TODD MARSHALL does not care who his side comes up against in the Preliminary Final, but he admits he will be watching Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs do battle in this week’s Semi-Final with interest.
Marshall is having a career-best season, playing 20 games for Port Adelaide and booting 23 goals while averaging 10.1 disposals in the difficult tall forward position.
With his side enjoying a week off before a preliminary final against either the Lions or Dogs, the 22-year-old will take the chance to freshen up, do some jobs around the house and gain some insight into his potential opponents.
“I watch most footy games and I’m still a bit of a footy nuffy,” he admitted to portadelaidefc.com.au. “I watched all the games over the weekend and I’ll probably be watching the Brisbane and Bulldogs game pretty closely to see how they play and see if we can take anything into the prelim.
“It doesn’t really matter (who we play). If we want to win the flag, we have to beat whoever comes at us so we’re in a pretty privileged position now to have the week off and to watch the game.
“But no preference from my end.”
For the second straight year, Port Adelaide beat Geelong in a Qualifying Final at Adelaide Oval to give itself a shot at the Grand Final.
Port pressured the Cats into fumbling, turning the ball over and dropping marks on the way to a 43-point victory.
While a forward line featuring Marshall and fellow tall forwards Charlie Dixon, Peter Ladhams and Mitch Georgiades has been functioning well and challenging opposition sides in recent weeks, Georgiades’ absence through a hamstring injury saw Orazio Fantasia return.
The speedy small was at his damaging best, booting four goals in an electric display.
Marshall said he often found himself in awe of Fantasia’s ability.
“It was really exciting,” he said of Fantasia’s performance. “We’ve seen a few moments in other games where you sit back and you think ‘wow’ and he had a few of those on the weekend again.
“He’s a really exciting player like that and I think he’s going to be really important going forward.”
Marshall and Ladhams were the only tall forwards to boot a goal against the Cats with Fantasia and fellow smalls Robbie Gray, Steven Motlop, Sam Powell-Pepper and Zak Butters combining for 10 of the side’s 12 goals.
Marshall and his fellow talls played key roles in bringing the ball to ground for Fantasia and co. and he said there was still room for a return to the four-tall model.
“It takes a little while to know each other’s patterns and each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
“I think Charlie was enormous on the weekend with his contest and Pete was really good down there as well and that allows me to play a bit higher and help the team out in other ways with defence.
“I think it’s a really good mix and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Georgiades is expected to be available to play in the Prelim, and Fantasia should overcome a knee injury which saw him subbed out of the Geelong game.
That means a near full-strength list to choose from and pressure for spots.
Marshall sees it as a positive.
“I think our training standards the last two or three years have been really good but when you’ve got a healthy list and people fighting for spots, training goes up an extra notch,” he explained.
“It’s just a really good environment to be a part of at the moment. It’s competitive but we’re also best of mates so it’s been really good.”
