Port Adelaide weathers storm against Sturt, lock in double finals chance
Port Adelaide has set up an SANFL showdown with Adelaide in the qualifying final after outlasting Sturt in an ugly scrap at Unley Oval.
It wasn’t pretty, actually it was just downright ugly. But Port Adelaide has secured a top three spot following one almighty scrap at Unley.
In terrible conditions yesterday, torrential rain made some parts of the Unley Oval resemble a quagmire and fierce winds in the second half played havoc for both sides, the Magpies held off a gutsy comeback from the Double Blues to move two wins clear of Sturt in the double chance position come September.
Just the two goals were kicked in the second half at Unley, as the Double Blues threw the kitchen sink at the Magpies but Port held on for a 6.13 (49) to 4.10 (34) win.
Magpies coach Matthew Lokan said he was really proud of his team.
“When Sturt were coming like they did (to hold on) that was pretty special for us,” he said.
Scott Lycett had a decent day out on the stat-sheet, getting 18 disposals, 43 hit-outs, seven tackles and seven clearances.
“Conditions suited him, I think Sturt have a young ruckman (Daniel Fahey-Sparks) … so Scotty definitely gave us first look,” Lokan said.
But in the wake of his replacements in Port’s AFL side, Pete Ladhams and Paddy Ryder, struggling so much against Todd Goldstein in the Power’s big loss to North Melbourne — which the Sturt crowd was all too willing to remind the players in black and white of — the former West Coast ruckman didn’t exactly dominate the state league game.
Much of this can be attributed to the shocking conditions, which would have even affected arguably the best ruck in the competition Brodie Grundy — with the Collingwood star one of those who braved the conditions at Unley to watch his younger brother Riley.
But Lycett’s superior skills compared to the Sturt players, along with fellow AFL-listed Magpies Steven Motlop, Jack Trengove, Willem Drew and Dougal Howard to name a few, proved to be just enough for Port Adelaide to hold on.
Motlop got the Magpies going early in the game with two goals, and after they wasted their dominant first half by not ramming it home on the scoreboard, Howard impressed in the closing stages as he helped repel all the Double Blues could throw at Port Adelaide.
Sturt coach Nathan Grima said his side now had a virtual elimination final against top-of-the-table Glenelg next week.
“I couldn’t fault the intent probably after the 15 minute mark of the second quarter,” he said.
“(But) the disappointing thing was that they scored every goal from turnover and none from stoppage from just some decision making errors in the wet.
“We are kicking it short when it is teeming down when the instruction is to go long and get it out of bounds, maybe as a coach I need to clearer with that.
“It should have been made simple in the wet not harder.”
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE — 3.4, 5.9, 5.10, 6.13 (49)
STURT — 1.0, 3.5, 4.7, 4.10 (34)
BEST — Port Adelaide: McKenzie, Trengove, Drew, Lycett, Howard, Mayes, Motlop,
Sturt: Battersby, Stephens, Riley, Kirkwood, Evans
GOALS — Port Adelaide: Motlop 2, Frampton, Johnson, Lycett, Mayes
Sturt: Colquhoun, Evans, Slimming, Stephens
UMPIRES — Broadbent, Crosby, Scott
CROWD — 2066 at Unley Oval