The Lowdown: The likes and dislikes from Round 17 for the Power and Crows
Arguably no player in footy has had to shoulder a bigger load up forward than Mitch Georgiades. But even in defeat, there was a critical positive to come from the Power’s trip to Brisbane.
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It was a mixed weekend for the two South Australian clubs.
Adelaide boosted its chances of a top-four finish by coming from behind to beat Melbourne at home, while the Power’s already slim finals chances were all but ended in losing to Brisbane at the Gabba.
Here are our likes and dislikes from round 17.
LIKES
1. IZAK RANKINE
You just felt Rankine was due for that sort of game.
One when he turns it on to a level few others can match and wins it off his own boot.
The 25-year-old sparked the Crows to victory on Sunday with a career-equalling five majors, including two in quick succession to halt Melbourne’s five-goal start to the second term.
Like stars often do, he stepped up in a critical stage of the game, when the Demons looked on track for an upset that would have thrown a spanner in the works for Adelaide’s finals pursuit.
Enter Rankine, who had been in solid form, but without a haul of more than two majors since round 9 last year and with 17.14 from 15 matches this campaign.
Adelaide kicked six consecutive goals from the 15-minute mark of the second term to 17 minutes into the third and the former Gold Coast Sun booted four of them.
In that time, the Crows went from 28 points down to 14 ahead.
Champion Data gave Rankine a 26.1 rating for his performance, the fourth-best of the round.
The forward/midfielder looms as a huge trump card for Adelaide during the finals race and potentially September.
He attended the lowest percentage of centre bounces (25) he had all season, as Adelaide opted to leave their best avenue to goal on Sunday inside 50 for the majority of the match.
“Thank god he was out there in the first half,” coach Matthew Nicks said.
“It kept us in touch and gave us a chance to turn it around in the second half.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin backed usual lockdown defender Judd McVee to do the job but conceded post-game they were considering switching the match-up sooner than they did.
“Judd’s been outstanding in that role for us for three years, being able to take down some of the best forwards,” Goodwin said.
“He played on a pretty good player today and just got beat.”
Rachele’s injury may lead to Rankine spending extra time in attack than he has this season, which potentially means more game-breaking goals.
2. JACK LUKOSIUS
The high-profiled recruit’s AFL comeback offered a glimpse into what the Power had been missing for most of the season – much-needed support for Mitch Georgiades.
Lukosius exceeded the team’s expectations in his first top-level match since round 2, booting three goals, including two long-range beauties, from 14 disposals and taking nine marks.
It was an impressive performance for the former Gold Coast Sun, who fractured his kneecap, then sustained back issues, before being Port’s best in his SANFL return last week.
Georgiades has been shouldering a massive load this season with Lukosius and Todd Marshall sidelined, and Jeremy Finlayson and Ollie Lord searching for form.
Only Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron (52) has booted more goals this year than Georgiades (42), the most targeted forward inside 50 in the AFL.
Goalsneak Willie Rioli is second at Port with 25 majors, while the club’s only other players to hit double figures are smalls Darcy Byrne-Jones (16) and Sam Powell-Pepper (16), and midfielder Jason Horne-Francis (10).
Lord has kicked 7.5 from eight games.
Finlayson has booted 5.5 from eight.
Both kicked five in the SANFL this past weekend.
Lukosius was now up to 4.1 from two full matches – getting subbed out early in his other, against Richmond in round 2.
Port assistant Tyson Goldsack said the coaches were chuffed at what they saw from him on Saturday night.
“There were question marks on how he was going to play against a really good team in Brisbane off the one run last week,” Goldsack said.
“He outperformed our expectations.
“He worked up the ground nicely, his kicking was on.
“It gives us a different avenue to goal when he can kick them from 55m, 60m.
“We’d seen it all summer … but we had to wait 17 weeks for it to happen.”
DISLIKES
1. INJURY CARNAGE
Three South Australian-based players sidelined for the rest of the season and one ruled out for the minor round.
That was the fallout from a disappointing two days for the Power and Crows as they copped significant injuries to four players.
Port lost Powell-Pepper (knee), key defender Esava Ratugolea (hamstring) and emerging ruckman Dante Visentini (ankle), while small forward Josh Rachele (knee) went down for Adelaide.
Powell-Pepper’s run is particularly heartbreaking.
A second anterior cruciate ligament rupture in as many seasons, 15 matches into his comeback, in his other (left) knee, in the week of his third child’s birth, after kicking two goals from 16 disposals in a fantastic first half shows the rollercoaster of football.
The 27-year-old heart-and-soul player will – again – be a massive loss for Port into next season.
Ratugolea’s injury halts a stellar campaign in which he has built plenty of confidence.
Visentini’s came just as he was starting to establish himself at AFL level, in his eighth consecutive match.
Losing Rachele for the remainder of the minor round is a big blow for Adelaide’s top-four chase, but the good news is the door remains open for him to play an important role during the finals.
If he comes back for the Crows’ first September appearance in eight years, his jubilant goal celebrations will probably have a little extra on them.
THE LOWDOWN ON …
An overhead handball, then an overhead kick to score a brilliant goal.
Or was it?
Riley Thilthorpe’s no-look handpass to Ben Keays, who improvised by throwing his left boot at it while being tackled to the ground, was a brilliant way for Adelaide to all but seal its come-from-behind home win over Melbourne on Sunday.
You just wish there was no conjecture about whether it was touched or not.
Demons players Judd McVee and Steven May seemed adamant it was.
Was that just a case of trying to convince the goal umpire?
Either way, it worked because he called it a behind.
That decision was overturned on the back of video evidence that the review centre deemed showed the Melbourne defenders did not touch the footy.
Fox Footy’s Jonathan Brown thought that was a mistake.
Only McVee or May would know.
Improved ball-tracking technology, specifically designed for score reviews, to detect when the ball is touched in flight, cannot come soon enough to eliminate the grey area.
Adelaide went 21 points clear with 11 minutes remaining after the Keays goal.
It was a nice reward for the hardworking forward, who’d sprinted 40m to receive the handball and was on the receiving end of a goal umpire’s howler that killed the Crows’ finals chances against Sydney two years ago.
Originally published as The Lowdown: The likes and dislikes from Round 17 for the Power and Crows
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