port...has the mental edge dissapeared ?

[johntheclaret]

Sorry for who Jimmy. Port Adelaide the club(s) or the PA fans.?

I have some sympathy for the fans of PA who probably didn't much say in the matter or whose heads were turned by the lure of the bright lights, in the same way I have some sympathy for the Torrens and Woodville fans who have had to go from bagging one club one day, to getting into bed with it the next.

Want to say, that I have no sympathy for PAM / Power / Port Adelaide / Magpies or whatever else they want to call themselves. I think they shat on their fans as much as they did on the SANFL. Unqualified personal opinion only.

cant really i say i feel sorry for em, hell, if the roles were reversed, would any port person feel sorry for us..i dont ******* think so

It was a genuine question Jimmy. I wasn't sure if you were referring to Port the club or it's fans.

To be fair, the fans at the time were between a rock and a hard place. Your club leaves to join the glamour puss's and then another Port Adelaide comes into existence to compete in the same league you have watching all your life. Tough choice one or the other or both. The move by the SANFL to 'replace' the Port that left with another one IMO was probably not the best thing for the Port clubs or the league. Having a Port team in the league just fuels the animosity that fans have towards what happened and let's be honest, the Magpies are always going to play second fiddle to the Power.

Back on topic, I haven't noticed a mental edge for a few years now.

[ferret]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

[therisingblues]

I guess those fans that went onto the AFL never really looked back. If the Power has a bad season in the AFL, I'd expect a few of their fans to drift back to the SANFL provided that the Maggies are having a good season in the meantime. When this set of circumstances arises the Power mob may rue the day they joined the AFL, maybe just for one afternoon, and remember a time when they were top of the league they played in. But with every passing year, there are families raising their kids and teaching them that all they need to know about sport is the Power, and those kids will grow believing that theory. Port will always have a stronger connection to the SANFL Magpies than the Crows will have to any one individual SANFL club, but the fanantical, arrogant Magpie masses will increasingly become a thing of the past, with the occassional influx of semi-interested supporters wearing teal whenever the Power are having a bad year.

[Mickyj]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

Lets not forget the likes of former port players playing at WWT Duncan being the latest along with one or two others from earlier years . Your point still stands Ferret.
And I met one former junior Port player(earlier in the year) from last years under 19 side who left port because he'd had enough .I did say why not travel up Port rd to Woodville, but he was getting paid more money to play for his local suburban side than for Port .These type of lads end up at other SANFL clubs.

[CENTURION]

well has the mental edge port had/has over most teams evaporated over the last few years ? i think it has

no-they still have the edge on being mental!

[Booney]

For many people the choice was easy,continue to embrace and support both.

The Magpies without a doubt have lost the mental or psychological edge it once held over the competition,and there is no doubt that this power is now in the hand of Central District.In time,I sure hope,but in time the shift will take place again.

But why is it we have 'lost' it?

No doubt it is because of the Port Adelaide entry into the AFL.I will say I am far from happy in the position the Magpies now find themselves in,on and off the field.I also know the early restrictions placed on the AFL/SANFL club's relationships put the internal pressure at the time under much greater strain than neccesary,and this in time has manifested.

I will also say,that day at the MCG beating Brisbane is one of the best days of my life,and yes Jimmy,just because you think the AFL stinks is no reason for any of us who enjoy it to think any less of it.

I will also say I in no way feel 'compensated' or whatever you want to call it by the 'Power's premiership in relation to the Magpies decline.I in no way trade one off for the other.I hold them on equal billing.I think this is rare,and probably some of the reason the Magpies have lost a little edge,for I am in the minority,no doubt.For me to have embraced the 'Power' while still supporting the Magpies whole-heartedly is rare.Many Port fans chose to ignore,even hate the Power,many Power fans gave up the Magpies,and the problem of those two not wanting to co-exist is the problem.We should be one club,united and working together.

Pie in the sky stuff? Maybe.

In an ideal world,all fans would hold both teams equally to build on our heritage,aura and work for/with each other.Like I said,Im in the minority.I can only do my bit for both.

[Strawb]

Teams go up and down over the years Port's Mental edge will be back Port is that osrt of club that will find the edge and bring it back. Alberton is their home but when they left to train elsewhere it hurt the club. Just pass the Cemetery on your way to Alberton and figure out how many Port Supporters are buried there and Port will find their edge.

[Macca19]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

Cant say I really agree that Matt Cooper wasnt required. Id say he would have very much been a required player at Sturt.

