Cut throat finals, stunning upsets and comebacks – the best Port Adelaide victories of the 2010s
Port Adelaide has had a rollercoaster of a decade, and while it didn’t taste the ultimate success, it provided some of the best matches of the 2010s and here is our top 10.
Port Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from Port Adelaide. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- I don’t think about that: Ken opens up on 2020 challenge
- The best Showdowns of the decade
- How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription
The Power entered this decade with legendary coach Mark Williams still at the helm, but were in trouble off the field.
Now, they have Ken Hinkley in charge, and they’re in a much better spot financially.
Watch over 50 sports LIVE on Kayo! Stream to your TV, mobile, tablet or computer. Just $25/month, cancel anytime. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
On the field, the Power have been at the bottom and were within a kick of tasting the last day in September.
Here are Port Adelaide’s best wins of the decade.
10. Port Adelaide 15.9 (99) d Hawthorn 13.13 (91) – Round 4, 2015
Only months earlier, the Power copped its most heartbreaking loss of the decade, going down in a preliminary final to the Hawks by under a goal.
Despite the result, it was believed Port would begin dominating the competition for years to come, but the start of the 2015 season said otherwise – sitting 1-2 going into this clash.
Yet, it was a bombardment to get the game underway, the Power piled on seven unanswered goals in the first half of the first quarter and led by 42 points at the 17-minute mark.
Chad Wingard, new recruit Paddy Ryder, Jared Polec, Justin Westhoff, Hamish Hartlett and a couple from Jay Schulz had the Adelaide Oval rocking.
The Power would kick just a further seven goals after quarter-time, but the damage was good enough to hold off the reigning premier.
Schulz finished with five, while Polec, Ryder and Westhoff had two each.
9. Port Adelaide 9.9 (63) d St Kilda 8.13 (61) – Round 19, 2017
Truth be told, up until the final five minutes of this game, it was absolute garbage – yet, the finish helps give it the entry.
After holding off the Saints for majority of the evening, the Power had coughed up the lead deep in the final quarter, and trailed by 10 points at the 27 minute mark.
Power supporters starting pouring out of Adelaide Oval amid a combination of frustrations at both the officials and the way their side had let another opportunity slip.
The remaining fans got their reward.
Aaron Young snapped a goal and the crowd was rallying on the Power side.
After Jake Carlisle booted toward the boundary line and the decision was astonishingly not given as deliberate, Paddy Ryder tapped down to Robbie Gray who buried the Saints with seconds remaining.
8. Port Adelaide 12.12 (84) d West Coast 10.19 (79) – Round 5, 2013
The Power went into the game with a 4-0 record and were chasing their first ever 5-0 start to an AFL season.
It didn’t start that way, as the Eagles, in particular Josh Kennedy, smashed Port early and opened up a 22-point lead at quarter-time.
The second quarter wasn’t much better, as the Power fluffed chances at goal, as did the Eagles, but the margin was out to 38 at the main change, and it looked as if Port’s fairytale start to the year was cooked.
Chad Wingard got the ball rolling, followed by Paul Stewart, but the Power had been pegged back again, and trailed by 41 points at the 19 minute mark of the third.
Wingard, Jake Neade and Matty Broadbent then converted to get the margin back to 21 at three-quarter-time.
Hamish Hartlett’s goal just seconds into the final term sent Football Park into raptures, before Kane Cornes in his 250th game and Boak scored twice to put the Power in front.
Angus Monfries cancelled out Bradd Dalziell late and Port secured a famous win.
7. Port Adelaide 16.12 (108) d Hawthorn 13.8 (86) – Round 21, 2015
Since the Power’s win against the Hawks earlier in the season, they weren’t able to repeat that performance consistently and they were fighting for a spot in the top eight.
The Hawks had lost just once in their last 11 games as they were storming to September,
Angus Monfries, as he often did against Hawthorn, found the scoreboard, kicking two early goals, while Jay Schulz and Chad Wingard joined him to help the Power to a 14-point quarter-time lead.
Port’s lead was cut back to 11 points at halftime, but things heated up in the third quarter.
Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge managed to nail Wingard’s head into the post, which sparked the young gun into life and he slotted two goals in as many minutes.
Yet, the Hawks kicked five of the next six and trailed by just a point at the final change.
But Port was able to hold them off, with Schulz, Wingard, Neade, Brendon Ah Chee and Sam Gray sealing the deal to cap off one of the greatest upsets of the season.
6. Port Adelaide 14.11 (95) d North Melbourne 14.9 (93) – Round 8, 2012
Late fade-outs were the theme at Alberton early in 2012.
The Power were 1-6 going into the game, and were looking as mediocre as they ever had been.
Despite a positive start, the Power fell behind quickly, and trailed the Roos by 21 points at three-quarter-time.
It gradually got worse, as Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie and Cam Pedersen added to the pain, and North led by 32 points.
Yet, a minor miracle occurred.
Schulz booted three goals, Westhoff one and with seconds left, Paul Stewart became the hero as he ran into goal and put the Power in front.
It was the Power’s greatest win of the Primus era, and Schulz finished with a then equal club record seven goals for the game.
