Due to the state game and lack of regular SANFL footy played over the weekend, PortAdelaideFC.com.au decided to review the progress and performance of Port Adelaide players who have regularly featured in the SANFL so far this year with Development Manager Daniel Healy. 

Season so far:
As a first year that has come over from Perth it was an expectation that Brendon would start in the Reserves as most new draftees do. He’s been building very nicely and getting more and more time on ball in the Reserves at Port Adelaide and any of the Magpies supporters who have seen the Reserves play would have seen some very strong improvement, especially his clearance work which has been very impressive.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
We’re hopeful that he will play in this week’s Foxtel Cup game and then from my perspective his target is to get himself in the Port Adelaide League side in the second half of the year and get some games under his belt at top-level SANFL. If that’s the case we’d consider it a very successful year for him

Mitch Banner (Port Adelaide)

Season so far:
Mitch unfortunately has been stalled by injury, requiring a knee operation during the season. He was showing some reasonable form but in his last couple of games he was clearly being impeded by his knee and was not able to play without restriction.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
Hopefully with a successful rehabilitation he can be back in the next few weeks and kick on in the second half of the year. The remainder of the season is really important for him with the end of his fourth year approaching we’re looking to see some consistent solid SANFL form.

Nathan Blee (Roosters)

Season so far:
Nathan was a mature age recruit from Perth having played WAFL last year, as such we expected him to come in and play good standard state league footy. He has been a touch inconsistent with his defensive work but he’s played every game in the League for North so far this season and now that he has become more familiar with the surroundings, both at North and here at Port Adelaide we think that the best is ahead of him.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
Nathan was outstanding defensively in his last game against Centrals and we’re looking to see him combine his defensive skills with his good offensive skills and put together an all-round game. Again he’s a backup for our defenders and we didn’t have the expectation that he would play a lot this year for us (Port Adelaide) but we’d like to think by the end of the year he’ll really push for senior selection by playing solid SANFL footy.

Danny Butcher (Roosters)

Season so far:
Danny is another one who had a really tough pre-season, he got really bad pneumonia which set him back and he had a couple of injury issues such as sore hips and groins that we’ve had to manage all year. This has made it hard for him as a rookie, as he came to the club late and was behind the 8-ball to start with. The pleasing thing with Danny is his outstanding attitude he’s always trying to get better and better, and his games are showing improvement.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
If his body can hold up we’re really confident that Danny can consolidate his spot and play some good footy in the Reserves in the second half of the year. We would like to see him try and push for a League game by the end of the year, but again a lot of this depends on how his body holds up.

Mitch Curnow (Double Blues)

Season so far:
Mitch has had a bit of a disappointing first half of the year, but it’s his second year on the rookie list and is still a raw and inexperienced young ruckman. The one thing we continue to work with him on is his competitiveness and staying in the contest. Pleasingly the last game he played before the break was his best for the year by a mile and it showed some positive signs.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
Mitch will really need to show that (Centrals performance) week-in week-out as a standard in the Reserves for Sturt for him to convince us that there’s been improvement made and that he’s worthy of staying on and persisting with. We are well aware that young ruckmen take time, but what we need to be concerned with is continuing improvement and that had stalled earlier in the year. Pleasingly however he showed us the brand of footy he can play and we look forward to seeing more of it.

Jarrad Irons (Eagles)

Season so far:
Jarrad has had a difficult start to the first half to the season, only playing 4 games after doing a calf and missing a number of weeks. Pleasingly he played a trial game for the Eagles against the state under 18s, albeit against a lesser opposition, but had his best game for over a year with 28 touches and a number of clearances and tackles and he looked like the Jarrad Irons we recruited. We’re really positive about that and we do realise it was against lesser opposition but a lot of the stuff he did didn’t have anything to do with the opponent, it was his work rate and he was showing a lot of stuff we like about him.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
For the rest of the season we’re looking for Jarrad to push and play some solid Reserves and get in the Eagles’ League side and remind us what we loved about him in the first place by the end of the year.

Tom Jonas (Redlegs)

Season so far:
Tom was really solid earlier in the year and then hurt his knee, so he missed a couple of games due to that. Regardless he’s an outstanding character, Norwood love him, he’s a Norwood boy and he’ll be integral to their success this year. Since returning from injury he’s played one game and featured in the midfield despite Tom generally playing as a defender.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
In terms of the rest of the season we’re really keen to see more and more of him in the midfield. We don’t discount him as a backman but we certainly see he’s got the big body, he’s tough and he’s certainly competitive enough for the engine room. For Tom he will be pushed to elevate himself onto our and hopefully play a game for us (The Power) by the end of the year.

Matthew Lobbe (Bloods)

Season so far:
‘Lobbes’ season has been interrupted by injury as well, with a hip operation-taking place during the season. Since then he’s played five games back, with his last one being in the League with Westies which was really pleasing and it was his best game so far.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
There’s the conundrum that we have at the top level, do we play two ruckmen? And is it Lobbe and Renouf? Is it Lobbe and Redden? Is it Redden and Renouf? But we’re confident he will put his hand up pretty soon for a spot in the team, and his ability to run out a game and play high game time holds him in good stead. We expect a solid month or so with Westies now from him, it may not even be that much and for him to continue to push and make life difficult for our ruckmen which we want.

