AFL GWS v Port Adelaide: All the fallout from Power win, build-up to Showdown 50
Eddie McGuire is out of the picture, but has the AFL changed its stance on Port Adelaide wearing its prison bars guernsey?
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Port Adelaide will again not be able to wear its prison-bar guernsey in the Showdown.
The Power had been hoping to don its black-and-white strip in all games against Adelaide from this year, but the AFL denied its request for the match in April and has maintained that position for Saturday night’s clash.
Port Adelaide has worn the jumper five times in the national league and since 1902 in the SANFL.
Its last AFL match in the guernsey was the sole Showdown of 2020, 13 months ago.
Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson said the club would continue to have discussions with the AFL and “whoever else it needed to in order to find a solution”.
Richardson said other teams – likely referring to Fremantle in its original jumper and Sydney in its South Melbourne design – had been widely applauded for celebrating their guernsey heritage in recent weeks.
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“We look forward to Port Adelaide having the same opportunities in the future to celebrate our 151-year history and heritage,” Richardson said.
“We believe strongly that recognising and celebrating heritage builds a stronger connection with fans across all generations and that can only be positive for clubs and the game generally.
“We also believe our request is fair and reasonable and in line with the AFL’s own purpose to respect heritage.”
In April, the AFL cited Collingwood not agreeing to further use of the jumper “at this time” as one of the reasons behind its decision.
The league this week said its position on the matter had not changed.
Power captain Tom Jonas said the guernsey was a great symbol for the club and its people.
“We are disappointed that we aren’t able to put it on display,” Jonas said.
“But the conversation has been had over and over again, we are just focusing on the footy and Kochie (chairman David Koch) and Richo will sort it out.
“We are certainly not giving up the fight.
“They are great kits as well, you love those throwbacks to a nostalgic era.
“They are great memories. I just hope there is an opportunity for us to wear it.”
WHY RISING POWER IS ONLY GETTING BETTER
— Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Port Adelaide is still good, not great according to Ken Hinkley.
But the Power might just be timing their run perfectly this season, with a top-four spot within their grasp, despite Hinkley’s side yet to fully hit their straps.
Brisbane’s shock loss to Hawthorn hours earlier made the Power’s clash against GWS at Marvel Stadium a chance for Port to take a giant leap towards sealing a coveted finals double chance.
The Giants made them work for it, but the Power were ultimately able to kick away from the side that started the weekend in eighth spot.
With just three rounds remaining of the home and away season, Port Adelaide sit a win ahead of Sydney in the top four.
This is despite the Power yet to really make a statement sending win in 2021.
Defender Ryan Burton said the Power were building nicely ahead of finals after the win over GWS.
“I think we are building to become that great side we want to be,” he said.
“If we played a really strong four quarter game tonight maybe we could have started to lean towards a great side but letting them kick four or five goals unanswered doesn’t allow us to call ourselves great yet.
“But that is something that we will work on and we are going to review and that will hold us in good stead for the rest of the year.”
Hinkley said he was pleased with how the Power were tracking in the latter stage of the season.
“I think we are playing some good footy and to win big you have to play some great footy,” he said.
“I think we are playing some good footy and we are getting better. I’m really pleased about our last couple of weeks.
“I think they have been really significant for us and when the personnel keeps coming back that definitely gives me confidence that we can get to great
“I said lets wait until we get to the end of round 23 and see what happens and I know we will be playing better football by the end of the year if we get people back.”
Over the past two weeks the Power have been able to bring back x-factor players Zak Butters, Connor Rozee, Orazio Fantasia and Xavier Duursma into the side.
When the game was on the line on Sunday night, all four lifted in the final quarter to help the Power claim the important win.
Butters had eight disposals and four marks for the term, Rozee five, and a behind, and Fantasia and Duursma chipping in with five and a goal each themselves.
“I think our front half is damaging and more damaging with those players in the side,” Hinkley said.
“Game time is really critical at this time of year. You’ve got to get your run right and sometimes it is out of your control.