Just to note, we did pick up Hargraves and Jarjoura this year from other SANFL clubs - two players that werent required. In the last few years, weve also picked up Roc Harry, Daniel Lees and Matthew Gates from other clubs, the latter two who are turning into reliable footballers.

[Mickyj]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

Cant say I really agree that Matt Cooper wasnt required. Id say he would have very much been a required player at Sturt.

Just to note, we did pick up Hargraves and Jarjoura this year from other SANFL clubs - two players that werent required. In the last few years, weve also picked up Roc Harry, Daniel Lees and Matthew Gates from other clubs, the latter two who are turning into reliable footballers.

Macca19, Hargraves I am afraid is nowhere near the player he was at North.Being an Eagles fan I can always remember him kicking bags of goals against us .What i saw the other week was not the hargraves of old. And is Roc Harry still playing with you guys I didnt see him the other week.

[BPBRB]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

Cant say I really agree that Matt Cooper wasnt required. Id say he would have very much been a required player at Sturt.

Just to note, we did pick up Hargraves and Jarjoura this year from other SANFL clubs - two players that werent required. In the last few years, weve also picked up Roc Harry, Daniel Lees and Matthew Gates from other clubs, the latter two who are turning into reliable footballers.

Macca19, Hargraves I am afraid is nowhere near the player he was at North.Being an Eagles fan I can always remember him kicking bags of goals against us .What i saw the other week was not the hargraves of old. And is Roc Harry still playing with you guys I didnt see him the other week.

C'mon mickyj Harsh words - Hargs bagged 5 in the ressies (again)!

He will no doubt be promoted to the Seniors given Port are playing his old team!

I think Roc Harry has left Port from what the ABC said earlier in the season on a Port telecast game.

[Macca19]

Just another few things.

After Matthew Knights finished our club was in a terrible position, on and off the field. On field we were a complete mess, almost at every level. Off field, if we didnt change how things were run we would have been looking down the barrell. On field we had zero depth in our talls and not much better in our smalls. We have gone someway to change that.

The club has turned its fortunes around in the past couple of seasons both on and off the field. Weve made a massive effort in the past few seasons to work on developing the juniors. It is reaping some rewards at the moment but will take time to really come on. We made both junior grand finals last year for one premiership (the U17s was a bit of a shock loss). Both junior teams are again on top of the ladder this year. Quite a number of those U17 and 19s players have come on at higher grades this year.

Guys like Greenwood and Ebert pretty much leapfrogged the U19s straight to the ressies and seniors. Guys like Michael Clinch, Sam Mardling, Kerren Hall, Brad Mercer, Tim Walsh have come a long way this year as well. Then weve got guys like Summerton, Dolling, Hay, Clinch and C Miller who have come on this year and gotten senior games (Summo turned into one of the best young guys in the league).

Its all about adding depth. Yes we have recruited heavily in the past few seasons but it was desperately needed. We needed a lot more top end quality after terrible 02-03-04 seasons. Now that the juniors our developing its added a lot more depth to our seniors and reserves. Yes we have been dissapointing this year at senior level. With some better recruiting and more development, I have no doubt we will be back near the top in the next couple of years.

[Mickyj]

Something Port Magpies should take note of: Last year the Eagles picked up/recruited Adam Grocke, Matt Cooper and Denis Redden from other SANFL clubs, basically they weren't required. They have been fantastic for the Eagles, it just shows, you don't have to buy high priced recruits to get decent players. These players wanted to continue their SANFL careers and ARE playing for the right reasons.

Cant say I really agree that Matt Cooper wasnt required. Id say he would have very much been a required player at Sturt.

Just to note, we did pick up Hargraves and Jarjoura this year from other SANFL clubs - two players that werent required. In the last few years, weve also picked up Roc Harry, Daniel Lees and Matthew Gates from other clubs, the latter two who are turning into reliable footballers.

Macca19, Hargraves I am afraid is nowhere near the player he was at North.Being an Eagles fan I can always remember him kicking bags of goals against us .What i saw the other week was not the hargraves of old. And is Roc Harry still playing with you guys I didnt see him the other week.

C'mon mickyj Harsh words - Hargs bagged 5 in the ressies (again)!

He will no doubt be promoted to the Seniors given Port are playing his old team!

I think Roc Harry has left Port from what the ABC said earlier in the season on a Port telecast game.

See if Hargraves had come to the Eagles like I hoped he would have played most of the year in the league .
If he had played in the two's the week before he would have kicked more,they entered the FL better than the league did !!