Tom Logan (Tigers)
1 AFL Game, 4 League Games

Season so far:
Tommy Logan has been in and out of the side and he’s been terrific. Glenelg love him, he’s compliant, he has a crack, he puts in and he gets plenty of the footy, he’s played really well in the SANFL. We know that whenever we need Tommy he’s always ready, his form always dictates that and he’s one that’s going well.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
We expect him to continue with his form for the rest of the season and to call on him whenever necessary.

Andrew Moore (Roosters)

Season so far:
Andrew Moore is probably one of the most enjoyable and exciting of the lot as far as improvement goes. He had really stalled in the Reserves early on after playing some trials and he just wasn’t showing us the intensity and the improvement we’d hoped for but through a heap of hard work and being able to identify what wasn’t working for him, he’s been able to play the last five weeks at a really high level.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
Andrew, through his play, has issued a statement to the match committee to pick him and we expect him to continue this form. He goes for stoppages now, he looks like he wants to get the ball, he looks like he’s at League level, if not too good for League level and that was shown by the game out here against the Port Adelaide SANFL side. He’s been very good and we hope to get him in the AFL side soon.

Ben Newton (Bloods)

Season so far:
Ben was injured for a long time before drafted him but we took a punt with him for his exceptional talents and we’re willing to be patient with him. Last year was effectively a write off so this year it was about him playing 20 games. He hasn’t missed a game so far, and while they’ve all been in the Reserves he’s been building and building to League selection. Last week he had 25 touches and 4 goals. What he’s been after is a breakout game and hopefully that was it.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
West’s League side are doing reasonably well so whether he gets into the League side or not is out of our hands, but we’re really encouraged by what he’s doing and whatever level he plays, if he’s able to play 20 games and have a full pre-season we think that’s going to be a great result. Ideally though he plays some League footy and even starts to knock on our (Power’s) door.

Simon Phillips (Redlegs)

Season so far:
Flip’s been a bit inconsistent this season, he had one absolute stand out game where he kicked 5 goals against the Eagles and was probably best on ground. Unfortunately in other games he hasn’t been able to have as great an impact, but Flip’s known for years the area to work on is his consistency and being involved more in games in both his offensive and defensive effort.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
It’s a really important second half of the year for him to put some form together, we do need a player like him at AFL level and that’s something for him to really keep working on.

Daniel Webb (Bloods)

Season so far:
Webby is another one who continues to improve and improve. Last year we were frustrated because he can be very inconsistent with his competitiveness and his efforts but we could not say that about him this year. Daniel’s been really competitive in marking contests and the ruck, but not dominating games and I think ideally we’d love him to have a breakout game where he consistently gets more marks and more involved in the game, but as far as his aggression and his competitiveness goes he’s really ticked that box.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
West Adelaide are really happy with his improvement and certainly he’s making us take notice of him as a ruckman come forward which is a position that a lot of clubs are using and he needs to consolidate that by playing some more good footy in the SANFL and forcing us to have another look at him next year. It’s a very important second half of the year for him.

Steven Salopek (Tigers)

Season so far:
Steven played some good footy at the start of the year and we certainly felt he is at an SANFL League standard, unfortunately Glenelg didn’t see his form that way and dropped him back to the reserves for the Tigers. Obviously we’re not happy with that and we’re trying to find him a better opportunity elsewhere.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
It will definitely be an important second half of the year for Sal but hopefully we see him getting back into it and playing the way that we all know he can.

Cameron O’Shea (South Adelaide)

Season so far:
Cam has gone back and been steady at South, he’s probably not the type who is going to go back and rack up 30 touches but he’s a very honest and solid contributor to the side and that’s what we loved about him last year. One of the other things is he’s loved by his teammates because of his competitiveness and they trust him to play his role so we want to see him continuing to do that, he’s been a bit focused on getting the ball at South and using it well because that’s obviously what excites people but we’ve talked to Cam about just going back and doing what he does well which is competing well, beating his opponent and then thinking offensively.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
It’s a challenge for Cameron, most players come over and play for their SANFL club in their first year and move up to the AFL in their second, he’s done the reverse so it’s a real adjustment to then go back when the blokes he’s been living with are playing AFL and he’s been used to playing AFL but he’s an outstanding character and we’re pretty confident that he’ll push himself back up soon enough.

Jarrad Redden (Woodville West Torrens)

Season so far:
Reddo is a bit stiff, we rested him because he was absolutely cooked and it might sound funny after four or five weeks but with the NAB Cup he had about 8 or 9 really solid games, most of which he rucked on his own. For a guy who’s not a real athlete he did a really good job but you could see his performances waning. In resting him we put Renouf in and felt compelled to give him a decent go and that’s meant that until we decide to play two rucks, which could be soon, he will still be playing SANFL.

Expectations for the rest of the year:
The comments from the Eagles have been how much improvement they’ve seen in him as a person and a player who stands in the ruck and dominates and they love what they’ve seen. Our expectations of him are to continue with his good form and hopefully he will get a few games in for the Power, but that is as much to do with our structure as his form.