We are good enough to stop teams from getting on a roll, says Port Adelaide defender
Why Port Adelaide defender Ryan Burton thinks the Power’s scoreless final term against the Dockers last weekend was an isolated incident and not part of a bigger issue.
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Port Adelaide defender Ryan Burton says the Power does not have a serious problem halting the momentum of opponents despite a final-term onslaught by Fremantle last weekend.
The Power led by a point at three-quarter time in Perth on Saturday before the Michael Walters led Dockers kicked three goals to none in the final term.
But Burton, in his first season at Alberton after being recruited from Hawthorn, said the Power’s Round 13 fade-out was a blip rather than a pattern.
“We let three really good quarters of finals-like intensity go to waste,” Burton said.
“In that last quarter we were smacked in the clearances and in controlling the ball (it was) really disappointing on our behalf.
“In terms of the backline we were under the pump with a lot of inside 50s and they got on a roll in the last quarter.
“I think we have done it (halted opposition clubs’ momentum) this year already.
“Whether it is one quarter goes missing here or there, that’s happened but I think we are good enough to swing it back the other way.”
Burton, drafted to the Hawks from North Adelaide with pick 19 in the 2015 AFL Draft before a switch home to SA as part of the Chad Wingard trade, said the new 6-6-6 restart rule had played a part in the Power’s inability to slow the Dockers’ final quarter charge, particularly as Walters started at the centre bounces and then drifted forward.
“On the weekend it was tough, they kicked a couple of early ones (in the final term) and the ball was played in their half for a lot of that quarter and obviously you can’t put people behind the ball (from the restart) to slow it down and once we were trying to kick a couple of goals to win they were able to put more bodies behind the ball to really clog it up,” Burton told FIVEaa’s Rowey and Bicks.
“I was on him (Walters) for a little bit. I’m pretty sure everyone (in the back half) had a crack at him but he managed to do his bit in the midfield and then slide forward and kick a bag as well.”
Burton, who missed the Power’s last home game in Round 9 against Gold Coast with a hamstring injury, said the team was eager to finally return to Adelaide Oval, where it will play the next four games.
“It’s been a while since we’ve played at Adelaide Oval and it’s been even longer for me.
“Obviously I missed the Gold Coast game so the Showdown was the last time I played at the oval so I’m pumped to get back there.
“We have now got to play the top side in Geelong and no better opportunity to bounce back and to show the competition that we want to play finals and to get back on the winners list.”
Burton, averaging a career-high 20 possessions per game this season, said he did not yet know who his likely starting opponent would be but was alert to the multiple challenges posed by the Cats’ forward mix, including dual Brownlow Medal winner Gary Ablett.
“They are playing some outstanding footy this year,” he said.
“I’m not sure who is going to play on Gary but they have got a very potent forward line so we will have to be on our A game.”
He said he did not believe the visit to Perth’s Optus Stadium would pose any recovery issues for the Power despite concerns over the hardness of the playing surface.
“There was a fair bit of rain the couple of days we were there and it probably softened up a bit. The China deck was probably harder,” he said.
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