Port Adelaide steal Showdown win with last-minute Steven Motlop goal in crazy finish against Adelaide
A STEVEN Motlop goal with 21 seconds left has delivered an incredible Showdown win for Port Adelaide — after the Crows came from nowhere to hit the front with less than a minute left, while Robbie Gray was best on ground for the Power.
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THERE comes a time for every proud football club when enough is enough and something happened inside the Port Adelaide rooms at halftime on Saturday night when they decided their time as Adelaide’s Showdown punching bag was over.
In one of the most thrilling finishes to a Showdown ever, a goal to Steven Motlop with 21 seconds to go saw the Power win by five points and end Adelaide’s five-game winning streak.
It was also quite possibly the most animated coach Ken Hinkley has been in the Power coaches’ box as he screamed and punched the air after Motlop’s goal then made the 1-0 sign with his fingers to signal three years of Showdown pain was over.
AS IT HAPPENED: MOTLOP KICKS THE WINNER IN EPIC SHOWDOWN FINISH
The game took several extraordinary twists — including two goals in the last two minutes to put Adelaide in front — but the most significant momentum shift was in Port Adelaide after halftime.
They looked rattled and overawed when they trailed by 23 points in the second quarter before the game completely changed in the third.
On the back of some inspired coaching moves, individual brilliance and good old fashioned grunt around the footy, Port Adelaide turned the game on its head.
Words seem so inadequate to describe the brilliance of Robbie Gray who kicked five goals in the third quarter on his way to six for the game, and someone at Port Adelaide should copyright the phrase ‘Ryder-to-Gray’ because it was the ruckman’s deft touch to him at full pace that broke the game open.
Gray was rewarded with the Showdown Medal for the third time.
STEVIE MOTLOP'S THE HERO! #AFLPowerCrows pic.twitter.com/P7rWPH3rvx
— AFL (@AFL) May 12, 2018
Another major factor in Port’s resurrection was Chad Wingard. He had just one disposal in the first quarter and Hinkley moved him onto Adelaide ball magnet Rory Laird who had just racked up 12.
Hinkley conceded it was a risk to take Wingard into the game two weeks after his hamstring injury but it was a risk worth taking.
He got that right, because moving him onto Laird not only got him into the game but saw him produce glimpses of the All-Australian form the Power has been waiting so patiently for this season.
That was despite his brainfade late in the game when he kicked high into the centre instead of short and safe that resulted in a goal to get the Crows back in it.
While Gray and Wingard hit the scoreboard with six unanswered goals, Ryder, Ollie Wines, Tom Rockliff and Sam Powell-Pepper won the footy at the coalface.
Powell-Pepper and Rockliff ended their AFL exile in stunning fashion. After lacklustre starts to the season that saw them dropped and banned from footy, they reversed a contested ball count to see Port win the all-important indicator by 20.
Combined with Jake Neade’s manic pressure and tackling and the defensive work of Tom Jonas on Eddie Betts and Dougal Howard on Taylor Walker, the Power was a deserved winner.
Despite being outgunned in the second half, the Crows still found character late in the game to almost pinch it.
Bryce Gibbs and Matt Crouch were solid for most of the night and Hugh Greenwood enhanced his reputation as a burgeoning A-Grader with two of the last three clearances resulting in goals to Walker and McGovern.
Eddie Betts also chimed in with three second-half goals and Rory Atkins had 29 disposals but it was Port’s night and they now head to China with renewed optimism in their season.
The win was all the more rewarding for Hinkley given his recruits stood up when it mattered. Motlop’s goal and Rockliff’s inside work, and even Jack Watts who was ordinary for three quarters but important in the last all contributed.
Port was clearly fired up, as evidenced by Ryder smashing into Sam Jacobs before the first bounce and the two staged a titanic battle with Ryder winning on points with 39 hit-outs and two goals. Travis Boak also reminded everyone why he’s Port’s captain with 24 touches and a goal.
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 1.3 4.6 11.11 14.11 (95)
ADELAIDE 4.2 8.3 10.5 14.6 (90)
BEST - Port Adelaide: R. Gray, Jonas, Rockliff, Ryder, Wines, Neade, Powell-Pepper, Wingard. Adelaide: Gibbs, Greenwood, Laird, M. Crouch, Betts, Atkins.
GOALS - Port Adelaide: R. Gray 6, Ryder, Wingard 2, S. Gray, Boak, Powell-Pepper, Motlop. Adelaide: Betts 3, Ellis-Yolmen 2, McGovern 2, Walker 2, Atkins, Jenkins, Douglas, Seedsman, Lynch.
UMPIRES - C. Donlon, L. Haussen, S. Meredith.
CROWD - 50,967 at Adelaide Oval.
VOTES - 3: Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide); 2: Tom Rockliff (Port Adelaide); 1: Bryce Gibbs (Adelaide).
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