Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres revealed he has “enormous admiration” for the way his players have measured up against the VFL sides aligned with AFL clubs this year. Samantha Landy reports.
Only the Borough and Frankston have no affiliation with top level sides, and the teams could not be more different as they currently stand.
Port Melbourne chalked up their eleventh straight win of the season against Geelong to the tune of 51 points on Saturday and sits comfortably on top of the VFL ladder, while Frankston occupy the wooden spoon position and has mustered only one win this season.
The ladder leaders are bolstered by an array of ex-AFL players, notably Adam Bentick who donned the Carlton guernsey before joining the Boroughs, ex-Dee Shane Valenti, Wayde Skipper, who has graced the Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs lists, and ex-Dogs rookie Patrick Rose. The Dolphins conversely are a young side with few big names to boast about.
Comparing the two teams makes Port Melbourne’s achievements this year as a non-affiliated side all the more commendable.
Ayres admits that his side has done remarkably well to overcome the disadvantages that come with having no AFL partner, the major issue being subpar infrastructure around the club.
“You don’t come into the coach’s room [at AFL-aligned clubs] and the seats are broken,” he said, gesturing to the facilities in the Port Melbourne rooms at TEAC Stadium.
“Feedback, laptops – all that stuff becomes a real bonus to them, and we run off the smell of an oily rag here.
“There’s no comparison to what the players do on the field and off…in relation to the infrastructure, which is why we have such enormous admiration for the guys here.”
The Borough coach also cited having “full-time AFL footballers” coming into aligned sides as an advantage his club is denied.
“They’re training 40 hours a week, we might train six hours a week. They’ve got the availability.”
However, Ayres noted that the inclusion of AFL players in VFL sides can also have a downside, suggesting Port Melbourne benefits from the stability that comes with not having to accommodate top level footballers.
“What we do have here which is possibly different to others is that we have a unique spirit,” he said.
“You know pretty much the side; you know there’s not gonna be players that come back and take your spot.
“So perhaps mentally there’s a real consistency about what you need to do and know, [and who you] play for and [who you] play with.”
He also noted that it depends “who plays and who doesn’t play” in terms of AFL players, suggesting that the loss of top level footballers to senior selection can be more damaging than not having them in the first place. Ayres pointed to the Geelong outfit that lined up against his Borough as an example of this.
“Geelong today probably missed half a dozen of their best players,” he said, referring primarily to leading forward Mitch Brown and midfielders Shannon Byrnes and Allen Christensen. These key outs clearly hurt the Cats’ chances against the ladder leaders.
If the perception that VFL sides need an AFL-affiliation to have success exists in the competition, then Port Melbourne are the best chance of breaking it this season. That is if their eleven-game winning streak hasn’t already done so.
Last Modified on 30/06/2011 16:45