Port Adelaide star Travis Boak leads the Power to an impressive win over North Melbourne

It’s officially young talent time at Port Adelaide. Under the bright Friday night lights against North Melbourne, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters’ influence when the game was up for grabs was enormous, with the two young guns putting on a serious show.

Connor Rozee continues to impress for Port Adelaide. Picture: Getty Images

This reinvented Port Adelaide team passed the expectation test on Friday night but not without a final-quarter scare against North Melbourne.

The Power handled the occasion of Anzac Round and everything the Kangaroos threw at them — which didn’t appear to be much because Port got in first.

But the home side watched a 41-point lead reduced to just 14 with four minutes to go when North kicked five unanswered goals in the last quarter to make for a tense finish.

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For the most part, Port was harder around the ball thanks to Travis Boak who continued his stunning rebirth as a midfielder. Boak won the Peter Badcoe Medal for the third time after finishing with 38 disposals. The defence was far more functional even without co-captain Tom Jonas who was a late withdrawal due to a calf injury. And the forward line with the addition of Brad Ebert’s grunt and Connor Rozee’s X-factor was multidimensional.

It all led to a 16-point win and sets the scene for a bumper Friday night clash with Collingwood next week.

Port Adelaide players celebrate a goal against North Melbourne. Picture: Sarah Reed

GRAY MAKES IT COUNT

Sam Gray has been so consistent in his role as a pressure forward and pinch-hitting midfielder for Port Adelaide that his individual brilliance is becoming the norm. And the bonus is he is hitting the scoreboard with ruthless efficiency which has been the only thorn in his side until now.

Gray’s three first-half goals — all of his left foot — were pure class and showed why he is such a natural footballer.

The first came after he received a free kick against Jasper Pittard for kicking it out on the full in the pocket, and Gray’s snap around his body got the Power rolling.

His second was around his body again but this time in general play when he received a handball, danced around his opponent and put it through from 20m. And his third goal came from a North Melbourne turnover coming out of defensive 50m. Port intercepted the ball and Gray took possession then off three steps snapped around his body again.

Gray — who also had spurts on the ball at centre bounces — has now kicked 9.2 from only four games this season — after he came off ankle surgery in the pre-season.

Combined with Brad Ebert’s reinvention as a dangerous medium-sized forward, they caused North plenty of problems.

Ebert is coming off six and seven-goal seasons in the last two years, and this season he’s already up to 10.

THE KIDS STAR

The future is bright at Port Adelaide but the future is also now. Connor Rozee and Zak Butters’ influence on the game in the decisive third quarter was enormous and filled the highlights reel.

Mid-way through the term Butters did a blind turn at full speed in the middle of the ground. It was his second blind turn out of traffic for the quarter after he avoided the tackler coming off half-back, and he sat the ball up high for Rozee to jump at it. Rozee timed his leap to perfection and got a perfect sit on Sam Wright’s shoulders, took the mark and kicked the set shot goal from 30m out.

Just before that, Rozee set up a goal for Boak when he kicked the ball along the ground into space, unleashed his trademark burst of speed and gathered the footy and hit the former skipper inside 50m.

Connor Razee and Zak Butters continue to stand tall for the Power. Picture: AAP Images

HOWARD STANDS UP

Without Jonas, the job of guarding Ben Brown became even bigger. Tom Clurey played on Brown directly but got plenty of help from Howard who floated across to fill the hole.

Howard’s spoiling and intercept marking was again a feature of his game and so was his pressure when he pushed up the ground to force a turnover on Aaron Hall in the middle. But his highlight came soon after when he sprinted 30m to spoil Cameron Zurhaar then got up and tackled Luke Davies-Uniacke.

Then when North was pressing to start the second half, Howard stood tall and took a contested mark in the goal square, and the noise from the crowd was ‘Doo’ rather than ‘Boo’ as it was for former Power players Jasper Pittard an Jared Polec who returned in a Kangaroos jumper.

BOAK LEADS THE WAY

PORT’S midfield was well on top, winning clearances and contested possession and it was Travis Boak leading the way.

Playing career-best footy, Boak won the ball at both ends of the ground and hit the scoreboard when he pushed forward. He had 21 disposals and a game-high six clearances in the first half and didn’t take his foot off the pedal in the second. His set shot goal — courtesy of some Rozee brilliance — after the Kangaroos kicked two in a row to start the third quarter was big.

HINKLEY NOT WORRIED ABOUT SLOW FINISH

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said he wasn’t overly concerned by the final quarter fade-out because his team still had enough shots on goal and had played with the right intensity coming off last week’s win over West Coast in Perth.

“We could sit here and be a little critical of our finish, being 2.6 instead of five goals straight, but we had numerous opportunities in the final quarter,” Hinkley said.

“And North Melbourne were going for it, they didn’t come over here to have a close loss with the week they were faced with so they really challenged us in the last quarter but I think we had enough opportunities ourselves.

Ken Hinkley is happy to be 4-2. Picture: AAP Images

“It’s really interesting because we sit here now 4-2, not sure there’d be many people saying that at the start of the year, that we would be getting through this period of the season, we’d love to be 6-0, but we understand how hard the contest is and when you get through and win - and backing up off the Perth game as well, it was a significant performance.”

TOO LATE, NORTH

North kicked five goals in a row to finish the game but the damage was done. Where was that run and carry in the first three quarters? Apart from a brief moment in the third term when they started with back-to-back goals, they couldn’t match Port around the footy.

And they missed the chance to put Port under early pressure when Aaron Hall and Taryn Thomas both missed snaps.

It was too little too late from North Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

PORT ADELAIDE 5.2 7.7 10.9 12.16 (88)

NORTH MELBOURNE 2.3 3.3 6.6 11.6 (72)

BEST — Port Adelaide: Boak, Howard, S. Gray, Rozee, Ebert, Wines, Rockliff. North Melbourne: Cunnington, Ziebell, Tarrant, Thompson, Goldstein, Larkey.

GOALS — Port Adelaide: S. Gray 4, Ebert 2, Ryder, Duursma, Westhoff, Boak, Rozee, Lycett. North Melbourne: Larkey 3, Ziebell, Hall 2, Zurhaar, Polec, Wood, Turner.

UMPIRES — C. Donlon, M. Nicholls, A. Gianfagna.

CROWD — 36,099 at Adelaide Oval.

VOTES — 3: Travis Boak (Port); 2: Ben Cunnington (North); 1: Dougal Howard (Port).

PETER BADCOE MEDAL — Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)