AFL: Port Adelaide defeats Sydney on back of Charlie Dixon masterclass
After a week of will-he-or-won’t-he contract talk, Charlie Dixon said he was just focused on what he can do to help Port Adelaide win a flag. He was true to his word against the Swans on Saturday.
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The footy world was talking about Charlie Dixon’s contract all week but if he’s considering leaving Port Adelaide this season then he’s doing a good job of hiding it.
Dixon may well have a four-year offer on the table from Brisbane but judging by the way he played against Sydney on Saturday, the passion with which he celebrated his goals and the obvious affection for his teammates, he is going nowhere.
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After just two goals in his past two games, Dixon returned to form with four against the Swans and it was no coincidence that it was with Todd Marshall back in the team.
Marshall is proving more help than hindrance to Dixon even when they both go for the same footy, and the Power played three talls including Justin Westhoff inside 50m as they won by 26 points.
Dixon kicked two on Lewis Melican, including a left-foot snap around his body, and outbodied Aliir Aliir in the goalsquare for his third as well as giving one to Robbie Gray with a clever sideways tap.
Speaking of speculation over players who are supposedly considering leaving Port Adelaide, you can just about put a line through the Ollie Wines rumours based on what we’re seeing.
The vice-captain has had double-figure contested possession counts every game since Round 9, was excellent against the Swans and is playing with the same passion for the jumper as Dixon.
GRAY MATTER(S)
As with everything Robbie Gray seems to do, his timing is impeccable.
The 32-year-old might have taken a while to get going this year but is hitting peak form right as Port Adelaide charges into September.
And unfortunately for Sydney, the Swans were on the receiving end of it on Saturday.
Gray showed flashes of brilliance in the first half of the year but has done it consistently in the past month.
He was excellent against Richmond, good against the Bulldogs and Hawthorn and on Saturday he exploded out of the blocks with 11 disposals and two goals in the first quarter against Sydney.
“Rob’s been building his form, he had a quieter start to the year no doubt but he had 19 (disposals) and two (goals) at half-time today and we’re in a pretty strong position which was a fair bit to do with Robbie’s stuff,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said.
“He just kept at it and consistent about the way he goes about things, we’ve helped him a little and supported him when he needed some from the coaching, but to his credit he’s the one who’s got to go and do it.
“And he’s building, so that’s a good result if we can look forward to Robbie playing like that more and more as we go through the season that will be a bit of a worry for some others.”
Gray had a hand in Port’s first two goals with strength in the contest to handball to Cam Sutcliffe and then kicked a trademark snap himself, and his protege Zak Butters was pretty good as well.
HORSE SHUFFLES MAGNETS
The Swans turned their whiteboard upside down at halftime and it sparked a reaction.
Well down in clearances, contested possession and inside 50s, they came out and kicked the only two goals of the third quarter.
Callum Sinclair went forward, Tom McCartin went back and Aliir Aliir into the ruck and he helped shift momentum in the middle. Sam Reid and Nick Blakey had just four kicks between them in the first half and both hit the scoreboard in the third term.
Tom Papley, arguably the most dangerous small forward in the game, had an interesting battle with Darcy Byrne-Jones who was playing his 100th game.
Both had their moments. Byrne-Jones’ desperation to tackle and smother was a perfect example of controlled aggression while Papley kicked a terrific goal by finding space where there was none at a stoppage in the first term.
Papley also had Hamish Hartlett and Tom Jonas for company inside 50m and his hard running and handball set up Blakey’s third-quarter goal.
Coach John Longmire saw enough from his young team’s fightback to know they are laying the foundations of a strong future.
“Port are almost at their strongest, they only have one or two injuries on their list, and clearly playing a good, hard brand of footy as well,” Longmire said.
“To come over here and things don’t go well for us in the first half, but we adjust and have some spirit in the second and get it right, there are parts of our game that we look at and there’s another (that bobs up), you feel like you fix one part and there’s another you’ve got to get right.
“We’re just not consistent with that enough, youth or not, there’s only one time this year we’ve been older than our opposition, but we are still striving to be as competitive as we can regardless of age.
