AFL Port Adelaide v Essendon: Bombers savaged by red hot Power
Essendon vice-captain Andy McGrath doesn’t believe his Bombers were bullied by Port on Friday night but concedes his team were dealt a lesson by the rampaging Port Adelaide outfit.
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Essendon vice-captain Andy McGrath says the Bombers weren’t bullied by Port Adelaide in their Friday night shellacking, but has conceded his side were taught a lesson.
After matching it with the Power for the first quarter in the Gather Round marquee clash, the Bombers were on the receiving end of a demolition job for the next three terms – with Port cruising to a 69-point win.
Post game Melbourne great Garry Lyon said Bombers players “rolled over” from the second-quarter onwards, a far cry from the “Essendon edge” that club has said it will have in 2024.
“I think (coach) Brad Scott has got a really good perspective – this would have shocked them a bit. I think they thought they were a little bit further advanced than that,” Lyon said on Fox Footy.
“I think they rolled over far too easily.
“At one stage it looked like this was going to blow out even further which would have been a surprise to everyone at Essendon. Expectation on them was they’d be much more competitive.”
On Saturday McGrath said he did not agree that the Bombers were bullied by the Power.
“I wouldn’t say bullied, their midfield was very good,” he said.
“Ours is very good but I would say when they got their tails up they were hard to stop, when their dangerous, speedy mids are running out the front of stoppage it is pretty dangerous.
“They played really well, our mids didn’t really have their day … not many of us to be honest but we will review it really hard.”
But McGrath did concede the Bombers were taught a big lesson.
Port Adelaide were too good their intent around the ball kind of showed us what is required to compete on Friday night footy,” he said.
“I think every game you play you learn a lot, Port Adelaide are a quality side and they play this ground really well.
“It is hostile but those are the environments we want to be in and test ourselves.
“We showed that we could match it with them for a quarter but then they kicked away.
“We will learn a hell of a lot, lick our wounds and get back to work.”
McGrath said the Power’s ball movement was too good.
“They were able to move the ball very well, their midfield got on top of ours, their forwards got on top of our defenders at times,” he said.
“Weight of numbers eventually over time, they had a lot of inside 50s and eventually the dam wall broke and you can never win a game conceding that many points.
“There were quite a few things that didn’t go right for us, the first quarter looked a bit more like we wanted to.
“We were in the game but then for whatever reason it got away from us.”
Where’d the edge go, Bombers?
The Essendon edge was on show at Adelaide Oval in the first quarter on Friday night.
But from there on it was blunt as the Bombers were handed a big reality check by the Power.
Brad Scott’s side looked to have come to Adelaide Oval with a distinct plan, and in the first quarter it worked.
The Bombers had a significant more amount of disposals than the Power, they counter attacked well and when they did go in their forward 50 they retained the ball.
At one stage in the first quarter their retention rate in their forward 50 was 75 per cent, the AFL average is around 50 per cent.
But from the second quarter onwards they were outworked and outmuscled by the Power.
To put it simply, the edge wasn’t there.
And as well as outworking and outmuscling them, the Power had a distinct plan.
After Melbourne were able to cause a lot of damage despite significantly less inside 50 entries against the Power the week before, the Bombers looked to be having some success when they went forward on Friday night.
But Buckley said Power senior coach Ken Hinkley went “old school” to change this.
“Port Adelaide went old school they went from a zone, which is the traditional way to defend in the modern game, to one-on-one,” he said.
“They just said “well we aren’t going to give your bodies any time or space to be able to transition the ball” so they decrease their uncontested marks, they decrease their uncontested possessions and they forced them long.
“In the first quarter Essendon players were making the quarter big and Port Adelaide were just protecting the corridor and they have said “OK you are kicking it through us, you are kicking it around us and you are going end to end” so we are just going to make it a one-on-one game.”
It worked like a treat against the supposedly new Essendon, with the Power kicking 10 goals from turnover since the second quarter.
The Bombers kicked a point.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 4.0 10.3 13.7 17.9 (111)
BOMBERS 3.3 4.4 6.5 6.6 (42)
PHELAN’S BEST- POWER: Rozee, Horne-Francis, Butters, Finlayson, Houston, Rioli, Farrell. BOMBERS: Merrett, Martin, Caldwell, Duursma, Heppell, Gresham.
GOALS- POWER: Rozee 3, Rioli 3, Finlayson 3, Byrne-Jones 3, Georgiades 2, Soldo, McEntee, Marshall. BOMBERS: Gresham 3, Stringer, Perkins, Jones.
INJURIES- POWER: Boak (back). BOMBERS: Perkins (hamstring).
UMPIRES- Stephens, Nicholls, Power, Gavine.
47,641 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Rozee (Port)
2 Horne-Francis (Port)
1 Butters (Port)
Originally published as AFL Port Adelaide v Essendon: Bombers savaged by red hot Power
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