After Port Adelaide dismantled Gold Coast in the first Shanghai challenge, the Power expects the Suns to serve up a backlash
PORT Adelaide knows Gold Coast is better prepared — and also highly motivated — to deliver a tougher game in Shanghai this weekend as it sweats on the fitness of Jared Polec.
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PORT Adelaide cannot ignore one key point today as the second AFL match for premiership points is played in Shanghai — the opponent, Gold Coast, is looking to salvage its pride and perhaps its season.
As doubts linger on the Suns’ eagerness to stay in China with the Power, the 72-point margin favouring Port Adelaide in last year’s historic game at Jiangwan Stadium carries one certainty: Gold Coast’s players are primed to respond.
Power coach Ken Hinkley expects this to manifest as “venom” in this afternoon’s sold-out match that, according to the AFL, has half the ticket sales with local Chinese.
Suns captain Steven May, who survived an AFL tribunal hearing to get a return trip to Shanghai, notes his team is better prepared in China after learning from mistakes from last year’s tour — and highly motivated.
“We are certainly motivated by our embarrassing performance last year,” May said.
“It certainly was not good enough.”
Hinkley expects a “fired up” Gold Coast unit, regardless of the injury pain, suspensions and heavy travel burden the Suns have carried this year.
“They come here with a bit of venom that they want to represent their football club in a better fashion than they did on the scoreboard (last year),” Hinkley said.
“AFL is all about the game, the result ... and the Suns will be fiercely competitive about trying to claim the win.”
It is a Port Adelaide hero, 2004 premiership player Stuart Dew, who stands as the man plotting to spoil the Power’s party in China.
“It’s our party too,” said Dew, who has the Suns end their nine-week shut-out from Metricon Stadium (used for the recent Commonwealth Games) after this match.
“We’ve had a year of travel ... so this (trip to China) is the pinnacle of that.”
Port Adelaide’s preparation for its second international match closed with a light training run at “Adelaide Arena” at Jiangwan with wingman Jared Polec making his first appearance after a delayed arrival in Shanghai.
He had to dismiss a stomach bug — first feared to be appendicitis — to be allowed to travel on Wednesday.
The Power is challenged to deliver to the same combative standard they set in Showdown 44 — and not bring into question again the lack of consistency that has made Port Adelaide so erratic on the field in recent seasons.
Captain Travis Boak wants Saturday’s game to create more momentum for the 5-3 Power.
“We have to make sure we are consistent,” Boak said. “We have to keep challenging each other on the field — and if we do that, we will remain consistent.”
Dew is ignoring the prospect of Port Adelaide — as it has done with its past two derby wins — having a “letdown after the Showdown”.
“I know that has been talked about in the past, but you also get confidence from those close wins,” said Dew, referring to the five-point margin in Showdown 44.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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