NO PLACE FOR AMATEURS?

Before Sunday's Qualifying Final at TEAC Oval, Roosters Chairman Peter Wilson was his typically confident self. With Port weakened by the loss of big men Ben Schwarze (injured), Corey McKernan (AFL, but now unavailable) and Chad Jones, North Ballarat, he told me, had its best chance of taming Port. It's no wonder that after a five goal to two, first quarter the Roosters huddle was full of talk and confidence. It's history now that Port slammed through fifteen goals three after the first break and that the Roosters looked like rank amateurs against a fit and skilled opponent.

TEAC OVAL - PORT MELB - A BEAUTIFUL PLACE FOR FOOTY

And so the vexed question of whether a stand-alone club can match it against a side with up to a dozen elite, modern footballers is again on everyone's lips. For although the Roosters have a rump of players - Craig Biddiscombe, Andrew Eccles, Djaren Whyman, Jim Plunkett, Stephen Jurica, Nathan Saunders, Brent Tuckey and Garth Taylor - who've been on an AFL list, the side doesn't look fit enough to match it with Port. Shane Hutchinson, as he showed with a two brilliant goals in the first quarter, is a talented player. So too is the elegant and elusive Whyman. However neither maintains the intensity necessary to be a match winner in a big game such as Sunday's.

Ít is always a trap for ex coaches or players to talk about the past. Nevertheless, it was an article of faith for me that no matter what your ability you could always chase and tackle if you were fit enough. That's why we trained four times a weak at Coburg as long ago as 1989 and won consecutive premierships against an abundantly skilled Williamstown. If you're serious about playing football then you need to train like a demon, even if you're not a full time footballer. And if you do, you'll be more likely to take the contest up to Kangaroos such as Eddie Sansbury, Jeremy Clayton, Ashley Watson and Shane Clayton, and Port's own bulldozer Steve Lawrence. On Sunday, 21-year-old Jason McNamara was given the task of tagging 23-year-old dynamo Jeremy Clayton. Unfortunately for the Roosters he never got near his opponent, who went on to win the man-of-the-match. It was replicated all over the ground.

The Roosters are a great club, and aren't out the finals race. However their failure to sustain the pressure against a running side such as Port is a lesson for any stand-alone club. As the first quarter showed, a lack of skill wasn't the major reason the Roosters lost. They simply didn't have the mental and physical intensity of their opponent. This was no more evident than in the performance of Stephen Jurica. On a good day Jurica can be a match winner. On Sunday he was a passenger. Yet despite hardly taking a mark, he was never benched. Unless he and Brent Tuckey can win the ball in the air, inside fifty, the Rooster will go no further than Tasmania next Saturday. Such is the rebound game in modern football sides that don't take contested marks inside fifty, as was the case with the Roosters on Sunday, have no chance. It would be an inglorious way to end the year. But with two losses against the Devils, including a 76-point defeat in Tassie, it will take a major effort to win what is the toughest away game in the VFL.

THE COLLINS BOY SAYS WHAT ABOUT ME

Despite the loss to Geelong on the weekend Donald McDonald has been a breath of fresh air at Hawthorn. And as irony would have it, another VFA premiership boy, his assistant Andy Collins is not far from another tilt at a grand final. A premiership player with the Zebras in 1985 and premiership coach in 1997 following further premierships with Hawthorn, Collins has resurrected the Box Hill Hawks. Dispirited after seven straight losses at the start of the season the Hawks will start favourite against Werribee on Sunday. With the Doggies and the Hawks missing from the finals there's every reason to think this game will attract a big crowd to Port Melbourne.

And like the Roosters, the Werribee Tigers have some serious thinking to do. On the weekend they too struggled inside fifty, where Patrick Wiggins, David Mitchell and Matthew Croft could not take marks. Although the Tigers have been in great form, Prendergast must have left Port with some doubt about his forward set up. Croft is a tireless player, and as he showed at the Dome in his farewell game, is capable of inspiring football. However, he and Wiggins lack mobility and could well be exploited by the Hawks. And while Mitchell has kicked 42 goals to date he looked lost between the two big men. The return of Will Minson will help, but many pundits believe Werribee has problems with the narrow Port ground. A 17-point win over Werribee in Round 8 at Box Hill began what has been one of the great football resurrections. I suspect it isn't over.

SATURDAY

TASMANIA v Nth Ballarat - Bellerive

SUNDAY

BOX HILL v Werribee - TEAC OVAL