Port Adelaide AFL caretaker coach Garry Hocking reckons he knows what is wrong.
There’s slack defending. Poor skills. Untidy ball movement. And bad kicking at goal.
The list is getting longer after Hocking and Port crashed to an 11-point loss to Brisbane on Saturday at a rain-soaked AAMI Stadium.
The defeat was interim coach Hocking’s third in a row since replacing the sacked Matthew Primus.
Port led by 18 points late into the third quarter, but could manage only one more point for the match as Brisbane kicked the final five goals en route to victory.
“There are a few things that we really need to work on,” Hocking said.
He highlighted “defending the ball when we don’t have it”, before adding ball movement, conversion and general skills as other footy fundamentals escaping Port.
Other things eluding Port are their fans.
Only 13,953 people watched the Brisbane loss on a rainy day, the club’s second lowest home crowd on record – a week after their all-time low home crowd of 13,683 against West Coast.
“I’m sure our fans are disappointed,” Hocking said.
“They were able to come here and weather the weather – it was pretty ordinary.
“I guess they can take a little bit of heart that the players are playing with their hearts out and preparing every week to do that.
“It’s just something we have to keep looking at … we have got one more week to get it right.”