[Mickyj]

[quote="Macca19"]J

. Quite a number of those U17 and 19s players have come on at higher grades this year.

No offence Macca19 but WWT have been playing u17 and u19's in the two's for years . And I am pretty sure a few others do as well .
If you had seen WWT two's the last few weeks most are under age guys,its the way of the future . And WWT Two's were very undersized compared to Westies Two's.

cheers

[Macca19]

J

. Quite a number of those U17 and 19s players have come on at higher grades this year.

No offence Macca19 but WWT have been playing u17 and u19's in the two's for years . And I am pretty sure a few others do as well .
If you had seen WWT two's the last few weeks most are under age guys,its the way of the future . And WWT Two's were very undersized compared to Westies Two's.

cheers

Sorry, maybe I didnt make it overly clear what I meant. Id say every team has been playing juniors in the ressies for a long time now. Port have been doing it for as long as I can remember as well. I was more talking about the quality of this group of youngsters at the club, rather than the process of playing them.

From 2000-2004 the quality of our junior grades deteriorated a bit and as such there werent a lot that progressed through the ranks of being senior players. Some got drafted (Eichner, Lokan, Miller) and came back, others got drafted and went on to better things, but there werent many that became regular reliable Senior players. In the last few years though, with the West Coast Academy being set up and Bob Clayton looking after our development program, there has been a vast improvement in the quality of players that are coming through.

In 2005 we only had 1 player in the U18 squad - Dolling. Last year there were only two - Pepe and Thomas. This year we had 5 and a couple of others that almost snuck in as well. There has been a big improvement in this area, as has been noted by both the U17s and U19s (undefeated) on top of the table.

I guess what im getting at is the more quality juniors you get through the club, the higher chance that some will make it to become regular senior footballers. Obviously not all of them make it, every club has stories of kids that burned it up at junior level but faded away for whatever reason, but the more quality kids you get, the more chance you have of turning them into senior players.

[LBT]

Macca, remember that u/19s Full forward Hatsipanidis? horible spelling i know, i think he ended up at woody south. I thought he was gonna be a star.

[Macca19]

Yeah John Hatsitsopanidis. Was kicking 10-15 goals week in, week out in the underages.

[spell_check]

Yeah John Hatsitsopanidis. Was kicking 10-15 goals week in, week out in the underages.

Do you remember if he got a chance in the Reserves?

[Mickyj]

J

. Quite a number of those U17 and 19s players have come on at higher grades this year.

No offence Macca19 but WWT have been playing u17 and u19's in the two's for years . And I am pretty sure a few others do as well .
If you had seen WWT two's the last few weeks most are under age guys,its the way of the future . And WWT Two's were very undersized compared to Westies Two's.

cheers

Sorry, maybe I didnt make it overly clear what I meant. Id say every team has been playing juniors in the ressies for a long time now. Port have been doing it for as long as I can remember as well. I was more talking about the quality of this group of youngsters at the club, rather than the process of playing them.

From 2000-2004 the quality of our junior grades deteriorated a bit and as such there werent a lot that progressed through the ranks of being senior players. Some got drafted (Eichner, Lokan, Miller) and came back, others got drafted and went on to better things, but there werent many that became regular reliable Senior players. In the last few years though, with the West Coast Academy being set up and Bob Clayton looking after our development program, there has been a vast improvement in the quality of players that are coming through.

In 2005 we only had 1 player in the U18 squad - Dolling. Last year there were only two - Pepe and Thomas. This year we had 5 and a couple of others that almost snuck in as well. There has been a big improvement in this area, as has been noted by both the U17s and U19s (undefeated) on top of the table.

I guess what im getting at is the more quality juniors you get through the club, the higher chance that some will make it to become regular senior footballers. Obviously not all of them make it, every club has stories of kids that burned it up at junior level but faded away for whatever reason, but the more quality kids you get, the more chance you have of turning them into senior players.

Funny I should've been a bit clearer when I mentioned the under 19 port player from last year.He was one of your better players and whatever happened down there at alberton sent him back home to his local team.
Perhaps you should look more closely at WWT sides what you describe is what WWT has been doing for many many years.
And when WWT recruit players form interstate or other SANFL clubs they do not go for the big name big money players.
I hate to say this Macca you lost the mental edge when you started to BUY big name money players ,they will not perform like you need every week.
When your club wakes up to this you will go forward.
No offence meant by any of the above and its all my own thoughts.