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DANYLE Pearce and Matthew Thomas have grown as footballers since returning to Port Adelaide’s AFL side last month according to Power coach Matthew Primus who spoke exclusively to PortAdelaideFC.com.au.
Both Pearce and Thomas were dropped back to SANFL sides Sturt and Norwood respectively with a number of key benchmarks set for them by the Power’s coaching panel.
Both excelled in best on ground performances and each earning Port Adelaide’s SANFL Player of the Week titles during their time for their dominant performances.
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Upon their returns to the Power in May, both have proven influential around the ground in two key games - Pearce against North Melbourne and Thomas on Saturday night against Carlton.
Primus said Pearce struggled with tags and an new, evolving role across half back but has since transformed into a player who can generate the football and be dangerous for Port’s senior side.
“Danyle found it hard, he gets tagged every week and we just wanted him to work a bit harder and show some speed in his game which he obviously went back to Sturt and did very well there,” said Primus.
“He’s come back for the last three weeks - North Melbourne let him go and he was able to generate a lot of the ball, Gold Coast tagged him and on the weekend Carlton tried to for the first half.”
Primus feels that Pearce will become an integral part of the Port Adelaide side as its younger and inexperienced players develop and the 2006 All Australian grows into one of the club’s elder leaders.
“He’s important to how we want to play and he’s dangerous when he gets the ball in his hands, we’re just hoping his work rate when he does and doesn’t have the ball continues and that will hold him in good stead - not only this year but for the rest of his career,” said Primus.
“He’s important to how we want to keep going forward and has really bought into what we think he needs to do.”
Similarly, Thomas played out the early part of the 2012 season with Norwood in the SANFL, racking up the disposals and providing a key pressure player for the Redlegs' midfield.
One of Port’s most prolific tacklers, Thomas had a standout showing against Carlton in the wet last Saturday night and was named in the majority of critics’ best player lists for the match - even prompting Fox Footy’s Mark Robinson to praise his high-intensity performance as part of a revamped Power forward line.
Primus says that changing Thomas from an exclusive on-baller to a defending small forward has boosted the club’s ability to maintain possession inside 50.
“Matty Thomas - we changed his role a little bit - he’s playing down forward now,” said Primus.
“He was playing on-ball and going O.K. but was just not generating enough of the ball.
"We’ve obviously chopped and changed our midfield mix a fair bit this year - we looked at the last couple of weeks and felt we needed that real ‘pressure forward’ role and Matty’s been able to play that role for us the past coupe of weeks and done that really well.
“His attack on the ball has never been questioned - it’s just that his role has bobbed up for him, he’s taken to it, is growing into it and is going about it in a real good manner.”
Both Pearce and Thomas are expected to feature prominently for Port Adelaide before the bye and Primus says that a midfield that brings pressure to both Sunday’s fixture against Hawthorn and the round 12 game against the Western Bulldogs will be a key to Port’s ongoing rise.
[ Related: Preview: Power v Hawks ]
“The pressure on the opposition was fantastic against Carlton on the weekend,” said Primus.
“Can you replicate that every week? Probably not many teams have replicated a sustained pressure like that all the time.
“But that’s the kind of pressure on the opposition we want to do and then there’s the flip side when we get the ball back - what do we want to do and how do we want to move the ball?”
“We’ve got the biggest test we’ve had all year now against Hawthorn - they’re the best in the competition I reckon and we get to test ourselves, and those two get to test themselves, against the best.”
“His attack on the ball has never been questioned - it’s just that his role has bobbed up for him, he’s taken to it, is growing into it and is going about it in a real good manner.”
Both Pearce and Thomas are expected to feature prominently for Port Adelaide before the bye and Primus says that a midfield that brings pressure to both Sunday’s fixture against Hawthorn and the round 12 game against the Western Bulldogs will be a key to Port’s ongoing rise.
[ Related: Preview: Power v Hawks ]
“The pressure on the opposition was fantastic against Carlton on the weekend,” said Primus.
“Can you replicate that every week? Probably not many teams have replicated a sustained pressure like that all the time.
“But that’s the kind of pressure on the opposition we want to do and then there’s the flip side when we get the ball back - what do we want to do and how do we want to move the ball?”
“We’ve got the biggest test we’ve had all year now against Hawthorn - they’re the best in the competition I reckon and we get to test ourselves, and those two get to test themselves, against the best.”