“I didn’t think any one of them didn’t get better as the game went on, I thought they all got better as the game went on and I thought they were all significant for us.
“We are a much better side when they are altogether.”
And the good news is that over the next couple of weeks the Power should be able to bring in two more x-factor players in Robbie Gray and Steven Motlop.
It is factors like this that had Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson bullish about what the Power could now do in September.
“They have the ability to have an impact in this finals series,” he said on Fox Footy.
Now there are areas the Power still has to improve in, they did get seriously tested by the Giants at times after Leon Cameron’s side was able to boot unanswered goals.
But the ladder position at this stage of the season doesn’t lie.
“We are in a pretty strong position now and we need to maximise that,” Hinkley said.
It’s a far cry from the message Hinkley had after the Power were defeated by Melbourne just three weeks ago - adding further fuel to the flat-track bullies argument that has hung around the side for much of this season.
“People say I get defensive I don’t get defensive I just know the reality of AFL football,” Hinkley said of his belief that his side would get better later on in the season.
“You get beat sometimes and if you win more than often you are in a really good spot.”
Well, the Power are right in that really good spot.
And what will excite Port fans is that there still should be plenty more to come from the Power over the next couple of months.
PORT’S ALL-AUSTRALIAN BOLTER
— Simeon Thomas-Wilson
If the All-Australian selectors don’t use the wing positions to try to fit more inside midfielders in the side, then Karl Amon is a serious chance to receive a jacket.
The Power wingman continued his fine 2021 campaign, putting in another display that should help his chances of external recognition as Port took one giant step towards sewing up a top-four spot in a seesawing contest against GWS.
Ken Hinkley gave Amon, who would have left the Power in 2018 if another club was interested, a big piece of praise after Port Adelaide’s final pre-season match — praising his ability to grow and calling him “one of the great success stories”.
Amon’s story at Port Adelaide is getting better and better with each week of his stellar 2021 season.
He’s averaged 25.6 disposals this year, and at Marvel Stadium on Sunday evening he was everywhere.
He finished with 31 disposals, a goal and 10 score involvements against the Giants, plus 679 metres gained.
But in a game in which the Power did get a bit of a scare after the Giants fought back after a dominant first quarter by Hinkley’s side, it was Amon’s influence in attack that was vital for Port.
The Power were dominant in field position in the first, but woefully inefficient when going inside 50, with their first goal coming after 15 entries.
But Amon was the exception, with two score involvements to go with 11 disposals at quarter-time.
St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt said Amon was becoming a key player for the Power.
“He is super important,” he said on Fox Footy.
“When they had that patch when they didn’t have those x-factor players he was the one getting it done for them.”
But arguably his biggest moment for Port came in the third quarter.
Despite Port’s dominant first term, the Giants fought their way back into the match - and were starting to give Hinkley’s side a scare.
Daniel Lloyd brought the margin back to just three points, and the Giants had the momentum.
And while the decision might have been questionable, Amon caught Callan Ward holding the ball near the boundary line and the classy left footer went back and slotted the goal to wrestle back the momentum for Port.
“That’s huge from him,” six-time All-Australian Brad Johnson said.
Amon himself said there was a simple reason for his fine season to date.
“Probably just confidence, I’ve been building over the past couple of years and my ability to go inside is really helping,” he said after the game.
From trade bait to “super important” Amon’s rise could, and perhaps should all things being equal, be capped by entering the All-Australian club this year.
That would add one hell of a chapter to Hinkley’s great success stories.
Match report: Power surges into box seat for double chance
- Jason Phelan
Port Adelaide has moved a step closer to claiming a coveted top-four finish after Karl Amon and Ollie Wines drove the Power to a hard-fought 27-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Sunday evening.
With plenty on the line for both teams, the Giants hit the front late in the third quarter, but Port finished strongly to score a 15.10 (100) to 11.7 (73) win at Marvel Stadium.
The result left the Power in fourth spot on the ladder, a game clear of Sydney, while the Giants are outside the eight with three rounds to go, slipping from eighth to ninth with a 10th loss for the season.
