2015 isn’t a wasted year for Port Adelaide

There were dozens of things to like about the way Port Adelaide upset the Hawks on Friday night. Paddy Ryder played his most influential game for his new club, Travis Boak was industrious, Robbie Gray danced around opponents as if they were witches hats and Chad Wingard did what Chad Wingard does, booting four goals to take his season tally to 51 and adding an exclamation point to his certain All-Australian selection.

But best of all, the Power responded when they were challenged. Getting the jump on the sluggish Hawks was one thing. But when Hawthorn finally woke up after half-time and realised their top two aspirations were on the line, Port were able to match them for intensity and pressure. Ken Hinkley’s men have been accused of waving the white flag at times this year – most recently the 64-point loss to the Bulldogs earlier this month – but Friday was a return to the never-say-die Power the football world had fallen in love with.

Post-match, Boak said the win felt hollow. It’s understandable. His side was a goal away from a grand final 11 months ago but will miss the finals this season, despite having one of the most talented lists around.

Hinkley will no doubt point to Geelong’s 2006 as motivation over the summer. He was an assistant with the Cats when they had a similarly disappointing year after a summer of hype. As history shows, the club used its frustration as the catalyst for a brutal pre-season and won the following year’s flag. Port clearly have the ability to rebound just as quickly. The road to premiership success is rarely linear and it would surprise few if, in time, Port Adelaide’s 2015 is remembered as little more than a speed hump on the road to success.

The yips are getting bigger

If bad kicking is indeed bad football, Collingwood were absolutely putrid in the first half on Saturday afternoon. The Magpies’ inaccuracy in front of the big sticks has arguably already cost them a game or two this season, after they fell narrowly to the Hawks and Swans despite having more scoring shots. Against Richmond, they took it to a new level.

By the main break Collingwood had three more scoring shots from a whopping 15 more inside-50s, but could manage just seven behinds for the second term. Jarryd Blair and Jamie Elliott were among the chief offenders, and Travis Cloke demonstrated that a decade into his career he still finds those set shots from 20m a bit too tricky.

This isn’t to say Collingwood deserved be in front at half-time – far from it. Richmond are simply a more skilled, more mature and better-coached team than the Magpies at this point. They barnstormed their way to a 91-point belting courtesy of an exhilarating nine-goal last quarter, and the scoreboard was fairly indicative of where the two teams currently sit.

But it must drive Collingwood supporters insane to watch their players repeatedly miss straightforward shots when the game is in the balance, only to watch the ball go straight down the other end where the likes of Brett Deledio and Jack Riewoldt comfortably nail bananas from deep in the pocket.

Collingwood are set for a second straight September without finals, and you sense Nathan Buckley will start to feel some pressure if his side doesn’t improve in 2016. Based on goalkicking alone, they’ve got a lot of work to do.

The feel-good ruck battle of the year

In some ways, it’s a shame neither Nathan Vardy or Jason Holmes were able to sing their club’s song on Saturday night, after the Geelong v St Kilda match ended in a thrilling draw. The battle between the pair, which began as they faced off at the opening bounce, was a feel-good story whichever way you look at it.

Geelong’s Vardy was playing his first AFL game since the 2013 finals series (he’s likely to be joined by comeback kid Daniel Menzel this week), after a pre-season ACL injury and complications in his recovery wiped 18 months from his career. The 24-year old is a prodigiously talented ruck/forward who drew comparisons to Nick Riewoldt early on, and was entrusted with the Cats’ number one ruck role for the 2013 finals despite having played less than 20 games.

St Kilda’s Holmes made history by becoming the first born-and-raised American player to play in the AFL. The 203cm former college basketballer, in his second rookie-listed year with the Saints, has an impressive Naitanui-like leap and his athleticism and aggression tick the boxes required by a modern-day ruckman.

In the end, both players contributed strongly. Vardy finished with 20 hitouts, 14 disposals and two goals, while Holmes offered 34 hitouts, seven disposals and a superb tackle on Cam Guthrie that won him a free kick.

Geelong’s finals hopes took a dent but the equation facing them remains the same – they’re alive if they beat Collingwood and the Crows fall to the Eagles this weekend. The Saints have the opportunity to finish the season strongly and build momentum for 2016. Nobody took the four points, but the performances of the men in the middle meant both team’s supporters had reason for optimism.

North Melbourne finally takes a scalp

The theory that North Melbourne rise to play the top teams and play poorly against the weaker teams had been largely debunked this season. Beltings at the hands of Hawthorn (60 points) and Fremantle away (72), plus a 16-point loss to the Swans, weren’t exactly what Brad Scott had in mind when he recruited 32-year old Jarrad Waite seemingly assuming the former Carlton forward could take them to a premiership.

Things were going to script early on Sunday, the Kangaroos four goals down against the rampaging ladder-leading Dockers in the blink of an eye. What happened next is enough to give Scott confidence his team can do some damage in September.

The Kangaroos, so often labeled flaky, found a way to dig deep. They were rarely pretty, but their relentless tackling pressure forced Fremantle into turnovers and through Waite (three goals) and the evergreen Brent Harvey (four), they were able to capitalize.

To top off a dirty day for the Dockers – who scored seven goals in the first quarter and just five more for the match – Nat Fyfe faces a nervous wait for the match review panel’s findings after a third-quarter report.

North’s win made it seven on the trot, but this was the only of the stretch against a team above them on the ladder, and by far their most gutsy performance of the season. Replicate that against the Bulldogs and Tigers in the next fortnight, and a home final beckons.

Memo to Melbourne - the season runs for 23 weeks

During the week, Paul Roos said his Melbourne players’ minds “were on their end of season footy trip” as they were demolished by the Western Bulldogs to the tune of 98 points. If that’s the case, the players were mentally somewhere near Las Vegas during the first half on Sunday.

The Demons have put in some abysmal performances this season but the first half against Carlton took the cake. Down six goals to one at quarter-time, 10 to 2 at the main break, Melbourne didn’t give a yelp for an hour against a side firmly entrenched in the bottom two. A side that last week lost by 10 goals to the equally bad Brisbane Lions.

Apologists will point to the Demons’ second half – when they outscored the Blues by four goals to lose by 23 points – as a sign of improvement. They shouldn’t. The top teams, the perennial finalists, demand four quarters of quality football a week. It’s not enough that Melbourne were able to fight for a half after going missing for an hour. If excuses are made for such a putrid performance, the Demons will never develop the ruthless streak they need to compete on a weekly basis.

With six victories, Melbourne sit two wins ahead of where they finished last season. But despite some individual highlights – the debut season of Jesse Hogan, the development of Max Gawn – halves like Sunday’s make it hard to categorically say the team has improved. And that’s an indictment on everyone associated with the club.