Port Adelaide vs Westcoast - Aami Stadium - Saturday Night
Port Adelaide 13th - 7-12- 77.84%
West Coast 16th - 4-15 - 76.90%
The Power and the Eagles will lock horns on saturday night in one of the more irrelevant games of the season.
Westcoast are just about assured of a wooden spoon, whilst Port Adelaide's mathematical finals chances dissapeared last week in a horrendous display at Etihad.
The fact I am even mentioning finals in the same sentence as Port is farcical, but some still held out hope. Even that hope is now gone, but for Matthew Primus the next three weeks are about an audition for the future.
Last week could not have helped his cause one little bit, and given the progress made in previous weeks it was a horrible outcome.
A 94 point loss to St.Kilda after two really good weeks was embarrassing and it represented the reason why Mark Williams lost his job in the first place.
This team has a tendency to roll over far too easily and for Primus it would have been extremely dissapointing given the spirit shown in his first few games at the helm.
The wins over Adelaide and Hawthorn had lifted spirits and it was the commitment shown in those games that would have stood out to everyone.
But in trademark Port Adelaide fashion, it dissapeared as quickly as it arrived and the resistance was nil against the Saints.
St.Kilda are one of the competitions top sides admittedly, and they played extremely well but this next three weeks is super important for Primus, and several Port players at the crossroads.
They will enjoy being back at home this week against the worst team in the league but the Eagles are at least having a crack and have a few players capable of hurting the Power if given a free reign.
Last week Westcoast were unlucky in many ways not to down the Lions with a contentious non free kick late in the game but they had other chances and will rue some missed shots early in the last.
The loss means they will almost certainly win the wooden spoon for the first time, and for John Worsfold that could be fatal.
So we have two coaches possibly fighting for survival in the last three weeks of the season which adds to the intrigue of what otherwise should be a scrappy, poorly attended messy affair.
Mark Le Cras was well held last week, and Kennedy had to fight hard all afternoon and these two remain the keys in attack.
Young players Strjik, Stephens, Ebert and co are showing some good signs and a couple of young defenders look ok so they can at least start to put a platform in place.
Use of the ball is the big issue with the Eagles, statistically they have the worst disposal efficiency accross the season and time and time again that brings them undone.
Defensive pressure needs to improve as well, the Eagles conceed 57 inside fifties per game on average, which is the worst record in the competition. Port Adelaide's small/medium forwards should relish the supply if it comes down that frequently and Jay Schulz remains in good form.
Historically Aami Stadium is not a happy hunting ground for Westcoast, having never reached 100 points in a game there, and losing their past five by an average of 56 points.
Defensively Brown should get Westhoff, Mackenzie or Schofield might take Schulz with Ebert and Grey the keys to Port's success.
Both are in good form and if Port get good supply, they should have enough to kick a winning score.
At the other end of the ground, Chaplin might get LeCras, but pace will be an issue there. Logan is another option but might not have the height to go with him.
Carlisle will take either Kennedy or Lynch with Daniel Stewart likely to get the other.
Defence is an issue for Port Adelaide as well, who have been conceeding a score from 55% of opposition inside fifties this season.
They are however conceeding only 48% of goals from set shots which ranks highly in the comp so they are effective at bringing it to ground.
Unfortunately last week they conceeded so many easy goals from overlap play where St.Kilda had so many free men everywhere that it didn't matter how well their key backs played.
If they offer the Eagles that freedom, then they could be punished as the win over Essendon a few weeks back demonstrates that Westcoast can be dangerous when free.
In a game between a side I don't trust, and another that is just no good I am backing the home side to get the job done here and produce an eighth win of the season and in the process improve Matthew Primus's chances of taking the coaching job long term.
The Eagles are poor travellers and don't quite have the sharpness of ball use to take advantage of Port Adelaide's unaccountability.
It won't be pretty, but Port will win.
Port Adelaide by 18 points
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