NAB Practice Game: Port Adelaide v Sydney

Saturday marked the end of our pre-season journey for 2013.  For me it was one last chaance to get along to see my team before the real stuff started.  So I headed down to AAMI stadium to watch the Power take on the raining premiers Sydney.  The weather was a nice temperature, but geez there was some bloody wind!!

Here are a few things that I noticed during the game.

Ollie Wines – This kid just continues to impress me.  He seemed to be everywhere the ball was and was getting plenty of it.  He did only play the half, but after playing in each of the other games the preseason I am not surprised.  9 disposals (3 kicks, 5 handballs), 4 contested possessions, 4 tackles, 2
clearances, 1 goal

Lewis Stephenson – I was a bit unsure on this guy, but after seeing him hehas made his way into my team.  He seemed to follow the ball and saw plenty of it.  He had 21 disposals (16 kicks, 5 handballs), 9 handball receives, 5 marks, 5 inside
50s, 3 rebound 50s.

Jake Neade – I still think this guy is too small and may not get a lot of games.  But when he is out there he does seem to do very well.  I was surprised at his ability against the bigger bodies.  Still, I don’t think I will be picking him though.  He only played the first half.  3 disposals (3 kicks), 3 tackles, 2 inside 50s, 3 score assists

Sam Colquhoun – Another kid that I think has great talent and he looked like a school kid out there against the men.  However, he did prove me wrong in terms of what I thought he could do.  He stood up and he was able to match it with them.  He played the whole game and didn’t look out of place.  19 disposals (12 kicks, 7 handballs), 5 marks, 1 goal

Hamish Hartlett – We have all been predicting a big year from him and he started down that track.  He was able to get where the ball was going to be and he was a bit of a link up player at times. 17 disposals (11 kicks, 6 handballs), 10 contested possessions, 6 tackles, 2 clearances

Jasper Pittard – A week ago I took him out of my team.  Today I put him back in again.  His disposal wasn’t clean and he caused a few turnovers but from a DT point of view it didn’t boher me!  He got heaps of it and seemed to be playing the role that Danyle Pearce has vacated.  25 disposals (19 kicks, 6 handballs), 10 marks, 4 inside 50s, 5 rebound 50s, 1 goal

Campbell Heath – Another guy that has been looked at by a few people.  I replaced him with Stevenson in my side but he impressed me too.  I see him as a bit more of a lockdown player.  15 disposals (11 kicks, 4 handballs), 4 rebound 50s

Travis Boak – The new captain certainly led from the front.  Shouldn’t be discounted as a premium scorer.  29 disposals (15 kicks, 14 handballs), 14 handball receives, 14 contested possessions, 6 tackles, 5 clearances, 4 inside 50s, 3 goals

Brad Ebert – hasn’t stopped from last year.  Another top notch performance and will, along with Boak, be one of Port’s top scorers.  25 disposals (15 kicks, 10 handballs), 7 marks, 10 contested possessions, 5 tackles, 4 inside 50s, 1 goal

Kane Mitchell– Only played the second half and whilst he had one purple patch, he didn’t have the impact I had hoped for.    6 disposals (5 kicks, 1 handball) 3 tackles, 3 inside 50s, 2 goals

Josh Kennedy – He showed why he was one of the greatest DT players from last year.  He had another great day out with 34 disposals, 10 tackles and 11 clearances.

Tony Armstrong – Many are considering this guy and to be honest I just didn’t see enough from him.

Shane Mumford – He was very mobile and was a feature around the ground for the Swans.  He was only up against Lobbe and Redden but it was still a display that made me think he was heading back to his best.

Adam Goodes – Looked a little rusty but we all know he is a slow starter.

ROK – Was around the ball a heap and seems to be on the track to be the same player we are used to.

 

There are a few random thoughts from yesterday.  Sorry for the lack of info on the Swans as I tended to watch the Power a bit more (as you would expect) and also the stats were from the Power website, I couldn’t find anything similar for the Swans.

If you were there and have some thoughts please post them below.

I was live tweeting from the game so if you follow me @pkd73 you may have already heard some of my thoughts live.