Top-flight Magpies have all the answers against Sturt
PORT Adelaide showed all the weapons that can make it a premiership force with a convincing 50-point win over fellow title contender Sturt at Alberton.
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PORT Adelaide showed all the weapons that can make it a premiership force with a convincing 50-point win over fellow title contender Sturt at Alberton.
The Magpies maintained top spot on the ladder with their fifth straight victory to send a scare through the SANFL competition given they did it without a specialist ruckman and still won the clearances (35-30), and without a bench after half time due to injuries.
If it wasn't Ben Newton winning the contested footy it was Sam Gray, or Andrew Moore, or Tom Logan, or Paul Stewart, or Steven Summerton.
And when they were in full fight together like at times, they looked almost unstoppable.
If Port's list stays healthy - and that's a big if given it's only six games into the season - it's going to take a big effort to deny them come finals time.
More: Port on top of the ladder in both SANFL and AFL
Just as impressive as the midfield was their defence led by Tom Clurey who blanketed Matthew Duldig and had 24 rebounding disposals.
Sturt had plenty of contributors with Zane Kirkwood, Richard Tambling and Ben Kane holding their own in the middle, but the Double Blues were unable to find a weakness in Port's spread of talent across the entire ground.
"We really wanted to become the number one side for defence (score against) after this week," Port Adelaide coach Garry Hocking said.
"They (Sturt) were the best team in the competition for reducing opposition scores so we really wanted to go after that.
"It's about defending strongly and the rest of the stuff like ball use comes off that.
"Once the midfield is there it's a really nice forwardline too that has the balance of presenting up and marking the footy but also tremendous pressure and heat once the ball hits the ground."
The Magpies kicked 2.4 before Sturt even went inside 50 and swamped the Double Blues by denying them early possession.
Irishman Daniel Flynn produced some magic with a give-and-go on the wing then delivered a lace-out pass to set up John Butcher's first goal, then Nathan Krakouer worked hard to provide run through the middle of the ground for Butcher to get his second.
Port led by 28 points when Sturt's Kane won two centre clearances which resulted in two goals for the visitors who cut the margin to 10 points.
But Port had all the answers. Butcher gifted Moore his second goal then Anthony Biemans hit the scoreboard and the home side re-established its lead.
Tempers flared right on the half time siren when Sturt's Jack Stephens was carried off on a stretcher after a collision in the middle of the ground, but it was Port who fired after the break by kicking six goals to two.
The Magpies deliberately slowed play in the third term by chipping the ball around and refusing to kick to a contest which Hocking said was because they had no bench to rotate their players.
But still it became clinical after half time as Port repeatedly won the clearances, put together a string of handballs and found targets inside 50.
Sturt coach Seamus Maloney said his side learnt a valuable lesson from the game. "We came here in good form and are pretty disappointed, they gave us a good lesson in workrate, ball use, tackle pressure and forced us into errors and we didn't handle it that well," he said.
"They've got lots of blokes who very much could be in AFL sides at the moment so that's where the competition is at and we can't hide away from it, we've got to improve our workrate."
PORT ADELAIDE 6.5 11.6 17.11 19.12 (126) STURT 2.1 6.3 8.5 11.10 (76) BEST - Port: Biemans, Newton, Clurey, Moore, Gray, Summerton, Logan. Sturt: Tambling, Kirkwood, Kane, Hansen, Page.
GOALS - Port: Butcher, Biemans 3, Harvey, Moore, Stewart, Summerton 2, Ah Chee, Bruggemann, Gray, Haren, Neade. Sturt: Coad, Hansen, Kurtze 2, Duldig, Evans, Kane, Krause, Tambling.
INJURIES - Port: Haren (hip), Slattery (concussion), Amon (concussion). Sturt: Stephens (jaw).
REPORTS - Port: Slattery (misconduct, second quarter).
UMPIRES - C. Deboy, R. Hundertmark, P. Lally.
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