all round performance and those who were lacking earlier on lifted throughout. I thought James Van Es had a great finish and contributed strongly after a couple of uncharacteristic errors early on. Would be great to have had Farrant and Manton (spoke with Manton, hoping held be back for the seagulls game) but as Spiny said to perform without them is pleasing and for me somewhat unexpected, had you of said to me a month back that Port could beat a side who'll most likely play finals without those two i would quickly get my car and drive you direct to a specialist to do a test or two !
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Last season the grand final was played by two stand alone teams. Southport are clear favourites. Fair chance of seeing another flag to a standalone team. Williamstown if they keep playing the type of footy over the past few weeks will give it a shake. What odds on a Southport v Williamstown grand final ? Port Melbourne can make the top ten. Definitely good enough. Frankston, werribee and coburg have dropped off past few weeks but I think they will come good again to challenge for spots in top ten. It is only 12 rounds into the season so we still have plenty footy left.
Absolute must-win for Frankston this week. Getting smashed by the top sides isn't good enough anymore. With how competitive the league is this year, we need to be claiming some big scalps.
Trailing 5.10 to 11.7 in the third quarter. Can't get much worse.
How was the last quarter? Looked like the Dolphins kicked a few more to narrow the margin.
I only saw a bit of the first quarter, but Frankston is drawing very healthy crowds down there.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
The Borough are back!
Wins now against North Melbourne, GWS, and a draw against Southport.
We still haven't got our best side on the park yet either, but it was great to see Anthony Anastasio back this week and he brought that creativity and work rate that is trademark Red. He also kicked an absolute ripper goal crumbing deep in the forward line in the first quarter.
I had to leave just after half time unexpectedly, so am looking forward to seeing how the second half played out.
Could Charlie Lazarro be in Liston medal contention? He's been very consistent in my opinion.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Crowd at Frankston last night was apparently only 1500. Not a bad figure but probably our lowest attendance for the year so far.
We improved somewhat in the final quarter and did close the margin, but at no point did a win feel remotely possible. Our last goal to narrow it to 17 points came after the siren. If anything, that last quarter makes the rest of the game even harder to accept. Why couldn't we have played like from the beginning?
There's far too much rhetoric around the club of "oh at least they fought back" or "oh it's too hard competing against the aligned teams" and it honestly needs to end. If we have any intention of winning a flag we need to stop accepting one good quarter in an otherwise crap performance. On paper we have a superior list to last year and yet our wins are largely unimpressive while our losses are becoming blowouts. And our run home is not easy. Multiple sides occupying finals positions, Port and Coburg who are improving (and Coburg will want blood after last time.) Finals is going to slip away from us if we don't improve.
UptheDolphins, you make great points about the mindset going up against AFL sides and getting past that to be a genuine premiership contender.
I will say that Port Melbournes best footy this year has been against quality AFL opposition and that I think we are more vulnerable going up against the standalones and the lower ranked sides.
I also omitted to mention that another quality inclusion this week was the return of Lachie Rankin, who is a terrific player at this level and has been slowly missed this session.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Great win by Port Melbourne. I had not been entirely sure what to expect given the much-discussed state of the forward lines, but the team really delivered. It was very good to see better goalkicking - this is the third time this season that we've kicked more goals than behinds (the other two being the wins over Preston and GWS), and when you take into account how heavily the wind was favoring one side of the ground, the improvement over the last game is even more apparent. With the wind we kicked 9.3, compared to 5.9 against it, so most of the misses came from genuinely more difficult kicks. North kicked 9.2 with the wind and 2.5 against it, so Port did a much better job of playing against the wind than North Melbourne did.
Interestingly North won a lot of the stats, so while there were still some instances where our team defence really broke down and gave them easy goals (but far fewer than there were early this season), our players were moving the ball more directly and forcing North into overpossessing it.
NorthPort, I expect we'll have to string together some more wins for Lazzaro to be in Liston contention - right now the losses probably mean he's not among the leaders now just as he's not among the leaders in the coaches' votes, but if we maintain this form I agree that he should poll well. This was another very good game from him.
Jimmy Miller of course was in great form, Lachie Rankin slotted back in as if he hadn't missed a game, and Hooper, Hird, Cahill, and Clarke were very good also. Prior to the game I had been somewhat skeptical of the idea of Hird being part of the midfield rotations for the whole game rather than playing at halfback (a move I'd guessed would happen from him being named on the bench in the team posted in the team announcements on the VFL site), but he played well there, and at halfback Rankin was very good and I thought Sparkman made a solid club debut.
Definitely great to see Anastasio back!
Upthedolphins - I reckon no matter what happens in this competition they'll always be people saying it's too hard v afl sides. It can be proven over and over and it won't sink in, I hear it at Port when things don't go right. Gaazi in the early days said a stand alone would never win a 🏆.and despite Port winning it twice (once undefeated), Williamstown playing in around 10 consecutive preliminary finals a stand alone grand final last year - you still have the defeatist naysayers stating its too hard. To cut a long story short (too late now) it's not too hard and just like anything in life using that kind of language will lead to a lack of achievement as you were saying.
Moving on, WELL DONE PORT !!! Truth be told its been a frustrating 4 seasons mainly due to not living up to expectations after recruiting well (league expectations not just clubs expectations) but finally things feel like they are beginning to turn and that better days are here to be enjoyed. Being 0-4 the feeling of no not this again, another underperforming season was beginning to creep into people's minds, that feeling now being replaced with a huge sigh of relief. Having said that, theirs a huge amount of work to be done and it would foolish to rest and be satisfied with where we are at.
Miller unbelievable yesterday, seen him play some great games but none better than yesterday. 4 great goals and a great set up to Hird which showed great vision and execution. Good all round performance and those who were lacking earlier on lifted throughout. I thought James Van Es had a great finish and contributed strongly after a couple of uncharacteristic errors early on. Would be great to have had Farrant and Manton (spoke with Manton, hoping held be back for the seagulls game) but as Spiny said to perform without them is pleasing and for me somewhat unexpected, had you of said to me a month back that Port could beat a side who'll most likely play finals without those two i would quickly get my car and drive you direct to a specialist to do a test or two !
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
Last season the grand final was played by two stand alone teams. Southport are clear favourites. Fair chance of seeing another flag to a standalone team. Williamstown if they keep playing the type of footy over the past few weeks will give it a shake. What odds on a Southport v Williamstown grand final ? Port Melbourne can make the top ten. Definitely good enough. Frankston, werribee and coburg have dropped off past few weeks but I think they will come good again to challenge for spots in top ten. It is only 12 rounds into the season so we still have plenty footy left.