Port Adelaide thrashes West Coast on Good Friday
Port Adelaide has stunned reigning premier West Coast with a dominant performance in the wet, ending eight years of Eagles’ dominance with a Power-packed display away from home.
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The Power on Good Friday night put away eight years of repetitive torment from the Eagles to score just its fourth win in the past 13 games against the AFL premier at the rain and windswept Perth Stadium.
And it was done early to avoid any repeat of those last-kick nightmares West Coast has created in the past two visits to Adelaide Oval.
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After losing six of the past seven games to West Coast — five by 10 points or less — the hard-tackling Power dismissed the nemesis image created by the Eagles with a 42-point win, after leading by more than six goals at halftime.
A 4/1 underdog at the start of the match, Port Adelaide snapped out of a two-game losing streak — and the shadow of being West Coast’s play toy — with a dominant first half. The 49-point lead at halftime was built on all that Power coach Ken Hinkley had promised with his new dynamic playbook.
And the enterprising style of play was more remarkable for how Port Adelaide’s high-reward game did not crumble with high risk as the conditions became more testing with rain in the second term. The Power’s 6.4 blitz against the Eagles in the second quarter also emphasised attack is the best form of defence as it kept West Coast far and wide from its goal front.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley watched his under-pressure Power team dismantle West Coast with what he called perfectly “balanced” football.
“We wanted to play some more aggressive football — a bolder brand of football,” Hinkley said.
But the Power also held the Eagles to just eight goals with a tough tackling performance built on 54 manic tackles — and a “dirty football” theme from the players.
“There was a complete buy-in from the players.”
The Power stays in the positive — with a 3-2 win-loss count — on the premiership ladder.
And the talk of the new blood in the Port Adelaide line-up — that again carried four first-year players — will be more notable after the Rozee-Drew-Duursma-Butters quartet did not flinch against the Eagles machine.
HOT FEET, COLD BOOTS
Port Adelaide remains eager to play fast, non-stop football with an eagerness to move the ball forward at first glance. But the hot feet that put the West Coast defence on edge from the start were betrayed by cold boots when the Power sought an early advantage on the scoreboard.
Port Adelaide had the first six scoring shots for a 1.4 return — and 10-point lead — after seven minutes before West Coast had its opening score of a behind.
This was the Power’s best — most dominant — start this season for method of play, but not the best return as measured with the 3.5 at quarter-time.
More reassuring in the opening blitz was first-year Xavier Duursma not fearing having a running shot on goal in the 11th minute after missing a set shot for victory against Richmond at Adelaide Oval last Saturday.
And for all the misses, there was first-year midfielder Willem Drew’s high snap that delivered the Power’s sixth goal — and a 31-point lead 18 minutes into the second term — that again proves the most-ridiculous attempts at goal can lead to magical results.
RUCK DEAL
Scott Lycett’s return to Perth Stadium — where he became a premiership ruckman for West Coast before taking the fee-agency path to his home club at Port Adelaide — began with the first bounce — and the first tap.
The Lycett-Patrick Ryder tandem in ruck — and in switching in attack — delivered a 46-36 hitout advantage against West Coast pair Nathan Vardy and Tom Hickey.
And Ryder delivered as the marking option the Power needs in attack as its deals with the long-term absence of injured key forward Charlie Dixon.
BOAK POWER
After starting the season with a career-best four consecutive games with 30 or more disposals, former Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak continues to thrive with his return to midfield duties — even with a tag from Mark Hutchings.
Boak’s team-high nine touches in the first term were not the complete sign of his industrious ways to set the agenda for this teammates. His one-touch moments that do not make the statistics are just as telling as his wins in contested ball and in his eager tackling.
HOT PEPPER
Sam Powell-Pepper appeared uncertain in the first month of the Power’s revival campaign as he spent more time working in attack than in the Port Adelaide midfield rotations. His work on home soil in Perth on Friday night was the most-assertive this season, particularly when coach Ken Hinkley needed his bulls to be standing up in contested play against the much-admired Eagles midfield engine.
HIGH DEFENCE
New defence coach Brett Montgomery’s mantra of defending the field rather than just putting up a wall in Port Adelaide’s back half of the ground was seen at its best in the first half.
The Power, with manic tackling, had the ball in its half of the field twice as much as the Eagles. This ensured the big threat posed by West Coast’s big forwards, Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling, was minimised. After winning 16 consecutive games as a forward tandem, neither Kennedy or Darling had a goal to their name in the first two quarters.
Kennedy broke the drought in the 20th minute of the third term.
SCOREBOARD
WEST COAST 1.1 2.2 5.3 8.5 (53)
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PORT ADELAIDE 3.5 9.9 12.12 13.17 (95)
GOALS
West Coast: Petruccelle 5, Gaff, Kennedy, Ryan
Port Adelaide: Duursma, Ebert, S. Gray 2, Drew, Houston, Marshall, Powell-Pepper, Rozee, Ryder, Wines
MICHELANGELO RUCCI’S BEST
West Coast: Jetta, Gaff, Hurn, Sheppard, Petruccelle
Port Adelaide: Boak, Wines, S. Gray, Powell-Pepper, Lycett, Burton, Clurey, Howard
MICHELANGELO RUCCI’S VOTES
3 — Travis Boak
2 — Ollie Wines
1 — Sam Gray
INJURIES
West Coast: Nil
Port Adelaide: Powell-Pepper (calf)
Umpires: L. Fisher, A. Stephens, S. Ryan
Crowd: 49,290 at Perth Stadium
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