The Port Adelaide coaching staff are “working really hard” to get Aliir Aliir more involved in the game.
The Power defender has been noticeably less impactful this season, with Aliir playing much deeper in defence than he did in last year’s All-Australian season.
However, Port Adelaide assistant coach Chad Cornes made clear that was not a deliberate strategy.
“It hasn’t been a tactic of ours to play him deeper but over the last month in particular, teams have had more of a focus on trying to keep him out of the play,” he said on SEN’s The Run Home SA.
“It is what I would do if I was an opposing team because of how strong he is in the air and the impact he can have on games.”
Aliir has seen his stats drop across the board this season, most noticeably averaging only 3.7 marks per game, almost half as many as last year and the second lowest of his career.
Cornes knows the Power miss an impactful Aliir on both sides of the field, with the absence of strong intercept and rebound play that was a hallmark of the defender’s excellent season last year playing a part in Port Adelaide’s reduced ability to score.
“He’s probably two contested marks per game down on where he was last (year), and as a backline, we’re three or four intercept marks down on where we were last year,” Cornes said.
“Scoring off intercept marks is a lot easier than scoring off intercept ground balls and the like, again it’s something I’m working on, trying to get it back to the level it was last year.
“We are working really hard on that area of the game.”
Cornes doesn’t believe the solution is as simple as playing Aliir further up the ground.
“It’s just not his ideal matchup when the ball hits the ground just because of his height and how good these small forwards are these days we can get exposed that way,” he said.
“There’s a happy medium somewhere, hopefully we can find that going forward.”
Port Adelaide are currently sitting 12th on the ladder, with Cornes admitting the pressure is on for the club after a disappointing season so far.
“It is that week by week focus, but there’s no doubt that after every loss, finals are looking further and further away,” he said.
“The pressure has been there the whole time.”
Port Adelaide are looking to bounce back from their loss to Richmond with a win against Sydney at home in Round 14.