AFL 2023 Port Adelaide v Brisbane Lions: Jason Horne-Francis arrives in style
After missing North Melbourne’s game in Adelaide in 2022, Jason Horne-Francis finally had his moment in the sun, showing why the Power gave up so much to secure him.
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Finally Jason Horne-Francis got his moment in the Adelaide Oval change rooms.
Eyebrows were raised when North Melbourne dropped the No. 1 draft pick last year for what would have been his first match in Adelaide in front of family and friends.
Over six months and a highly publicised move to Port Adelaide later Horne-Francis was there in the Adelaide Oval change rooms with family and friends.
And the smile couldn’t be wiped off his face and it would be the same for Power fans as they reflect on what was a stunning debut by their new young star.
There have been plenty of pressure on Horne-Francis since his publicised move from the Kangaroos after just one season at North Melbourne.
But he has shown he can walk the walk with a starring role in a huge victory for the Power over Brisbane.
Horne-Francis finished with 25 touches, seven clearances, 11 score involvements, 10 inside 50s and one goal that sent the Adelaide Oval crowd into raptures.
“You can see why pretty much every team would mortgage the farm to get him,” the Power’s 2004 premiership captain Warren Tredrea said on FIVEaa.
“That kid is something special.”
It was a near perfect start for Horne-Francis.
After being presented with his guernsey by dad Fabian, who played for the Power in their inaugural AFL team, Horne-Francis lined up at the first centre bounce for Port and got some early touches of the footy.
His first goal for his new club soon followed, as Horne-Francis shrugged off a tackle from Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale en route.
“This is as good a start as you could have at a new club,” Melbourne champion Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy.
“He’s got his hands in it at centre bounce then pushes forward and kicks a goal on the Brownlow Medallist (Lachie Neale).
Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown declared that Horne-Francis looked like a “200-gamer” automatically.
But the best was to come.
The second quarter was a quiet one for Horne-Francis as the Lions got back into the game and on top of the Power.
But once the second half started, Adelaide Oval was treated to the competitive beast that is Horne-Francis.
Again and again Horne-Francis would race out of the middle with the ball as the Power went on a dominant 8-0 run in clearances and 5-0 in centre clearances that resulted in them quickly reeling in Brisbane’s 12-point lead and then blowing the Lions out of the water.
On one burst he gave Neale a don’t argue that Dustin Martin would have been proud of.
“The thing is with this young man, the talk and hype and conversations in the footy world were so strong and we know what happened last year for whatever reason, playing for a side down the bottom,” Lyon said.
“To sit here and watch this and get a glimpse, you realise what everyone was getting so excited about. It’s been a rare, and polished and imposing display this (third) quarter.”
Horne-Francis had 10 disposals, three clearances and five inside 50s as the Power piled on eight goals to one in the third quarter.
Power senior coach Ken Hinkley said he didn’t learn “too much” about Horne-Francis despite the stunning debut.
“He is a really solid player for us and a really solid person,” Hinkley said.
“He is home and he is happy and those are the things that help make you a good footballer.
“He is 19, he has a long way to go. He will make mistakes and he will have days where he isn’t quite as good as he was today.
“But he and his family should be mighty proud that he is home.”
The player who Horne-Francis gets compared to, with his socks pulled up and guernsey tucked into his shorts, Nathan Buckley has said that Hinkley was an ideal coach for him at this point of his career.
Hinkley said past experiences the Power have had will help Horne-Francis.
“Jase is just a competitive person and he just wants to play well whenever he plays football,” he said.
“Like any good young player and we have had that with Connor and Zak and Xavier coming through any of those good young players they can get a bit lost at times when they can’t perform like they want.
“They are in the big league, they are top of the pops now and it is not always going to go great for you.”
Back in the Power’s rooms, Horne-Francis lapped it up with his family and friends following a club song sung with a lot of gusto.
In a video for the club’s website he spoke of how he had never felt anything like when the crowd was getting behind the Power in the third quarter.
“It was the best feeling ever,” he said.
If he continues to produce what he did against the Lions then he will be feeling that again, that is for sure.
BIG EFFORT FROM THE BIG MAN
While it was Horne-Francis who electrified Adelaide Oval in the third quarter, the power surge came from Scott Lycett.
After a second quarter that had many thinking it was the same Port Adelaide, Tredrea declared that his former club needed to show intent upon the resumption of the game.
“Port Adelaide has talked a big game for a long time,” he said at half time.
“Ken Hinkley said here at their season launch at Adelaide Oval that I’ve never had such a good list. Now it is time to show it.
“People are sick of the talk, they want to see action. Particularly of this club.”
From the opening bounce of the third quarter, Lycett provided the action that Tredrea wanted to see.
Josh Dunkley looked to get the first clearance of the quarter and set the Lions on their way for another attack but Lycett quickly wrapped the Brisbane star up and won a free kick.
He quickly gave it to the onrushing Ryan Burton, who then found Todd Marshall for a quick goal and the Power started the quarter on fire.
At the next ball-up he then chased down Hugh McCluggage and won the ball, sending it forward and eventually into the path of Horne-Francis.
The Power began to dominate the Lions and at the heart of it was winning the stoppages.
“We said they had to get their knees dirty and have a crack and they have done that,” Tredrea said.
“It started in the middle of the ground, Lycett has been huge.”
After the game Lycett said it was all about just lifting for the contest, although he didn’t know his first effort of the third quarter would set the tone.
