Port Adelaide was a ‘pretender and has been accordingly dispatched’ | Cornes

The difference between the Port and Sydney on Friday night was stark and a little sad, writes Graham Cornes.

We knew it all along. Port Adelaide doesn’t have the class of a premiership team. Sure, the Power players had endeavour, they had heart, they had spirit. You could even say they were brave.

But if that effort and courage is not complemented with skill, the good teams will beat you every time. And Sydney is a very good team.

Unfortunately Port’s one strength is also its Achilles heel. It relies so much on the midfield but if it is beaten or matched in the midfield, there isn’t much else.

Graham Cornes said Port Adelaide doesn’t have the class of a premiership team and were no match against Sydney. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Despite the recent record of victories against Sydney, and despite that 112-point triumph five weeks ago, this game was going to be different. The bookmakers knew it, too.

The Swans were clear favourites to win – $1.33 compared to Port’s $3.25. They don’t always get it right but this time they did.

At the business end of the season, the Swans are a genuine premiership contender. Port was a pretender and has been accordingly dispatched.

The difference between the two teams on Friday night was stark and a little sad. When the game was in the balance, the Power matched the Swans in effort, dominated the clearances and surpassed them in possessions and forward-50 entries.

But the skill level was appalling for an AFL team. If you can’t find a team-mate with your disposal, you may as well hand the ball back to the opposition – which is what Port did.

Turnovers killed the Power. Even Travis Boak, a most reliable veteran, who one hates to criticise, turned the ball over with inexplicable skill lapses. Boak’s turnovers weren’t the difference between winning and losing but they were part of a pattern which must have infuriated coach Ken Hinkley, who could only watch from the boundary in frustration.

Of course it wasn’t Boak’s fault the Power lost. There were mistakes all over the ground.

Mitch Georgiades was well held on Friday night. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Chad Warner of the Swans celebrates a goal. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

A moment in the third quarter told the story of Port’s ineptitude on the night. Two of the Power’s most reliable players, captain Connor Rozee and outstanding young defender, Miles Bergman, managed to flounder their way through a forward movement, exchanging and fumbling handballs until they turned it over and Sydney rebounded for an easy forward-50 mark to Luke Parker.

Sydney, on the other hand, was superb with its ball use and forward-50 entries. The Port Adelaide defenders had little chance.

At one stage Sydney had five entries for five goals. The home crowd loved every minute of it and the Swans players responded to the adulation. They well and truly lived up to their flag favouritism.

Port, on the other hand looked decidedly unworthy of progressing to the grand final. It would have been a football injustice had it done so.

Without Dan Houston and Kane Farrell the defence was in tatters and the rebound from the back half that is so vital to success simply dried up. Sydney’s tall forwards, Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey feasted on the opportunities and delivery.

Port’s forward line was not helped by the atrocious way that the Power players tried to deliver to them. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

So did Tom Papley, whose provocative, in-your-face antics must surely drive his opponents crazy with a despair that modern football protects him from violent retaliation.

And it was disappointing that Port did not try to counter Sydney’s move of Luke Parker on to Aliir Aliir which nullified the intercept marking influence of Port’s key defender.

But it was at the other end of the ground the Power struggled to have an impact. Port’s forward line has been a work-in-progress all season. Mitch Georgiades has been the most consistent forward but he was well held on Friday night.

Of course he was not helped by the atrocious way that the Power players tried to deliver to him. Then there was Charlie Dixon. I saw him during the week and knowing he had been suffering from whooping cough, asked him how he was feeling. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said.

But, as he walked away coughing raggedly, he didn’t sound so good. He wasn’t Port’s worst player but the Power could only manage eight goals. Given the poor forward-50 delivery playing the three tall forwards in Georgiades, Dixon and Ratugolea counted against Port, while at the other end of the ground the Swans forwards benefited from superb delivery.

It’s obvious Port Adelaide somehow has to recruit a couple of elite forwards over the trade period.

Graham Cornes says the lack of key players in crucial positions is a tribute to Hinkley’s coaching. Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

So the Power will finish the season in third or fourth position. How it managed to finish the minor round in second position on the ladder is one of football’s great mysteries. A rational, sensible football analyst would say that’s not a bad effort from a team that was always impacted by injury and a lack of key players in crucial positions. Indeed, it is a tribute to Hinkley’s coaching.

But it won’t satisfy the vultures waiting for Ken Hinkley to fail. Club president David Koch was emphatic this week Hinkley would definitely be coaching Port Adelaide next season.

Hinkley himself has confirmed he has a contract and he can live with the pressure which comes with the position – but is that really the reality?

A man can only take so much. A supporter group that is desperate for the success that used to come so regularly when John Cahill and Fos Williams were coaching is demanding premierships.

They probably think they are doing the right thing and, without the pressure of that expectation, success will never come. But they divide the club and make life that much harder for the coach and the players.

Yet, such is Hinkley’s resolve they have not been able to drive him out of town.

You would understand however if, as is rumoured, another club came knocking, how tempted he would be to leave his critics and the naysayers to their poison keyboards and bitter rhetoric.