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Alessios mark was  spectacular- went so high he said hi to Pug, Norm Goss, Fred Cook as well as God and all our departed Borough family then decided to came back down. 

That first quarter was unbelievable from Port, the pressure and winning contests against a side who was second is something I haven't seen Port do since the days of old (pre covid). 

Truth be told its been a tough journey being a Port supporter post covid hopefully the days of old are returning with a winning margin  last week that hadn't been seen 2017 and a very strong performance yesterday against a quality side in tough conditions - who knows perhaps the days of old are returning !

Yeah, if you'd told me the day before that Port Melbourne would draw with Southport, I'd have been pretty excited. I started watching expecting a 30+ point loss. Seeing the lead diminish was disappointing, but it's no surprise that Southport fought back - the most disappointing aspect of it was that AJ Kuol Mun going off injured is what really swung the game in Southport's favor, as he'd been taking it right up to Crossley in the ruck, and then when he went off Crossley absolutely dominated in the ruck. Before Crossley was leading the hitouts and the clearances, but not by a whole lot, and Kuol Mun was having more impact around the ground, so it would have been great to have seen how the game would have played out without one of our best players going off injured. Watching the livestream I somehow missed the head knock aspect of the injury - the commentators said he was limping badly on his left foot, so depending on what the exact injury is that could potentially keep him out for even longer than the 21-day concussion period, although maybe (hopefully!) it will turn out to not be that bad. Considering that the injury to him will require Jimmy Miller to spend more time rucking and less time up forward, and considering the weakness of our forward lines in general (as we've discussed here before), his injury could have a big impact on the side.

But despite that I agree with you both that there is a lot to be excited about. Taking it right up to Southport at their home ground is a very good sign indeed. Last week at 3/4 time McCartney was after the players for not sticking tackles well enough, and they certainly improved on that this week. The pressure was indeed great to see - they did let up in the third quarter but increased the pressure again in the fourth. The sheer competitiveness on display was exciting to watch. Lazzaro was fairly well held for once, although he still broke loose for some good moments, but Heppell and Hooper were both excellent in the midfield. I'd have Hird, Lloyd, and Stubbings in the bests as well. I'm continuing to think that Polkinghorne looks very promising - quiet in the third quarter, but I think there's a lot to work with there. Ned Cahill didn't get a lot of the ball but had good pressure on his club debut. And Alessio's mark rivaled the one Bedendo took last week (maybe even better - hard to say when I saw one live and one on the stream)! 

It does look rather like they need to somehow practice specifically fourth-quarter kick-ins at training, which I suppose would mean practicing kick-ins late in training when they're tired - the fourth-quarter kick-ins seem particularly likely to end up as turnovers, which is certainly partly on the kickers, but I'm thinking part of the problem is also the receiving players not leading as well / not making it to the desired locations. But it does look like the team is starting to gel and to improve at implementing McCartney's gameplan.

VFL Southport v Port Melbourne  DRAW, AFL North Melbourne v Brisbane DRAW, NRL Cowboys v Penrith DRAW. First time ever there has been a draw in each of the competitions on the same weekend.

What makes this stat even more interesting is that neither North or Port were expected to get close on the scoreboard, north v brisbsne 2nd last v first, port v Southport 2nd last v 2nd ! 

Spiny Norman you bring up a valid concern about Miller expected to spend more time on this Saturdays game in the ruck rather than the forward line. Ild like to see Sam Grant play again in order for us to have that big target man in Miller up front, Unfortunately I was on holiday and didn’t get to see much of the Essendon game so I’m uncertain how he performed in his only game for us but if things are not working in the ruck I guess Miller could be moved back there to see if theirs improvements (and maybe Grant up front) ? Talking about the forward line - after a strong first game Paddy Farrant hasn’t played at least the past couple of games and same as Signorello. Anybody know what the go is there ? Is it due to injury or just due to non selection? 

Sam Grant didn't do much in the Essendon game; I wasn't surprised to see him dropped, though perhaps he'd improve with more chances, and it may indeed be worth giving him another shot to keep Miller up forward. Farrant and Signorello have both been playing in the NFNL, Farrant for Fitzroy Stars in div 3 and Signorello for Heidelberg in div 1. Farrant got 10 coaches votes this week. Signorello missed rounds 2 and 4 (don't know why) but played rounds 1, 3, and 5 (round 5 being this past weekend). So they're not injured. I've also been surprised to not see them back. Farrant and Lloyd were the only two forwards I definitely did not want dropped after the Essendon game because they were the two who seemed to be the best at getting into space. My guess would be that McCartney didn't think Farrant was competing hard enough when he didn't have space, but this is only a guess based on what McCartney said to the forwards in his 3/4 time speech (not calling anyone out by name but addressed to all of them - though Lloyd certainly can never be accused of not competing hard or not scrapping for the ball). Given the improvements in team cohesion over the past couple of weeks I'm willing to trust the coaching group's selection decisions, but I'm still surprised Farrant and Signorello haven't broken back into the side.