“I just think we went harder at the contest and embraced the contest and from there we celebrated our wins and it snowballed and it was awesome,” he said.
“I’m glad it went like that but I didn’t expect it, it was my first game in almost 12 months so I’m still building match fitness and still building what it is to run out an AFL game because I was pretty cooked at the end.”
The Power came into Round 1 on the back of two losses in pre-season.
But Lycett said they were always confident they could produce what they ended up dishing out to the Lions.
“We knew we could play that way, we’ve trained it all pre-season and we probably just didn’t get a few things right in the practice games but the way we trained we knew a result like this was coming,” he said.
It now gives the Power a good platform to attack what was considered to be an extremely tough start to the season.
“The whole club is in a really good spot, all the boys are loving the coaches and what they are doing for us, the training and everyone is just loving coming into the club so we are in a good spot,” he said.
“It is a good place to start.”
While he has been the number one ruck for the past three games, Lycett was on the weaker side when the Power had their internal trial in pre-season.
Brynn Teakle was instead on the stronger side, which Lycett revealed came down in part to him missing some training sessions after 2022 in which he only played four games.
“That was basically because I had missed a couple of sessions and he hadn’t missed one so he earned that,” he said.
“But I knew that once we got to practice games I would do my thing, I’ve got more experience than him but he has a lot of potential so hopefully I can help him and one day he can take over.”
JHF MASTERCLASS POWERS PORT TO DEMOLITION JOB ON LIONS
– Jason Phelan
Resurgent Port Adelaide emphatically exorcised the demons of last season’s early struggles on Saturday, with Jason Horne-Francis leading the charge as the Power put the desperately disappointing Brisbane Lions to the sword in the second half at Adelaide Oval.
Alarm bells were ringing late in the first half when Ken Hinkley’s men trailed by three goals, but Port’s young midfield brigade flipped the script after the break, the home side blowing the visitors away with 13 goals to three to romp to an 18.18 (126) to 11.6 (72) demolition.
Horne-Francis showed exactly why the Power went so hard for him in the trade period, the young star combining with Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Ollie Wines to soundly beat the Lions’ much-vaunted midfield unit after the main break.
Junior Rioli looks just the tonic for a forward line that has struggled to make the most of its scoring opportunities at times, the former West Coast wizard weaving his magic with three goals, with Todd Marshall opening his account with four.
Aliir Aliir was back to his intercepting best in a backline that was supposed to be too short to deal with Brisbane’s tall timber.
SOUND THE HORN
Horne-Francis couldn’t have dreamt up a better start to life as a Port Adelaide player.
The former No. 1 pick started in the centre square, matched up on Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale no less, and he won a clearance with the first possession of the match.
The young star had two handballs in 15 seconds and was mobbed by teammates four minutes later after he won another clearance, wove through traffic and banged home a superb goal on the 50m arc.
He was still on three disposals at the first break, but the 19-year-old helped spark the Power, who threw off indifferent practice match form with an opening blitz that had the Lions on the back foot.
Horne-Francis helped spark his side in the second half and finished with 10 inside 50s and seven clearances to go with his 25 possessions.
CHARLIES DOUBLES UP
Daniel Rich booted the first goal of the second quarter after an aggrieved Charlie Dixon gave away back-to-back 50m penalties, with Hinkley none too pleased.
“We gave up a selfish goal on double fifties,” Hinkley told Fox Footy at halftime.
The Lions roared to life, kicking seven of eight goals scored at one stage, including a fine effort from father-son young gun Will Ashcroft, who showed courage to gather and snap as Darcy Byrne-Jones missed with his attempted bump.
The home fans felt Dixon’s pain with the officiating, with Port on the wrong side of a lopsided 21-5 free kick count at halftime.
JUNIOR JUMPS UP
Rioli enjoyed a fine first game for his new club and he got a sympathetic call from the umpires when his spectacular leap onto Harris Andrews’ shoulders in the second term was whistled a mark.
Rioli held the ball for about the same time as Gary Ablett Sr did with his famous mark of the century, but the crowd didn’t care.
With his set shot at the edge of his range, Rioli shaped to go right then baulked around Jarrod Berry on the mark to boot his second goal.
Despite Rioli’s impact it looked like more of the same from the Power, who struggled to capitalise on their midfield dominance last year.
Port had 47 more possessions and three more inside 50s at halftime, but trailed by two goals.
Thankfully for home fans, the Power’s adjustments during the main break turned the game on its head.
FLAGGING LIONS
As good as the Power was, the Lions were equally poor for a team that has premiership aspirations.
Rich fought valiantly as did Josh Dunkley in his first game for the club, but many of their teammates won’t be looking forward to Monday’s review.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 3.5 5.9 12.12 18.18 (126)
LIONS 2.1 8.3 9.5 11.6 (72)
PHELAN’S BEST
POWER: Horne-Francis, Rioli, Aliir, Butters, Wines, Rozee, Lycett, Marshall.
LIONS: Rich, Dunkley, Neale, McKenna.
GOALS
POWER: Marshall 4, Rioli 3, Dixon 3, Jones 3, Powell-Pepper, Horne-Francis, Georgiades, Wines, Rozee.
LIONS: Bailey 2, Gunston 2, Rich, McKenna, McInerney, McCarthy, Hipwood, Daniher, Ashcroft.
INJURIES
POWER: Nil.
LIONS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Nick Foot, Matt Stevic, John Howorth, Broadbent.
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR- JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Horne-Francis (Port)
2 Rioli (Port)
1 Aliir (Port)
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