AFL Round 11: All the action and reaction from the clash between Port Adelaide and Essendon
Travis Boak is proud of the Power’s fightback from a 0-5 start, but he hopes their best footy is ahead of them as the fixture gets tough after the bye — real tough.
AFL Teams
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL Teams. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Port Adelaide have won five out of its last six matches and are a win out of finals.
Becoming the second side since Sydney in 2017 to overcome a 0-5 start and make finals is still on the cards for Ken Hinkley’s side as they reach their mid-season bye.
But how they emerge from their week off, and whether they can fix their key problems, will be key in whether the Power can break into a tough top eight in the second half of the season.
Watch every blockbuster AFL match this weekend Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
“Our last five or six weeks have been really solid,” Power star Travis Boak told The Advertiser after their win over Essendon on Sunday evening.
“Obviously the start was poor but to be 5-1 in the last six games has been really good and I’m proud of our fightback but there’s still a lot of work to do and our best footy is still ahead of us.”
The Power would be hoping their best footy is still ahead of them in the second half of 2022.
Because it’s a season defining run when matches resume for the Power.
They return to action with a trip to the MCG to take on Richmond.
Sydney at home follows that, then the much improved Gold Coast Suns.
A tough trip to Perth to take on contenders Fremantle then beckons before a home clash against GWS, reigning premiers Melbourne in the Northern Territory and then Geelong at Adelaide Oval.
After the win over Essendon Hinkley said “we know that our best is good enough”.
And based off the last two seasons, ending in preliminary final appearances, he is right.
But the Power still isn’t just quite there despite getting their season back on track.
They got the win they needed over Essendon, but was given a serious scare with a poor third quarter that had Hinkley saying his side wasn’t playing tough footy.
Hinkley said this showed the challenges still in front of the Power.
“I think the third quarter is a great example of around the ball, we lost control of the ball in the third quarter and we got it back in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“We need to be able to play four quarters consistently well, that’s what we are building towards and we need personnel to be able to play four quarters and for personnel to get more game time into them and continuity in the team which has been disrupted a bit.”
Boak said the Power needed to improve on the contest side of things.
“There is no doubt that our contest work has probably been a bit inconsistent over the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“Before that I think it has been pretty solid and that gives us the best chance to win games of footy.
“And if we can continue to defend really well and outnumber, our ball movement comes off the back of that and give our forwards great use.
“If we can defend a little bit better and get our outnumber game going and get it in our forward half we will give ourselves a chance.”
Against Essendon the Power were smashed in centre clearances 4-14, and lost clearances as a whole 34 to 36.
But Hinkley said it was more than just stoppages.
“I think we have been exposed a couple of times in contested possession, not just around the ball even though everyone keeps saying that is the contest,” he said.
“Ball ups and throw ins, it isn’t it’s further around the ground.
“So I think we have some improvement to make there, we’ve seen improvements in games and we’ve also seen lulls.”
So how does the Power address this?
Hinkley said it was a process after the Power were hit hard by injuries.
Charlie Dixon, who played his first game of the season against Essendon, Aliir Aliir, Tom Clurey and Robbie Gray have all had injuries - with Scott Lycett, Orazio Fantasia and Trent McKenzie still to return.
Ollie Wines had his heart scare and Hinkley said all of this had impacted the side.
“Some consistency (is what the Power needs), that can be personnel and at the start of the year if you look at the people we were missing especially in that first one to five rounds they were important people,” he said.
“And when you get them back they don’t automatically go into overdrive and go straight into great form.
“Putting time in together, training well and keeping the squad pretty much fit will be important.”
Dixon kicked two goals on his return, but by his own admission did not do a lot in the second half.
Boak said he would be better for the run and having Dixon back gave the Power a lot more options going forward.
“There is no doubt that he is a huge presence for us inside 50 and I think that gives Toddy (Todd Marshall) and Jezza (Jeremy Finlayson) a really good opportunity as well to get off a little bit,” he said.
“And if we do struggle to find it short we do know that we have Charlie to make it a really good contest long.”
Boak’s sacrifice is also giving the Power more options in the midfield.
If the Power are to achieve anything this season then young guns Zak Butters and Connor Rozee are going to have to play big roles and be around the ball as much as they can.
Because of this, Boak is playing more forward.
“It is probably 60/40 with the forward time,” he said.
“We have such a deep midfield with Connor, Buttsy and Drewy (Willem Drew) and these sorts of guys coming through there. It’s great for us to take that next step and we will continue to rotate through there.
