The Soaring

It was a game played on Sunday afternoon that gave me cause to see the current West Coast Eagles’ situation with a bit more clarity and a bit more positivity.

No, it wasn’t the Dockers’ capitulation to Melbourne, it was the Port vs Essendon game - in particular the current construction of the Port Adelaide side.

In 2004 , after 3 consecutive minor premierships, Port Adelaide broke through for their first premiership win. They had an experienced list but after that success the side waned from being a consistent winner to finishing 8th in 2005, and then bottoming out in 2006 in 12th, two seasons after their premiership.

Over the course of those two seasons a number of key players in their premiership retired - James, Kingsley, Wanganeen, Bishop, Hardwick etc, others were traded - Josh Carr to Fremantle, Pickett to Melbourne, and others suffered from injury - eg Tredrea.

All tolled, the bulk of Port’s premiership midfield - James, Carr, Kingsley - were gone, as were the hard and experienced bodies of the backline and two of the teams consistent scoring options were curtailed. It was bound to have an impact.

The fact that Port still had a number of quality players in the improving Burgoynes and the consistent Cornes brothers playing increasingly important on-ball roles it could’ve been a lot worse than 12th in 06.

I can’t help but notice the similarities here to the Eagles current predicament. Since our 2006 premiership we’ve had less player losses, but they’ve been none less important. We know about Judd and Cousins, but Chick, Rowan Jones and to a lesser extent Banfield have been missed as well as both provided great competitiveness and experience to the side.

On top of that, injuries have played a big part in our recent decline. With the losses in the midfield we’ve also lost our highest possession winner from the 2006 SF - Sam Butler. In fact, he averaged 20 possessions a game in 06 and hasn’t played since. A number of other players have also missed significant numbers of games (Embley, Kerr, Hansen, as well as LeCras, Priddis and now Hunter, Hurn etc).

Like Port we’ve lost key players in the midfield and the hardness and competitiveness of some veterans.

But the story is not finished there. Remarkably, after a poor 2006 Port rebounded to make the 2007 Grand Final against all expert opinion. Disregarding the result, it was a huge turnaround to achieve it in such a short period of time. After a slow start to 08, it appears the Port renaissance is the real deal.

So how did they do it and what can we learn from the Port experience?

Stay tuned for Part 2…