Ruthless Port Adelaide mauls West Adelaide at Richmond

THEY entered the match with identical records but there was a distinct gap in class and work-rate in the clash between Port Adelaide and West Adelaide at Richmond on Saturday.

West v Port

THEY entered the match with identical records but there was a distinct gap in class and work-rate in the clash between Port Adelaide and West Adelaide at Richmond on Saturday.

The game was tight to quarter-time, when the Bloods held a one-goal lead, but one-way traffic from then on as the Magpies stormed to a 50-point victory.

Port’s fierce tackling stifled West’s run and forced the home side to turn the ball over with regularity.

The Magpies’ dominance was reflected in the inside-50 count, which finished 60-32 in its favour. Had it been more efficient going forward, the final margin could have been greater.

“We set a task today to get back to being pretty ruthless in defence,” Magpies coach Garry Hocking said.

“Even at the end we were still hungry, which is what we’ve been trying to get to. It was a real crunch game for us.”

The momentum swung Port’s way in the second term.

Jake Neade shimmied and danced around a Bloods opponent to boot the opening goal, debutant Dougal Howard kicked truly a short time later then Neade got a second thanks to some hard work from Mitch Harvey.

After majors to Johann Wagner and Andrew Moore, Port’s lead was 25 points and the game was completely on its terms. West was goalless for the quarter and only registered seven inside-50s, compared to Port’s 17.

Port continued where it left off to start the third term as a Darcy Byrne-Jones run through the middle of the ground ended with Wagner’s second goal.

West ended its goal drought when Mason Middleton plucked a pack mark and kicked truly from 30m, 14 minutes into the third term.

Port kicked three goals in each of the last two quarters to seal the win, which moved the club ahead of West with a 7-2 record.

Kane Mitchell (30 disposals, 13 marks, six tackles, seven clearances) threw his hand up to replace injured speedster Matt White next week, Moore (25 disposals, seven clearances, two goals) was again prominent and ruckman Billy Frampton had some nice moments in his second SANFL game.

But the performances of contracted Magpies Louis Sharrad (26 disposals, five clearances), Steven Summerton (32 disposals, 11 marks) and Sid Masters were just as eye-catching.

West, which was already missing Shannon Green and James Ezard through injury, was not helped by the late withdrawal of Travis Tuck through illness.

Bloods coach Mark Mickan said the result showed despite marked improvement this season, his side had plenty of work to do to consistently match the best teams in the competition.

“We got beaten by a better side on the day – that’s the bottom line,” Mickan said.

Port Adelaide 2.1 7.4 10.7 13.9 (87)

West Adelaide 3.1 3.3 4.4 5.7 (37)

BEST – Port: Sharrad, Summerton, Ah Chee, Moore, Mitchell, Logan, Butcher.

West: Hartlett, Stevens, Helbig, Schmidt.

GOALS – Port: Neade, Moore, Wagner 2; Summerton, Mitchell, Butcher, Harvey, Howard, Palmer, Krakouer.

West: Hardy, Fielke, Homburg, Middleton.

INJURIES – Port: Neade (concussion)

At Richmond Oval