Port Adelaide suffer double blow with injuries to key players while dropping four points to Fremantle

IT might have been a comedy of errors but there was nothing to laugh about for Port Adelaide after the Power suffered injuries to two stars and were upset by Fremantle at Perth Stadium.

Ollie Wines after Port Adelaide’s loss to Fremantle.

IT might have been a comedy of errors but there was nothing to laugh about for Port Adelaide after the Power were upset by Fremantle at Perth Stadium.

Having lost star pair Paddy Ryder and Robbie Gray to injury and played most of the second half with 20 men, Port Adelaide’s five-game winning streak was halted with a shock nine-point loss to a spirited Dockers outfit.

It was a golden opportunity blown for the Power, who dropped out of the top-four after becoming the third top-four team to lose on the weekend.

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Ruckman Ryder suffered a hip flexor injury in the second term and did not reappear, while Gray was concussed after having his head slammed into the turf in a brutal tackle from Fremantle defender Ryan Nyhuis in a third-quarter flashpoint.

The incident prompted a melee between the players and anger on social media, with calls for a significant suspension for Nyhuis. The incident is also set to rekindle debate about the introduction of a red card into the AFL.

Gray appeared to be out cold and was motionless for a period and Nyhuis appears set to cop a ban from the match review officer for a dangerous tackle.

Sean Darcy and Paddy Ryder battle in the ruck.

Robbie Gray is slammed into the turf by Ryan Nyhuis.

Gray did not have the ball and with his bottom arm pinned in the tackle, he was unable to protect himself.

Down by 22 points entering time-on of the last quarter, goals to Jack Watts and Travis Boak handed Port a lifeline in the dying minutes before the Dockers steadied.

The first half was as ugly as footy can get as the difficult conditions and some poor execution combined to deliver two quarters to forget.

The major break provided a pause to hope for better in the second half as well as some time to digest some wacky numbers.

The Dockers had lost 11 straight quarters until they won the second term despite not kicking a goal. Fremantle added 0.7 to no score during the second stanza, as Ross Lyon could only laugh as a series of simple chances in front of goal were butchered.

David Mundy celebrates a goal.

Stephen Hill escapes from Justin Westhoff.

Having been destroyed in the contest in the opening term, the Dockers were far more competitive in the second term without being able to make it count.

The Power had smashed Fremantle 20-4 in the first-quarter clearance count and had 26 more contested possessions. But the Dockers completely controlled territory in the second term to deliver a 20-4 count of their own, this time in inside 50m entries.

When promising youngster Brennan Cox kicked his and his team’s second goal 12 minutes into the third term, it ended a run of nine behinds for the Dockers.

The third quarter provided a total of six goals, with Freo never seriously threatened after taking a 10-point lead into the final term.

BEST

Fremantle: D.Mundy, L.Neale, L.Ryan, E.Langdon, B.Hill, N.Wilson

Port Adelaide: C.Wingard, O.Wines, S.Powell-Pepper, J.Polec, J.Westhoff, D.Byrne-Jones

VOTES

3. David Mundy (Frem)

2. Lachie Neale (Frem)

1. Chad Wingard (Frem)

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Originally published as Port Adelaide suffer double blow with injuries to key players while dropping four points to Fremantle