AFL Essendon v Port Adelaide: News, scores and reaction out of the round 22 clash
Not a lot has gone right for Port Adelaide this year, but coach Ken Hinkley is confident of a strong bounce-back next season. A huge win against Essendon showed why.
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Port Adelaide ended a turbulent week with a statement win against Essendon at Marvel Stadium by 84 points.
The Power kicked nine goals in a row, including seven in a second-quarter onslaught, to put an at times insipid Essendon to the sword and condemn the Bombers to their biggest loss of the season.
It was an emphatic response from Port, whose embattled coach Ken Hinkley was given assurance during the week from club president David Koch that he would remain as coach in 2023, after losing its past four games.
Ken Hinkley said the big win was like a flashback to Port Adelaide’s past two seasons.
“I liked everything, I thought they were really good,” Hinkley said.
“To be fair, we’ve had a pretty tough time over the last four or five weeks where we’ve played the absolute cream of the crop of the competition, and we haven’t been able to get a result.
“We’ve been really close but haven’t been able to get the job done, so it was good today to come over here and put a score on the board, which we think we’re capable of but haven’t been able to do that often.”
Hinkley reserved special praise for undersized ruck Jeremy Finlayson, who had 25 disposals, four clearances and kicked two goals, smashing Sam Draper around the ground.
“Since round 10 in the ruck he’s been a really important part for us,” he said.
“I think we’ve had the best version of Jeremy in his footy career at our footy club, if I’m being honest.
“I think he’s been an outstanding acquisition. He’s done what we hoped he could do and more.”
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It will be just the second season in Hinkley’s tenure that Port will finish with a losing record, but the Port coach is adamant his side can bounce back to the lofty heights they’ve recently experienced.
“When you’re challenged as much as we’ve been over the course of the year, and this year has been a bloody tough year, not much has gone right and we’re a long way away from where we’d like to be,” he said.
“But to be able to put that performance up when there’s not much going on for us it can be really challenging for a team and I’m really proud the way they stuck together.
“It’s a performance we’ve been able to deliver the last couple of years.”
In what was an ominous early sign that the result would be a walkover, Travis Boak kicked the game’s first goal just 14 seconds into proceedings.
Essendon had the better of the territory battle early but wayward kicking cost the Dons a quarter-time lead, with the ultra-efficient Port Power kicking five goals from its 11 inside-50s.
Essendon recorded several unwanted milestones including coach Ben Rutten’s biggest-ever defeat, his most points conceded as Bombers’ coach and Essendon’s second-biggest loss against the Power.
Rutten slammed his side’s “embarrassing effort” after fans booed players from the ground.
After announcing a record number of members during the week, Rutten apologised to Essendon fans and members.
“Were bitterly disappointed,” Rutten said.
“It was the sort of game that our members and supporters who came to the game or were watching on TV … it’s not the sort of thing they should have to watch.
“It was an embarrassing effort from our guys. It’s not something we want to stand for and not something our members and supporters should have to watch at any stage.”
Rutten said he couldn’t put his finger on where it fell apart for the Bombers, who had the better of territory and seven shots to five in the first quarter.
But from there it was all the Power, who slammed on 18 goals to six.
The Essendon coach said while the result wasn’t acceptable, it didn’t shake his belief in where his side is going.
“At the back end of the first quarter we got ourselves back into the game,” Rutten said.
“But from the second quarter it was really poor.
“It doesn’t shake my belief in where we’re going. It’s not a great result in terms of tonight’s performance.
“It’s about us being strong and clear on where we’re going and what we’re trying to build because it’s never going to be a clean progression in becoming a great team.
“Performances like that is not stuff we can accept or tolerate, and we won’t.”
Rutten stopped short of saying whether he would give his players a chance to bounce back next week against Richmond or if there would be wholesale changes, but said everyone connected to the side felt the loss.
“It hurts me, it hurts the players and everyone who is putting in to get us to where we want to get to,” he said.