“And it gives us a fresher look there and when I’m needed I go in and the same with Connor and Buttsy, they can play both roles and be damaging.
“It is my job to continue to develop these young guys and help them as much as I can.
“They are the ones who will take this club forward.”
Being 5-6 and a game out of the eight was not where the Power envisaged they would be come the mid-season bye coming into 2022.
But Hinkley said while there is still a lot to go, his players should be proud of how they handled the challenging start to the season.
“I think again they have had to handle a fair bit as to where we were at the start, from our own doing, so we had to stick to the task really well and we needed to keep an environment where they wanted to play together,” he said.
“They had an opportunity to somewhat lose a bit of hope but they didn’t.
“Resilience is something you get sometimes when you don’t want it.
“Stick at it and you never know it can change, don’t give up hope.”
Port plots top-eight tilt, Rutten’s glass half-full
— Simeon Thomas-Wilson and Jason Phelan
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says stepping up “in playing tough” was key in the Power stopping a third-quarter Essendon comeback and win a game that he said his side just needed to win.
The Power looked to be cruising after a solid first half at Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon, with a 31-point lead.
But once the predicted heavy rain arrived, so did Essendon.
The Bombers kicked four goals in a row to bring the margin back to just eight points late in the third quarter.
But the Power were able to lift in the fourth and claim a 16-point win that has them at 5-6 as they go into the mid-season bye.
Hinkley said there was a simple explanation for the difference between the Power’s poor third quarter and much improved fourth.
“It was simply saying you can put your head over the footy a bit better,” he said.
“In slippery conditions don’t try and be too cute, just be direct with any option you have and I thought people like Karl Amon and Willem Drew stepped up in that space for us.
“Ollie (Wines) and the people around him were a bit cleaner at times, so the reality is if you aren’t playing tough enough footy you are in trouble.
“And we stepped up in playing tough.”
Amon looked to be in some pain at the end of the game, but Hinkley said he was fine.
Spearhead Charlie Dixon also got through the game unscathed, although Hinkley said the key forward was “exhausted”.
“He said he thought he got through the Magpies game (in the SANFL) all right but he realised that AFL is a bit harder, and quite a big step up,” he said.
“After halftime in his own words he was out there but he wasn’t doing much.
“I was just pleased to see him out there. We will take his two goals.”
But the news isn’t as good for Orazio Fantasia.
His first game this season for the Magpies against North Adelaide lasted just minutes as he hurt his quad. Fantasia missed out on the previous week, at AFL and SANFL level, after he reported a tight quad at training.
Hinkley said he was unsure as to how long Fantasia would be out for.
“I know he has had scans so we will talk to the medical team and see where it leads us,” he said.
“He’s not having much luck the little fella, he is pretty important to us so it would be really good if we can get him back.
“I have no doubt he will be really disappointed with what happened but he also has a responsibility to handle that and get over it and get back and play a significant part for us when required.”
Essendon coach Ben Rutten said the 2-9 Bombers took a step forward is adamant a miserable win-loss record at the halfway point of the season shouldn’t be the only measure of how his underperforming team is judged.
Rutten was pleased with the endeavour of his charges in large patches of their past two games off the back of a largely limp effort in a desperately disappointing 58-point smashing by the Swans.
The second-year coach’s glass half-full approach won’t sit well with some frustrated Bombers fans, but Rutten is unabashedly optimistic about his side’s chances of building momentum in the second half of the season.
“Over the course of the season so far, I think it’s important for our guys to understand that there’s more ways than the win-loss for us to measure our improvement and growth,” Rutten said.
“We’ve been working really hard on our game and we’re seeing some things come through, but it’s not translating just yet on the scoreboard.
“There’s certainly a level of disappointment and frustration, we’re not where we want to be as a group there’s no doubt about that and the guys are hurting because of that, but I think there was enough out of tonight for us to take and continue to work through.”
The TV broadcast captured a heated exchange between skipper Dyson Heppell and star onballer Darcy Parish as the frustrated pair walked towards the huddle at the first break.
Rutten hadn’t seen the footage when he addressed reporters after the match, but had no problem with it.
“I’d imagine it was having an honest conversation about how we can get better … it’s something I want to encourage amongst our guys,” he said.
“There’s enough trust and connection there that I’d be really confident that it’s done in the right way.
“It’s all about how we can get better and how we can improve, so I think it’s important for us to be having those conversations.
