AFL Round 6 Port Adelaide v West Coast: All the news, action and fallout from the Power’s win
The Power without some of their best forwards managed to fire regardless, leaving the powers that be with plenty of options going forward, as Port continue to surge.
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Before Saturday, the last time Ryan Burton had played in attack was in Port Adelaide’s losing preliminary final against Richmond in 2020.
He was something of a decoy at Adelaide Oval that wet night, struggling to run after hurting his hamstring, so was stationed in the goalsquare.
During Saturday’s 40-point home win over West Coast, Burton was shifted forward again – as an ad hoc option when Todd Marshall went off with concussion – and kicked 2.1.
Burton was part of a forward line starkly different from the ones football analysts listed when they named their Power best 22 in the off-season.
There was no Charlie Dixon, Marshall, Mitch Georgiades or Orazio Fantasia on Saturday.
Instead, it was Burton, All-Australian defender Darcy Byrne-Jones (2.0), debutant Ollie Lord (1.1) and 13-gamer Jed McEntee, alongside regulars Jeremy Finlayson (5.2) and Junior Rioli (2.1).
Dixon was out with a knee injury, Georgiades was named in the SANFL and Fantasia was sidelined with a quad issue.
With Dixon no guarantees to return and Marshall to miss the match due to concussion protocols, Port Adelaide will have to choose between improvising again versus St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Friday night or recalling Georgiades.
“We’re optimistic around Charlie being unavailable but if not, we’ll find a way, as we did today with Ollie Lord coming in, Burton went forward and you see an opportunity,” Hinkley said.
“There’ll be solutions.”
The Power pushed Burton forward because the coaches wanted to replace Marshall with the next best aerial threat without disrupting other parts of the line-up.
Substitute Dylan Williams had come on and initially went into attack before swapping with Burton in defence.
“Ryan’s certainly an option for us going forward but we’ve got other options available to us that we’ll assess through the early part of the week,” Hinkley said.
“Ryan’s pretty important down back.”
Burton was a gun junior forward as a 17-year-old before missing all of his draft year with a broken leg.
After arriving at Hawthorn with pick 19 in 2015, Alastair Clarkson threw him into defence and he never looked back.
“At 17, I was a pure forward and hadn’t played back for years,” Burton told News Corp.
“I learnt that pretty quickly when I got to Hawthorn – in my second game I got thrown down back and haven’t really been back forward since.
“Ken asked me if I wanted to go forward and I said I was happy to do whatever for the team.
“I had to remember eight years back to when I last played there … and a few (things) managed to work, which was nice.”
Burton’s importance to the Power’s backline – as evidenced amid his two-game suspension earlier this season – means it may just be a once-off.
A recall for Georgiades, who was dropped after round 2, would seem the likeliest move to replace Marshall.
“We haven’t spoken about it,” Burton said.
“We’ve got some quality young forwards, like Mitch Georgiades, who can step in and play, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
Lord had a promising debut, recovering from a nervous start.
The 197cm Victorian shanked his first shot at goal out on the full and put teammate Sam Powell-Pepper under immense pressure with an unnecessary handball.
When the 21-year-old had his second set-shot attempt, he took more than the permitted 30 seconds, was called to play on and hurriedly kicked truly.
What stood out most against the Eagles was his pack crashing, hunger to win the footy, clean hands and his ball-winning ability below his knees.
“He competed really well and that’s what we knew he was going to do, that’s why he’s in the team,” Burton said.
“He was really nervous at the start of the game, that’s probably why his first set shot goal was a bit askew.”
Hinkley smiled when he said Lord – the grandson of Geelong’s 1962 Brownlow Medallist Alistair Lord – might have missed his initial shot even if he was in the goalsquare.
But the coach was very encouraged by the first-gamer’s display, three months after sustaining a lacerated kidney in a training collision and losing 10kg.
“We replaced (Dixon) with the next closest thing we have,” Hinkley said.
“He should be really proud of what he’s doing, particularly from January this year, to where he’s got to today.
