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‘Absolute nightmare’: Footy stunned as Giants run rampant

Football has been stunned by an ‘absolute nightmare’ as the Giants ran over Port Adelaide in a massive upset victory.

Daanyal SaeedDaanyal Saeed
@daanysaeed
5 min read
September 17, 2023 - 8:34AM
The Giants are into the prelim. Photo by Phil Hillyard
The Giants are into the prelim. Photo by Phil Hillyard

Port Adelaide have been stunned by a rampant Toby Greene and co as the Greater Western Sydney Giants surged to their fourth ever preliminary final.

The Power’s season has come to a heartbreaking end on home soil, going down 13.15 (93) to 9.16 (70) as they struggled to get their midfield going.

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The Giants were hoping to survive an early onslaught from Port but did better than that as Green got the Giants off to a strong start as they matched it with the Power.

Greene kicked two goals and very nearly kicking a third in the first quarter as he took the Giants on his back.

One fan on social media was astonished at Greene’s performance.

“Toby Greene is just too good,” the fan wrote. “Absolute nightmare for defenders.”

Greene finished with three goals for the match. Photo by Phil Hillyard
Greene finished with three goals for the match. Photo by Phil Hillyard

In the second, the rampant Giants sliced Port open with their irresistible ball movement and piled on five unanswered goals, two of them to Hogan, in a devastating 10-minute period.

Such was the dominance of GWS that 23 minutes into the second quarter the top five possession winners on the ground were Giants, with Drew the only Power player in double figures.

At half-time, eight of the top 10 possession-getters, led by Coniglio with 22, wore Giant orange, with Adam Kingsley’s side amassing 78 more disposals in the first half and 17 more clearances.

Zak Butters, Connor Rozee, so often the prime movers of the Power midfield, were restricted to seven and nine touches respectively, with Ollie Wines managing five.

The only blot on the Giants’ copybook was their kicking at goal, with six behinds in succession following their five-goal burst setting up a 29-point half-time lead that should’ve been larger.

While the Power took chucks out of the lead, they never really challenged as the Giants moved a win away from the Grand Final.

The Giants are into the prelim. Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Giants are into the prelim. Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Giants dominated with Lachie Whitfield (33 disposals), Stephen Coniglio (30 disposals, two goals and a behind) and Tom Green (29 disposals) led the way.

The Giants now set up a mouthwatering penultimate clash on Friday September 22 at 7.50pm at the MCG with Collingwood, while Carlton play Brisbane at The Gabba at 5.15pm the next day.

10.20pm - Giants win, through to preliminary final

The best team song in sport has rung out at the Adelaide Oval as the final siren sounds on a massive win for the Greater Western Sydney Giants, getting up over Port Adelaide 9.16 (70) to 13.15 (93).

Toby Greene starred with 15 disposals and three goals, and said the Giants came into the clash high on confidence.

“We were full of confidence, we knew if we played our best footy, we were going to be hard to beat,” Greene said.

“We’re so happy to be in the prelim.

“It’s a special group, from the youngest to the oldest, we have so much faith that they’ll play their role.

“The last two weeks have been so much fun - it feels like we’re back home at the ‘G next week!”

10.10pm - There’s a big, big sound!

That sound you hear? That’s the big, big sound from the west of the town.

As soon as we could speculate on a Power comeback, Toby Greene slots one around the corner for his third goal to put the game completely out of reach and almost certainly send the orange team into their fourth ever preliminary final.

“Who would have predicted a Giants-Collingwood and Brisbane-Carlton preliminary final at the start of the season?”, asked a commentator.

10pm - Power muster hints of a comeback

Port Adelaide have refused to go down without a fight in front of their home crowd, rallying behind a goal from Charlie Dixon at the start of the fourth quarter to keep them in the hunt.

The Giants have kicked poorly through the second half, and have struggled to put the the game to bed.

9pm - Giants lead “shellshocked” Port Adelaide

The Giants head into the main break leading Port Adelaide 5.6 (36) to 9.11 (65), with the Adelaide Oval crowd described as “shellshocked” on Fox Footy.

Stephen Coniglio has stood up in a captain’s knock for the Giants, racking up a game-high 22 disposals and 388 metres gained, alongside eight score involvements.

Fox Footy’s David King described Coniglio, returning from injury, as “the best player out on the ground”.

Meanwhile, Mark Ricciuto was disappointed in Port Adelaide, calling them overly reliant on midfield stars Connor Rozee and Zak Butters.

“They’ve been reliant on Connor Rozee and Zak Butters all season and today it’s caught up with them,” Ricciuto said from the sideline.

“Eight of the 10 top disposal winners are from GWS and if you win that much ball you’re going to have a day out.

“Port Adelaide are going to have to lift big time.”

Port Adelaide legend Kane Cornes expressed his pain on social media with a meme of himself, captioned: “Just me watching Port lose another clearance and miss another tackle.”

8.10pm - Toby Greene an “absolute nightmare”

Toby Greene has led from the front for the orange team, kicking two goals and very nearly kicking a third as the Giants pick him out time and time again.

GWS’ calmness in the clearance has been outstanding, with Kieran Briggs finding his midfielders with aplomb, while they continue to run in waves in what has been described as a “tsunami” on commentary.

One fan on social media was astonished at Greene’s performance.

“Toby Greene is just too good,” the fan wrote.

“Absolute nightmare for defenders.”

7.30pm - Barassi farewelled in emotional tribute

Ron Barassi, who passed away ahead of the semifinal, has been paid tribute to with a moment’s silence at the Adelaide Oval.

MC Mark Soderstrom described Barassi as the “one of the best of the best” as a packed stadium fell completely silent.

“We salute a legend - Ronald Dale Barassi,” Soderstrom said.

“One of the greatest names in the history of Australian Rules football.”

7pm – Finlayson dropped amid cancer battle

Port Adelaide have dropped Jeremy Finlayson, shortly after the star admitted his wife Kellie’s battle with terminal cancer had “taken its toll” on his form.

Kellie’s cancer battle has rocked the AFL throughout the season after she revealed that she was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer just months after finishing her treatment for bowel cancer, which had emerged shortly after the birth of their first child Sophia in August 2021.

Finlayson admitted his wife's battle had "taken its toll" on 7’s Morning Show. Photo: Channel 7
Finlayson admitted his wife's battle had "taken its toll" on 7’s Morning Show. Photo: Channel 7

Yet despite the turmoil in his personal life, Jeremy has had his best season since he moved to Port Adelaide from the Giants in 2022, and best season since he kicked 44 goals in 23 games in 2019.

But after kicking 32 goals in his first 14 games, he has added just six goals in his last seven games in an alarming drop in form.

It sees Finlayson make way for the returning Charlie Dixon after he had 0.1 and six disposals against the Lions.

6pm – Snake in the grass causes bizarre delay

A snake sighting caused a significant delay earlier this afternoon to the AFLW clash between the Giants and Richmond at Blacktown International Sportspark in Sydney.

The game was held up by what was believed to be a red-bellied black snake, which is highly venomous with a potentially fatal bite.

Play was paused for almost half an hour as a snake catcher was employed, making short work of removing the reptile.

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Originally published as ‘Absolute nightmare’: Footy stunned as Giants run rampant

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/jeremy-finlayson-dropped-for-blockbuster-clash-amid-wifes-cancer-battle/news-story/9850bca12620df07b61cfe80a4cc2d47