Port Adelaide
Coach – Ken Hinkley
2022 –
Points For – 11th
Points Against – 5th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Connor Rozee
- Travis Boak
- Dan Houston
- Ollie Wines
- Sam Powell-Pepper
2022 Rising Star Noms
Lachie Jones(Round 15)
Ins – Jason Horne-Francis, Junior Rioli, Francis Evans, Tom McCallum, Tom Scully, Kyle Marshall, Nathan Barkla
Outs – Steven Motlop, Robbie Gray, Sam Skinner, Sam Mayes, Taj Schofield, Karl Amon, Martin Frederick
My Prediction
Port looked primed last year but started slowly and things just never got going. They kept their coach I think more out of stubbornness because others were sniffing around him but the pressure will come quickly this year if they fail again with Josh Carr brought in to ensure the knife is never far from Hinkley’s back.
The backline performed well last year. They have solid stoppers in Clurey and Jonas. Aliir is very important for his intercepting and attack off half back. Byrne-Jones, Burton and Houston give plenty of run from the backline and in general are very good users of the ball.
If you could pick an area they needed to bolster this year it would probably be the midfield with their current midfield being serviceable and last year they underperformed when compared to the year before. Adding in JHF certainly makes a difference. Wines was down last year on the year before and they will want more from him. Rozee was outstanding and along with Butters and JHF give them a pretty good core to move forward with.
The forward line has been ok in previous years but last year got found out. Dixon is capable but inconsistent. They need more consistency from Marshall. They lose Gray and Motlop this year but add in Junior Rioli. I think they will be expecting Georgiadis to bounce back and hoping that some sort of miracle happens with Fantasia.
The rucks are an issue. Lycett is an average ruck but when he was out last year they found it testing as their depth ruckmen were generally pretty useless. They will be hoping for an injury free run. The coach is probably under as much pressure as any AFL coach this year. They will not tolerate a year outside the eight and think probably even more, they need to challenge.
The list is shallow, they need a good run with injuries if they are to climb up the ladder. They are still young and would expect natural improvement should push them up towards where they were the year before when they were seen as a challenger. I think that would take a very good run with injuries, they should however play finals. I think they finish 6-8