“I’ll have to have a look at that (making wholesale changes).
“The good thing is there is one week to go for us and an opportunity for us to finish the year playing a brand of footy the way we want to.”
Michael Hurley took another step towards an AFL return by getting through a VFL game on Sunday, and Rutten hinted the veteran swingman could play his first game in more than two years.
“That’ll be a discussion point for us, he got through the game at VFL level, that’s certainly something we’ll be looking at,” Rutten said.
A late first-term Sam Powell-Pepper goal ignited a run of nine Power goals which ended 10-minutes into the third quarter thanks to an Archie Perkins set shot.
The Bombers were able to wrestle momentum back to even thanks to their work in the contest, winning contested footy for the quarter and winning the term on the scoreboard by two points.
But the Port procession continued in the last quarter as the Power heaped on the misery for Essendon, kicking nine goals to three.
Zak Butters was one of the Power’s most dangerous players around goals, kicking three and dishing off an assist to go with his 24 disposals. Mitch Georgiades made a solid return to the side, finding his range and kicking three goals.
Dan Houston played a pivotal role behind the ball for Port Adelaide, winning 32 disposals and intercepting the ball 13 times.
Without Jordan Ridley, the scoreboard would have looked even uglier for Essendon, the star defender cutting the Power off 11 times and finishing with 30 disposals.
MASS FORWARD EFFECT
Massimo D’Ambrosio has been a rare bright spark in Essendon’s otherwise disappointing 2022 campaign, providing bounce and pinpoint ball use off half-back.
The 19-year-old hadn’t kicked a career goal coming into Sunday’s game, but by quarter-time had slotted two set shots straight over the goal umpire’s head.
With his teammates struggling in front of goal, combining for a miserable 1.4, the forward move may be something Bomber fans see more of.
POWER SURGE
Port played arguably its best quarter of the season during the second term as it piled on seven goals to none.
The Power’s supply was elite as it pumped the ball inside 50 an extraordinary 20 times, recording seven different goalkickers for the quarter.
It was an indictment on Essendon and damning of their effort that despite losing the disposal count by 45, the Bombers also lost the tackle count for the quarter.
Essendon fans voiced their displeasure at the halftime siren, booing their side from Marvel Stadium.
SHIEL GOING NOWHERE
Dylan Shiel had the unwanted stat line of more disposals than metres gained at the end of the third quarter.
Remarkably, Shiel had collected 21 disposals as he was at his industrious best around the contest, but his inability to drive the Bombers forward was a glaring deficiency as he had just 10m gained.
The 29-year-old shone in the clinches, however, and finished with 12 clearances and 10 tackles.
GOALKICKERS GALORE
Essendon didn’t know where to look to stop Port Adelaide as the Power recorded 13 different goalkickers in the win.
Port was able to transition the ball with ease and use an open forward 50 to its advantage, consistently getting out the back of the Bombers.
While their key forwards combined for six goals, it was the running power of Port that created their looks at goal.
SCOREBOARD
BOMBERS 3.4 3.5 6.5 9.8 62
POWER 5.0 12.2 14.6 23.8 146
MOTTERSHEAD’S BEST
Bombers: Ridley, McGrath, Shiel, Redman. Power: Houston, Butters, Finlayson, Rozee, Wines, Boak.
GOALS
Bombers: D’Ambrosio 2, Perkins 2, Martin, Hind, Wright, Langford, Parish.
Power: Powell-Pepper 4, Butters 3, Georgiades 3, Marshall 2, Finlayson 2, McEntee 2, Boak, Dixon, Rozee, Drew, Amon, Houston, Bergman.
INJURIES
Bombers: Nil. Power: Nil.
UMPIRES: Brown, Fisher, Dore.
CROWD: 20,568 at Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JAMES MOTTERSHEAD’S VOTES
3 D. Houston (PA)
2 Z. Butters (PA)
1 J. Finlayson (PA)
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