Port Adelaide's dream is over, now for Cats and Hawks
MATCH REPORT: THE fairytale is over for Port Adelaide, the legend continues for Geelong and Hawthorn.
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THE fairytale is over for Port Adelaide, the legend continues for Geelong and Hawthorn.
Yet, it was almost an epic denied in the preliminary final after Port rattled the Cats’ cage with an imposing first half at the MCG.
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They led by 23 points at the main break, on the back of greater intensity, which perpetuated into run and gun football, but then trailed by seven at three-quarter time.
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Let's say it again, football is about mentality, not that we have to tell the Hawks.
While Port players urged each other to keep the faith at the long break, the Cats urged each other to lift the intensity.
Their third term was clinical, frenetic and brutal in its execution.
The Cats kicked 5.5 to 0.1. Inside-50s were 22-5. Possessions inside 50 were 27-2. The Cats had players spare all over the ground. The uncontested footy was 72-44 and possessions 109-86.
In a game of catch-up footy, there are many contributors.
None, however, planted the flag more than James Kelly and Joel Selwood.
Games are dictated by midfield intensity. The first half swayed in the wind. Port had more ball and charged in numbers out of the back half, and Angus Monfries was a special.
We deserved better
The Cats had Paul Chapman (four goals), three talls - James Podsiadly, Tom Hawkins and Nathan Vardy - who couldn’t catch a trout at a fish farm, and an appetite for the hard ball which was not as hearty as it was for the opposition.
The third quarter was a rout.
James Kelly and Selwood shared 20 touches, Travis Varcoe was moved from half-back to a wing and punished Port with his run, Mathew Stokes and bobbed and weaved for 14 possessions, and Port coughed up the ball eight times, such was the Cats' pressure.
Hawkins was crucial. He kicked two of the five goals in the third term, laid two tackles and helped the Cats look formidable.
The final quarter was over when Chapman and Allen Christensen kicked goals at the ninth and 17th minutes, to make the margin 23 points.
And then it wasn’t when Jay Schulz, Hamish Hartlett and Justin Westhoff kicked three of the next four goals.
It wasn’t a classic, and all the talk will be about the greatest rivalry of the modern era.
But that undersells a mighty effort from a team considered at the start of the season as easybeats, who end up 16 points from a preliminary final.
Their season of inspiration was enveloped inside those 30 minutes of the third quarter.
That famous last quarter run which Port had banked on and thrived on for some scintillating footy this season, was left too late make up the difference.
Coach Ken Hinkley would be disappointed, for he had witnessed what his brave young men could accomplish against a generational team.
Even at the death, the Port players never gave up.
Skipper Travis Boak led, Justin Westhoff was a freak at times, Monfries was a matchwinner in the first half, Ollie Wines, in his first year, had a team-high 12 contested possessions, Robbie Gray displayed his talent, Wingard, Ebert, Hartlett, Moore ... the positives are evident.
Chapman belittled his doubters once again, although the match review panel might belittle him after his hit on Robbie Gray in the third quarter.
He kicked two goals in the first quarter, one in the third and one in the last. Three of them were vintage Chapman, across the body snaps from the pocket, when the Cats needed them most.
Of course, in wins such as this, the vets have a story. Steve Johnson and Jimmy Bartel were classy, particularly Johnson with two score assists, and Joel Corey barged and fought and scrapped 21 touches, four clearances and seven inside-50s.
Only Steve Motlop (nine inside-50s) rated higher, and his gut-running with Stokes after halftime complemented the hard footy of Kelly, Selwood, Bartel and Corey, and Stokes too, who had three touches in the first quarter and 15 in the next three.
The question is: Can they beat the Hawks?
Not on last night’s total package.
Hawkins and Podsiadly have to be more dangerous and, to be fair, the midfield has to stop bombing long to them, as it did last night. If Port can mop up under the high ball, what then can the Hawks do?
It’s about mindset and the Hawks will be favorites.
And we’ve heard that before.
GEELONG 2.2 3.6 8.12 13.18 (96)
PORT ADELAIDE 3.2 7.5 8.5 12.8 (80)
GOALS
Geelong: P Chapman 4 S Motlop 2 T Hawkins 2 A Christensen J Bartel J Corey J Selwood M Duncan.
Port Adelaide: J Westhoff 3 J Schulz 2 A Monfries Brad Ebert H Hartlett M Broadbent M Lobbe R Gray T Logan.
BEST
Geelong: J Selwood P Chapman J Kelly S Johnson S Motlop M Stokes J Bartel.
Port Adelaide: T Boak M Broadbent J Westhoff K Cornes R Gray A Monfries A Carlile.
Injuries: Geelong: J Rivers (ankle). Port Adelaide: Nil.
Reports: Geelong: P Chapman (Geel) for rough conduct against Robbie Gray (Port) during the third quarter. Port Adelaide: Nil.
Umpires: Matt Stevic, Simon Meredith, Shane McInerney.
Official Crowd: 52,744 at MCG.
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