5. Port Adelaide 19.13 (127) d Adelaide 11.7 (73) – Round 2, 2014
The Power had got the first Showdown at Adelaide Oval and it was a chance for both sides to make their mark at the new South Australian home of football.
Port took the opportunity with both hands, starting with Matt Lobbe, Robbie Gray and Brad Ebert, who kicked the first three of the game before the Crows even had a sniff.
Westhoff and Wingard followed and the Power led by 28 points.
Recently signed Crows gun Eddie Betts then found his groove, kicking three in the second term and Port’s lead was down to 18.
The Crows snatched the lead briefly in the third following a Brodie Smith major, but it lasted two minutes, as John Butcher, Wingard, Gray, Wingard again and Schulz buried them.
The final quarter was carnage, as Showdown Medallist Hartlett snagged the first, before Schulz added a double.
Ollie Wines, Wingard and substitute Matt White slotted twice as Port claimed the first Adelaide Oval Showdown by 54 points.
4. Port Adelaide 14.11 (95) d Adelaide 14.6 (90) – Round 8, 2018
Port had lost the past five Showdowns, which is its worst ever streak and it had lost the ledger to the Crows for the first time since 2000.
The Power were also coming off a poor result to West Coast, so optimism wasn’t high at Alberton.
The Crows dominated after Ryder’s early goal, kicking the next four to lead by 17 points at quarter-time.
It didn’t get any better during the second, with the Crows piling on four goals to lead by 27 points late in the quarter, before Robbie Gray got it back to 21 at the main change.
It wouldn’t be the last of Gray’s devastating impact.
The superstar went onto kick five third quarter goals and Wingard had two as the Power blew the game open to steal a 12-point lead at the final break.
Ryder and Sam Powell-Pepper converted early, and it looked as if the losing streak was over.
Yet, Betts, Tex Walker and Mitch McGovern all goaled, the latter with just seconds left, to give the Crows a one-point lead.
After a collision between Richard Douglas and McGovern at centre-half-forward, Steven Motlop received the ball, sold some candy and put it through the goals to seal a massive victory.
3. Port Adelaide 15.15 (105) d Fremantle 11.17 (83) – Semi-Final, 2014
Only weeks earlier, the Power and Dockers clashed for the final spot in the top four, and the latter won, earning the double chance.
Port thrashed Richmond, and after Freo lost to Sydney, the two would meet again.
For most of the first half, it was all Fremantle, and it arguably should’ve buried the game during the second quarter, but booted 3.6 to Port’s 1.3 to lead by 24 points at halftime.
After a rally at the main break from coach Ken Hinkley, the Power sparked into life, Robbie Gray booted four third quarter goals, Wingard and Wines had one apiece and Port had turned the game on its head and led by two points at the final change.
Two early Fremantle goals gave it the lead back by 10 points, before Wines scored twice and Matt White helped get their side back ahead.
Former Power player Danyle Pearce then buried one to drag it back to five points.
Yet, Wingard, Schulz and Polec finished the game off after holding the Dockers and breaking through their defensive squeeze.
2. Port Adelaide 17.5 (107) d Adelaide 15.13 (103) – Round 19, 2013
There’ll be many arguments that this should be number one, but it falls just short.
This game was our top entry on our ‘Best Showdowns of the Decade’, and it rightfully deserves that spot.
Both sides were hunting September, Port’s journey was remarkable from coming from nowhere in 2011 and 2012, while the Crows were preliminary finalists just 12 months earlier.
It was a back and forth game from start to finish, the Crows leading by seven points at quarter-time, Port by 21 at halftime and the Crows by two goals at the final change.
Wingard kicked a goal 19 seconds into the final stanza, while Sam Colquhoun followed up with another to make it just a point the difference.
Yet, the Crows booted three unanswered to all but seal the game as they were 20 points up.
Enter Chad Wingard and a little bit of help from physics.
Gray kicked the first, followed by Wingard, before Lewis Johnston burned Patrick Dangerfield in the goalsquare.
Port got the ball down to the attacking 50 where Angus Monfries hacked it towards goal, where it bounced at right angles and in.
Wingard then marked after Monfries centred the ball and converted, sealing one of the greatest wins in Power history.
1. Port Adelaide 20.12 (132) d Richmond 11.9 (75) – Elimination Final, 2014
Richmond had come from the clouds to book a finals berth, after sitting 3-10 at round 14 to win its final nine games and finish eighth.
Among those games was a 20-point win over the Power at Marvel Stadium.
Port had just missed out on a top four finish, but the stage was set.
A first final at Adelaide Oval, a roaring home crowd and wearing its famous ‘Prison Bar’ guernsey.
It was pure domination for the opening 17 minutes, with Westhoff, Schulz, Boak, White, Polec, Wines and Neade kicking goals to give the Power a 43-point lead.
Reece Conca got the Tigers on the board, but Monfries responded to ensure Port led by 42 at quarter-time.
The Power wanted to send a message, and they continued in the second quarter, blowing the margin out to 69 points at halftime.
They were hungry, dangerous and devastating.
The third quarter saw the margin get up to as high as 87 points after Neade sealed his third.
The Tigers managed some junk time goals in the final quarter, but the summary of the day was Robbie Gray taking a grab over Alex Rance, and the big defender had a gutful, shoving him.
Gray converted the goal, the final of a dominant win.