“It’s problem solving live in the heat of the battle.
“It’s what we need to be really good at doing.”
Rutten conceded he will look at tweaking parts of his side’s game ahead of the stern Friday night test against Carlton at the MCG that awaits on the other side of the bye.
He said that Mason Redman, Matt Guelfi and Jake Stringer are in the frame to return for the clash against the Blues.
Port sets stage for late-season charge
Port Adelaide’s 2022 salvage mission is back on track after the Power saw off a furious third-quarter rally by Essendon to score a hard-fought 16-point win on Sunday.
After a disastrous 0-5 start to the season and last week’s disappointing loss to Geelong, the Power enters the mid-season bye with a 5-6 record and plenty of reasons for optimism following the 9.12 (66) to 6.14 (50) win at Adelaide Oval.
Ken Hinkley’s men led by as much as 38 points in a dry first half, but the Bombers made the most of rain-affected conditions after the break to slash Port’s advantage to just eight points late in the third quarter.
With steely resolve required, Hinkley’s charges didn’t let him down, grinding out a determined final term in which neither side managed a goal.
The result condemns the Bombers to a 2-9 record with some soul searching required as they also enter their bye.
Ollie Wines, Connor Rozee and Travis Boak helped drive Port’s charge in the first half and got their hands dirty in the second when conditions demanded it.
The Power welcomed back attacking linchpin Charlie Dixon for his first game of the season and he was the only multiple goalkicker on the ground with two.
Darcy Parish racked up the disposals again, finishing with a game-high 39, with Zach Merrett, Nick Hind and Nic Martin also important for the visitors.
GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
Ben Rutten wouldn’t have dared dream of the stoppage domination that his midfielders established in the first quarter when they won 12 of 15 clearances, including all five centre clearances.
But that ascendancy was wasted with poor delivery inside 50 and even worse kicking for goal.
The wasteful Bombers managed 0.6 to trail Port by 20 points at quarter-time and had eight behinds on the board before Andrew Phillips finally split the middle 12 minutes into the second term.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Essendon’s first-half play was the ease with which Port transitioned the ball when its superior pressure inevitably forced a turnover in the home side’s back half.
With a dash and dare largely lacking in last week’s 35-point loss to Geelong, Port was able to scythe through the Bombers again and again with Rozee, Wines, Zak Butters and Karl Amon leading the charge.
Todd Marshall’s goal early in the second quarter well illustrated the visitors’ lack of defensive effort.
After Archie Perkins booted his side’s seventh successive behind, Port waltzed the ball up the ground without an opposition player touching it before Marshall converted after a strong contested mark against Jordan Ridley.
JUST ADD WATER
The Bombers trailed by 31 points at the main break, but had cause for optimism given their improved output as the second term progressed.
Forecast heavy rain arrived during the interval, which according to conventional wisdom should have made it harder for Essendon to mount a second-half fightback.
But Rutten’s decision to have his players train on a sprinkler-soaked ground during the week looked a masterstroke as the visitors came storming back.
Cleaner with ball in hand in the wet, Essendon had the first 11 inside-50s of the third term, with Sam Durham kicking the last major of a withering four-goal blast that sliced the margin to eight points.
Trent Dumont set up the 14-point three-quarter time margin with the Power’s only goal of the quarter.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 4.2, 8.4, 9.8, 9.12 (66)
BOMBERS 0.6, 2.9, 6.12, 6.14 (50)
PHELAN’S BEST
POWER: Wines, Rozee, Boak, Butters, Amon, Clurey.
BOMBERS: Parish, Hind, Martin, Merrett, Heppell, Laverde.
GOALS
POWER: Dixon 2, Butters, Dumont, Finlayson, Motlop, Marshall, Powell-Pepper, Rozee. BOMBERS: Durham, Jones, Martin, McGrath, Phillips, Waterman.
Injuries: Nil
Umpires: Toner, Pell, Mollison.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3. D. Parish (Ess)
2. O. Wines (Port)
1. C. Rozee (Port)
More Coverage
Originally published as AFL Round 11: All the action and reaction from the clash between Port Adelaide and Essendon
Port fans go scorched earth on Ken Hinkley
The Swans have marched into another grand final, but Ken Hinkley was the name on many lips after he fell short yet again.
Bruce! Footy fans all say the same thing
There was a beloved footy figure back on TV screens on Friday night and it left fans all making the same comments.