“We’ve got to keep hanging in there and at times the effort is there, it’s about execution, just different things we have to work on each week and hopefully setting the foundations for a strong team at some point.”
Longmire praised Aliir’s move into the ruck: “he gave us some real bite around the ball”.
He was pleased with Tom McCartin’s move from the forwardline into defence.
But he said Port put itself in a winning position by dominating around the ball in the first half.
“They were harder and cleaner around the ball than us, particularly around clearances,” he said.
“I didn’t think we used the ball as well as what we should have in the first half. We had a really good third term and a couple of our entries they took marks and we didn’t capitalise on a bit of that play that we had.
“In the end of the game we ended up with more ball in our forward half which is unlike a game against Port Adelaide, they are very good at at that, so we were a bit ineffective.
“I always think you’re a chance at different points, that last quarter we had the ball inside our forward 50 but didn’t execute.”
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ORDER RESTORED
Having momentarily surrendered top spot on the ladder to Geelong, it lasted less than 24 hours before Port Adelaide restored order.
They dominated contested possession (141-117) and clearances (46-26) and kept Sydney scoreless in the second quarter and held on despite a nervous second half.
Connor Rozee, Ryan Burton and Marshall all made smooth returns from injury, their veterans in Travis Boak and Tom Rockliff continued to get the job done as did Karl Amon, Trent McKenzie and Sam Powell-Pepper.
With an injury list that is almost non-existent, the Power is nearing its strongest and most settled side with only Dan Houston to return after the bye to play North Melbourne, Essendon and Collingwood in the run home.
Hinkley was pleased the Power found a way to win without playing their best footy.
“This is a footy club that we said a long time ago we are getting ready and coming at the competition, I think we are living up to our end of the bargain as best we possibly can,” Hinkley said.
“Our challenge now is to maximise and capitalise on our opportunity and that’s what we’re going to try to do.
“Sometimes it can look like you’re a fair way (off your best), but we played Richmond here not that long ago and everyone called it the game of the season, that’s not that far back.
“Our first half today was really dominant, we didn’t get everything the way we’d like it in the second half but we are moving towards our best footy, I have no doubt about that and that’s a good time of the year to be getting to that spot.
“You have to win some games and we’ve been doing that the last two or three weeks where we haven’t been quite perfect but we’ve managed to find wins which has been really pleasing.”
The main concern on Saturday was around Brad Ebert, who having missed a lot of footy with concussion in the past two years, clashed heads with Jackson Thurlow in the third quarter and left the ground in the hands of the trainers.
He removed his helmet before he got to the boundary and went straight into the rooms but returned to play out the final term.
Hinkley said Brad Ebert was OK after being cleared of concussion.
He said there had not been discussion about whether one more concussion would be career-threatening or even ending for the midfielder/forward who is wearing a helmet.
“He’s OK, he got a whack on the cheekbone which we have to check in to see how that is, but the really critical point is he was symptoms free of concussion, that was the vital part for us and for Brad and everyone who is interested in how he’s going,” Hinkley said.
“The good part for me is he copped a decent whack and was able to deal with that, passed his tests and came back on and played his part.
“That’s (his future) not a decision for today, that’s a decision for medical people, Brad, his family, but right now I know Brad is really keen to continue to support and play his role for the team.”
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 4.3 8.3 8.4 11.7 (73)
def
SYDNEY 3.1 3.1 5.4 7.5 (47)
GOALS
Power: Dixon 4, Gray 2, Sutcliffe, Boak, Wines, Butters, Westhoff
Swans: Reid 2, Papley, Sinclair, Dawson, Blakey, Bell.
REECE HOMFRAY’S BEST
Power: Gray, Dixon, McKenzie, Wines, Hartlett, Rockliff, Butters
Swans: Lloyd, Kennedy, Dawson, Aliir, Mills, McCartin.
REECE HOMFRAY’S VOTES
3 — Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide)
2 — Charlie Dixon (Port Adelaide)
1 — Trent McKenzie (Port Adelaide)
Injuries: NIL
At Adelaide Oval
Originally published as AFL: Port Adelaide defeats Sydney on back of Charlie Dixon masterclass