Terry Wallace has highlighted three key areas Port Adelaide must target if they are to beat the Western Bulldogs.
The Power and Bulldogs open Round 10 at Adelaide Oval on Monday night with both clubs coming off contrasting results in Round 9.
Port consolidated its spot at the top of the ladder by thrashing Melbourne by 51 points while the eighth-placed Dogs were swept aside by reigning premiers Richmond to the tune of 41 points.
“If I’m Port Adelaide, what do we need to do to beat them?” Former Bulldogs coach Wallace told SEN’s The Match Committee.
1. Don’t allow Tim English and Marcus Bontempelli to have a major impact
“If I’m talking to a Match Committee, Bontempelli is just a team tag, you don’t need to necessarily put someone tight on him … but we just need to pressure him so he can’t get high-end 20-plus possessions, but more particularly, he hasn’t got time and space on the ball.
“You need to physically work him (English) over because he’s still not at that stage yet.”
2. Control the game pattern
“We’ve got to play a kicking-marking game and own the tempo of the game.
“If we control the tempo of the game, it doesn’t allow the Bulldogs to get their action going.”
3. Pressure the half-back counterattack
“The other part of it is we’ve got to pressure the half-back counterattack so when they do win the ball back, it’s got to be manic pressure on that footy.
“We’ve got to be as sound as Richmond were behind the ball so when the pressure comes on them, we’ve got our structures behind the footy in place, which doesn’t allow them to flow the ball through the middle of the ground.
“To me, that’s their only weapon."
Wallace continued: “If we get those three points right … we get the result. But if we allow them to freelance and run they can be really, really dangerous.”