Portland Tigers the real deal, says Magpies mentor Neville Swayn

All-conquering Portland was too strong on Saturday night, smashing the Magpies in a 16.17 (113) to 5.7 (37) victory at Hanlon Park.

Magpies coach Neville Swayn said Portland was shaping up as a promising outfit.

"There was a really strong wind there last night. We thought it might've been worth maybe four goals. I was really happy with our first quarter into the wind. I think they might've been four goals up," he said.

"I thought 'I reckon we've done enough'. The ball was really hot. There was a really high press and it was a bit scrambly, really.

"Quarter time we came in pretty happy with what we've done but they just sort of got on top of us made it hard from there. I said to (Portland coach Jarrod Holt) they move the ball really well.

"They haven't changed the way they play a lot from last year but they've got some bigger guys in there as well which they didn't have so they're going to be really hard to beat, especially over there."

Swayn said the debuts of James O'Neil and Myles Sinnott were high points on an otherwise tough night under lights.

"Myles is still 15. He did a good job out on the wing," Swayn said. "It's always good to get a couple more kids into the side. Myles is Steve's son, and they're local guys which is nice.

"I think (Carlton's) Sam Walsh is his cousin. Sam Walsh's mum is Steve's sister so that's Miles' cousin. That was good for him.

"We didn't get any injuries so that's always a positive too."

Swayn said Portland was just too good.

"We didn't get enough looks in our forward half but the guys really battled hard," he said.

"I can't knock them for their effort because they really gave everything and I said that to them after the game. I said that to them after the game. We've just got to execution and work around stoppages and that stuff.

"That's something we know we've got to work at and it's not something we can't fix so we've got the bye but we'll train all week again, we'll review it like we do every week and just keep working on the areas we've got to keep working on."

He said Camperdown would hopefully ease its injury list in the coming weeks.

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Swayn said Brendan Richardson was probably another "three or four weeks away" from a return, Dom Absalom would need an operation to fix a torn meniscus and was at least a couple of months away, while Archie McBain was coming back from a collarbone.

He said Toby Kent would hopefully be OK to play Port Fairy post-bye while Ned Payne would have scans on his foot.

Harry Sumner and Ethan Coates would also likely return to face Port Fairy.

Portland's Tom Sharp booted four majors to extend his tally to 16 for the season, while Toby Jennings and Jackson Dunlop slotted three.

The Tigers are one of two undefeated teams alongside South Warrnambool.

They will play off against North Warrnambool Eagles post-bye.

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