AFL round 4 Port Adelaide v St Kilda: All the news, analysis and fallout from the Saints’ win over the Power

Port Adelaide has lost a second winnable game on the trot as the Saints broke the Power’s heart at the Adelaide Oval, turning the heat right up on Ken Hinkley ahead of Gather Round.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says the Power’s midfield and contest work hasn’t “been near the level we need to be to win games” as he lamented a poor start by his side against St Kilda.

The Power are now 1-3 to start the season after the Saints were able to hold on in a pulsating match at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, their first win over Port at the venue since 2020.

The Saints came out firing in the first quarter and by the first break had a 24-point lead.

The Power were able to get it back to nine-points with 12.30 to go in the match but that was the closest Hinkley’s side got as some crucial mistakes allowed the Saints to seal the match.

He said while the Power did a lot right as the game went on, the first quarter ended up being too much of a mountain to climb.

“The first quarter, we gave them too much power around the ball, too many opportunities to score,” he said.

“We were poor around the ball at the start of the game and that ended up really hurting us because I thought after that the game was played a fair bit on our terms in the last two to three quarters.

“And then when it got really, really tight just a couple of critical mistakes really hurt us.

“That’s what happens when you chase all day, you make a couple of fundamental mistakes, you are going to pay an ultimate price and we have to wear the hat of loser.”

While the Power were able to have 14 more inside 50s and 11 more tackles than the Saints, Ross Lyon’s side had nine more clearances and 10 more stoppage clearances.

Zak Butters and Connor Rozee lead the Power off. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Hinkley said the Power were not good enough when the ball was on the ground.

“They were able to win the contest around the ball, they were more clinical in their execution,” he said.

“We had a fair bit of dominance from a ruck perspective from a fair bit of the day in terms of how hitouts can go but we didn’t get dominance when the ball hit the ground.

“We lost it on the second part of play, I believe, the contest shape got away from us a little bit and we maybe overplayed on the next ball and went a bit too hard on the inside.

“I think it is half reasonable to say we haven’t been near the level we need to be to win games of football around the ball.

“But we fought back really well, when you lose there is not much sense talking about what you fought back by. We lost.”

Veteran forward Darcy Byrne-Jones faces a nervous wait after looked to have caught Ryan Brynes high with a bump in the first quarter.

Hinkley said he would leave it to the Match Review Officer.

“I am not a coach who pretends I did or didn’t see it I just did not see it so I don’t know exactly,” he said.

“I leave that to the AFL as I do every week.”

The Power next take on the red-hot Hawthorn in a Sunday night clash to conclude Gather Round.

It will be the first meeting of the two since the ill-tempered semi-final, in which Hinkley clashed with Hawthorn players Jack Ginnivan and then captain James Sicily.

He said he wasn’t worrying about any of that.

“We will do everything we can to try and beat Hawthorn. That’s all I care about, I don’t care about any of the stuff that goes on outside of that,” he said.

“Rivalries in this game are OK, I am OK that there is a bit of a rivalry.

“We had a couple of games last year that were pretty tight and pretty intense, emotions spill over and I have talked about that enough so I am just looking forward to the opportunity for us to turn up next Sunday night and play our way of football and Hawthorn just happens to be the opposition.”

HEAT TURNS UP ON HINKLEY AFTER PORT BLOW ANOTHER CHANCE

A star turn by Jason Horne-Francis wasn’t enough to save staggering Port Adelaide from a third defeat from four games, with Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and switched-on St Kilda stunning the Power to score a gutsy 17-point win on Sunday.

Trailing by 16 points at three-quarter time, the Power piled on the pressure with the first six inside 50s of the final term without finding a goal.

Ollie Lord and Mitch Georgiades made up for some poor kicking with the first two majors of the quarter to slash the margin to five points with just over eight minutes remaining and give the home fans hope.

But Jack Sinclair brilliantly scooped up a pass from Wanganeen-Milera and slammed through a goal running inside 50 and Lance Collard converted a set shot to help the surging Saints make it three wins in a row and condemn Ken Hinkley’s side to a 1-3 start to the season.

Mitch Georgiades nearly pulled down mark of the year. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images.

UNHAPPY HUNTING

Adelaide Oval is historically an unhappy hunting ground for the Saints, who had a 3-16 record at the ground and were coming off a five-game losing run at their hoodoo venue.

Ross Lyon’s men had never scored more than four goals in the first quarter at the ground, but they were switched on from the outset and piled on six majors against the sluggish Power.

With Wanganeen-Milera starring off halfback, St Kilda’s elite pressure forced Power players into costly skill errors and turnovers.

Jack Sinclair celebrates after kicking the sealer against Port Adelaide. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Horne-Francis slotted the first goal of the contest after a 50m penalty against Marcus Windhager put him on the goal line, but the visitors hit back with the next six, including two to Jack Higgins, to march to a 24-point lead at the first break.

Horne-Francis broke that run with his second, with the young star a rare winner for the home side in the first half.

He added a third in the shadows of halftime and had an equal team-high 15 possessions, four clearances and five score involvements, with his side trailing by 23 points at the main break despite a much-improved pressure rating.

BUTTERS BACK

Zak Butters burst back onto the scene in his first game of the season after recovering from a knee injury with 10 possessions in the first quarter and 15 touches in the first half, including five inside 50s.

The Power didn’t help the cause when the ball was inside 50 with some poor kicking for goal.

Sam Powell-Pepper and Georgiades missed shots they would usually snap up with glee, but the pair made amends in the third quarter as Port made its move.

Zak Butters returned for the Power. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images.

Powell-Pepper mowed down Zak Jones to earn a free kick that he duly converted and Georgiades, who nearly took mark of the year flying high onto the shoulders of Anthony Caminiti, slotted a set shot from a touch angle to bring the deficit back to 16 points at three-quarter time.

Originally published as AFL round 4 Port Adelaide v St Kilda: All the news, analysis and fallout from the Saints’ win over the Power