Port Adelaide cruise past Fremantle with recruits Jack Watts and Steven Motlop starring
PORT Adelaide’s aggressive off-season trading has delivered its first returns with Jack Watts and Steven Motlop delighting in a walk-in-the-park win against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.
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PORT Adelaide’s aggressive off-season trading has delivered its first returns with Jack Watts and Steven Motlop delighting in a walk-in-the-park 50-point win against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.
The duo provided highlights - few better than when Motlop showed off his pace and class - as Port dominated the Dockers in a twilight game that suggests Fremantle is yet to come out of the shadows.
Port Adelaide took control early and never relinquished it. Apart from the odd lapse, it looked just as much as another practice match rather than a tense season opener.
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Watts, with his sharp kicking, combined beautifully with full forward Charlie Dixon in the forward line: Watts was for the lead-ups, Dixon for the contests.
But there were also a couple of known Port names who caught the eye even more as the Power collected its first four points of the season and put itself in a good frame of mind to face the Swans next week.
Justin Westhoff, who at 31 is the oldest player on Port’s list, was a treat to watch.
He played his best football — as he does — with no fixed address: a couple of calm marks in the last line of defence, a bit of time in the ruck, a couple of dashes along the flanks and some goal involvements up forward.
On the other end of the spectrum there was Riley Bonner, who was playing in just his fifth game, and Todd Marshall helping himself to a bag of goals.
Bonner had a team-high 20 disposals by half-time but it was more about what we did with them: long, soaring kicks, clever intercepts and the sense of calm he exuded when he had the ball in his hands.
Captain Travis Boak looked comfortable across high half-forward and it looked like the role he took on last season is fitting him better after a summer of work.
Central in speculation over how Port Adelaide would go this year had been what sort of influence the experienced players they brought in from other clubs would have.
It was as though the Power had planned to show off their recruits first and then let the match unfold.
Watts, who was often maligned at Melbourne for not delivering on the promise of being a top draft pick, opened proceedings with a kick that hit the post but recovered by kicking the first goal of the match in the 15th minute.
The goal illustrated both his versatility and quick thinking: he crumbed his own contest and snapped with his left foot to give the crowd something to stand up about.
Motlop followed with the second goal, and it was a peach to watch. Just as he has done with the Cats in the past, he burned his opponents off with searing pace and cooly slotted the goal.
Ed Langdon kicked the next for Fremantle but the Power already had a platform of confidence.
As Port kept building up their lead there was also one set-shot goal from former Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff, who loves a goal and celebrated accordingly.
Fremantle had a bit of a fightback with three quick goals late in the second quarter and one thing will be scrutinised by the Power coaches when they review the game: why is it that the Power allow teams to get so many opportunities out the back?
But for all purposes, this looked just like another practice match, a drill that never had any real sting in it.
BEST
Port Adelaide: J.Westhoff, R.Bonner, B.Ebert, O.Wines, S.Motlop, T.Marshall, J.Watts
Fremantle: L.Neale, N.Fyfe, A.Sandilands, D.Mundy, C.Sutcliffe
VOTES
3. Justin Westhoff
2. Riley Bonner
1. Brad Ebert
Originally published as Port Adelaide cruise past Fremantle with recruits Jack Watts and Steven Motlop starring