“I thought it was a really strong performance from the boys,” Ken Hinkley said.
“I like the way we were challenged again … I think we’ve been asked a few times in the last couple of weeks to respond in games and we’ve been able to do that.
“We had a pretty dominant game when it comes to the stats and I know there’s significant improvement in us.”
Amon and Wines helped set up the win that improved Port’s record to 14-5 with some outstanding work through the middle, while Charlie Dixon continued a strong run of form with another four-goal bag.
Playing in his 301st match, Travis Boak was influential with 24 touches as he surpassed Kane Cornes to become the club’s games record-holder.
Hopper gathered 28 disposals before he left the field with seven minutes left to play, with Josh Kelly and Nick Haynes also important.
DIXON DOUBLE
Port was clearly winning the territory battle early, forcing repeat inside-50s with superior pressure, but the Giants held a slim lead for most of the first quarter thanks to Jesse Hogan’s opening goal.
With the GWS defence holding firm, the Power had just two behinds to show for their first 14 inside-50s, while the Giants had three forward entries at the same stage.
Port’s luck changed on their 15th forward foray when Peter Ladhams sent a speculative ball toward the goalsquare that bounced at right angles to register his side’s first major.
Dixon had been a constant physical presence and he hurt the Giants on the scoreboard with back-to-back goals to put his side up by 15 points at the first break.
STRAIGHT SHOOTIN’
Ladhams kicked two goals and Daniel Lloyd added two of his own as the teams traded blows in an entertaining second-quarter shootout.
Each side kicked five goals straight before Hogan broke the run when he pulled a set shot left.
Leon Cameron threw Tom Green into the ruck against Ladhams and the surprise move seemed to pay dividends despite the young onballer giving away 20cm in height to the specialist ruckman.
Boak kicked his fifth goal of the season and Shane Mumford booted just his second major of the year with three seconds left in the half to slice Port’s margin to eight points.
FREE TOBY
Toby Greene missed two games while in quarantine following a Covid exposure scare and the star forward was lively in his return match. He put the Giants in front with his second goal late in a seesawing third quarter.
Mitch Georgiades booted his second to restore a seven-point lead for the Power that remained at three-quarter time after a costly mistake from Harry Himmelberg in his 100th game.
Lining up for a shot at goal from 25m out with 22 second left in the term, Himmelberg was tackled and dispossessed by Wines after he failed to begin his run up before the allotted time ran out.
POWER PUSH
Himmelberg made up for his blue when he marked strongly and goaled early in the last quarter to break a run of four Power goals.
But it was the Giants’ only goal for the term, with Xavier Duursma and Orazio Fantasia hitting the scoreboard as Port powered home with a four-goals-to-one final term.
“Our effort was there until the end, I’d expect nothing different,” Leon Cameron said.
“I thought we had one hell of a crack at it.
“But they’re fourth for a reason and we’re hovering around eighth, ninth or tenth for a reason.”
SCOREBOARD
GIANTS 1.1, 7.2, 10.5, 11.7 (73)
POWER 3.4, 8.4, 11.6, 15.10 (100)
PHELAN’S BEST
Giants: Kelly, Haynes, Hopper, Whitfield, Lloyd, Greene.
Power: Amon, Wines, Dixon, Boak, Butters, Ladhams.
GOALS
Giants: Lloyd 3, Greene 2, Hogan 2, Taranto, Mumford, Himmelberg, Ward.
Power: Dixon 4, Ladhams 3, Georgiades 2, Amon, Boak, Butters, Marshall, Fantasia, Duursma.
INJURIES
Giants: Davis (concussion), Hopper (concussion). Power: Nil.
Umpires: Foot, Mollison, Broadbent
Venue: Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3. Karl Amon (Port)
2. Ollie Wines (Port)
1. Josh Kelly (GWS)
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Originally published as AFL GWS v Port Adelaide: All the fallout from Power win, build-up to Showdown 50
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