“He’s got a lot of old school (in his traits).”
You could say the same about Byrne-Jones, whose tenacity and ability to find himself in the right spots was again important in his new attacking role.
As well as kicking two goals and collecting 16 touches, the long-time defender registered seven tackles – the third-most on the ground.
Forward 50 pressure had been an issue for the Power in its consecutive losses to Collingwood and Adelaide.
“Darcy’s own form has coincided with him going forward starting to improve for us,” Hinkley said.
“He’s a pretty combative player.”
St Kilda boasted the stingiest defence in the league going into this round.
If Port Adelaide is to bring the Saints undone under the Friday night lights and notch a fourth successive win, the Power will need again its makeshift attack to stand up.
IS HINKLEY RIGHT ABOUT SKIPPER’S LATE HIT?
— Jason Phelan
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley leapt to the defence of Tom Jonas following his fearsome bump on West Coast’s Jai Culley, with the Power skipper set to come under match review scrutiny over the collision.
Port made it three wins on the trot with a 40-point victory against the wounded Eagles at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Culley was assessed for a concussion after Jonas elected to bump and clashed heads just before halftime, with the young Eagle able to resume early in the second half.
“I’ll let people determine that who are in the right spots, but from ground level I saw a head clash, which is an unfortunate part of the game,” Hinkley said.
“It was an instinctive action, that’s what I saw and I’ve only seen it live on the ground so I don’t know what actually happened, but right now I think that it was just a collision that happens in games of footy.
“But there is some risk with that because we’ve seen what’s been going on (with head knocks).
“On that incident, we should pass on the message the fact that the player stayed on the ground and got through the whole game.
“I think that’s really important to remember too with accidental head clashes.”
The Power can ill afford to lose Jonas to suspension with a stern test against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Friday night the club’s next assignment.
Todd Marshall won’t play against the Saints, Hinkley ruling out the tall target after he was subbed out of Saturday’s game with a concussion.
Charlie Dixon, who missed with a knee injury, remains in doubt with his potential absence leaving Hinkley’s side shorthanded in attack.
“(Todd’s) not too bad, he’s pretty good to be fair, but we don’t take any risks with head knocks, so he’ll be unavailable next week,” the coach said.
“We’re optimistic around Charlie being available, but if not, we’ll find a way as we did with Ollie Lord coming in to play his first game, which was exciting.
“Ryan Burton went forward and kicked a couple of goals, so there will be solutions and we’ll be optimistic around what those solutions are.”
Win, lose or draw, the clash against the Saints will help Hinkley gain a clearer picture of where his side sits in the AFL pecking order after notching wins against Sydney, the Bulldogs and the Eagles over the past three weeks.
Connor Rozee, who won the Peter Badcoe VC Medal for best player on the ground, is bullish about his side’s form after setbacks against Collingwood and Adelaide.
“We feel like we had a pretty challenging start and we’ve come out the other end pretty decently,” Rozee said.
“We’re just starting to get a bit of a roll on now and playing our style of footy more.
“We’ve got a real belief and confidence going forward.
“We’ve had some tough fixtures so far but if we play our style of footy, with our pressure, and our defence is building every week, I think we can take it to most teams in the competition.”
Scoreboard
POWER 3.2 9.6 13.9 16.13 (109)
EAGLES 2.3 3.6 7.8 10.9 (69)
PHELAN’S BEST POWER: Rozee, Drew, Finlayson, Butters, Boak, Houston, Byrne-Jones, Aliir. EAGLES: Kelly, Gaff, Williams, Culley, Waterman, Witherden
GOALS POWER: Finlayson 5, Rozee 2, Rioli 2, Burton 2, Byrne-Jones 2, Powell-Pepper, Drew, Lord. EAGLES: Culley 4, Allen 2, Darling 2, Waterman, Petruccelle.
INJURIES POWER: Marshall (concussion). EAGLES: Shuey (ankle).
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Stephens, Tee, Young
31,638 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Rozee (Port)
2 Drew (Port)
1 Kelly (WC)
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