Port Adelaide dealt huge finals blow by a resurgent Sydney in Round 15
After two gritty victories kept them within arm’s length of the top eight, Port looked very much like a side that was 6-8, with Ken Hinkley’s final year appearing to be heading nowhere good.
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Port Adelaide’s problems resurfaced against Sydney in a performance that provided more evidence why the Power is unlikely to play finals.
Scoring woes. Cheap turnovers under pressure. Well beaten in contested possessions.
They were among the key issues – again – during the 19-point home loss to the Swans on Saturday.
After two consecutive, gritty victories that kept it within arm’s length of the top eight, Port looked very much like a side that was 6-8, in 12th place, battling to keep its season alive.
Last week, the Power lost inside 50s by six, clearances by five and contested possessions by 27, but its transition game appeared to be back as it moved the ball swiftly and was efficient going forward.
On Saturday, Port entered its attacking 50 just 35 times – its lowest inside-50 count in a full-length game since round 20, 2017 (quarters were shortened in 2020 due to Covid).
The 19-point margin flattered the Power as Sydney booted 9.17 from 31 shots.
Expected score differential was 45.1.
First quarters have been solid for Port this year – it had won eight of 13 before the match – but the opening term was where the problems started on Saturday.
If not for Sydney (1.6 from 15 inside 50s) butchering opportunities, the Power (0.2 from seven) could have been belted early.
“We were a bit off, mainly around our contest,” Port Adelaide leadership group member Sam Powell-Pepper told this masthead.
“They were up for the fight in those early stages and we probably didn’t show up in that first quarter.
“We slowly clawed our way back, but it was a pretty poor performance.”
Port, which scored 7.10 (52), has now been held to fewer than 70 points in half of its matches this year (seven of 14).
The Power’s potency has fallen away badly from last season when it ranked third in the league for shots per game and fourth for inside 50s.
This year, it is 13th for shots, 12th for inside 50 average and 15th for goals per game.
Mitch Georgiades has carried a heavy burden as a taller option after long-term injuries to Jack Lukosius (two games) and Todd Marshall (zero), as well as Charlie Dixon’s retirement.
Georgiades was fourth in the Coleman Medal race post-game with 33 majors.
He was also leading the league in marks inside 50s with 47 – eight clear of second-placed Geelong spearhead Jeremy Cameron.
A week after beating Melbourne fielding two rucks to combat Max Gawn, Port’s big men were exposed by Brodie Grundy.
Grundy had double the disposals (22 to 10), marks (eight to three), clearances (six to three) and inside 50s (three to one) of Power pairing Dante Visentini and Jordon Sweet.
Aside from a couple of passages from Visentini, including a nice contested mark, Port’s big men did little in attack to make up for Grundy’s dominance around the field or justify playing a second ruckmen over another key forward.
Jeremy Finlayson would have been in the 23 if his form warranted.
Instead, he started as the substitute and replaced Sweet during the third term.
Finlayson has kicked five goals from eight games (three matches as the sub, one playing as a defender).
He teased with 3.2 in the Showdown, only to be subbed off and dropped after a poor performance against GWS three weeks later.
Finlayson, 29, only played on Saturday as a late replacement for ill first-year goalsneak/half-back Joe Berry.
Port’s other experienced, available key forward, Ollie Lord is searching for form in the SANFL.
The 23-year-old kicked 7.5 from his first four games this season, then was axed after going scoreless across his next four matches.
Lord has slotted three and two majors the past fortnight in the state league to push his case for a recall, although the Magpies have a bye this weekend.
Port coach Ken Hinkley said the team was constantly looking at its forward options.
“We’ve at times thought about Esava (Ratugolea) but he’s been so good for us down the other end,” Hinkley said.
“We’ve been pretty creative with lots of things we’ve done.
“We put two rucks out there today, which obviously didn’t work and Grundy was enormous.”
Marshall is out for the season.
The Power is hopeful Lukosius will return via the SANFL next weekend after being sidelined since round 2.
Port would have loved them against the Swans, but countless fumbles and skill errors up the ground would have blunted any key forwards’ influence.
The Power had 57 turnovers to Sydney’s 43.
Defender Ryan Burton had some howlers, including a goal directly from a kick-in, while Ratugolea coughed up a handball in the goalsquare for the Swans’ opener.
Hinkley praised Sydney’s pressure, saying his side’s basic turnovers came from “what the game is making you feel out there”.
He said the Swans also stopped Port from taking territory and being “a bit slow” moving the ball.
Sydney’s pressure was a clear focus for coach Dean Cox, who said post-match: “Over 80 per cent of the quarters where sides beat them in is when the pressure is over a certain number”.
As for the contested possession count (-24 on Saturday), the Power has only won it three times this year.
Port lost the statistic by 46 to the Swans at the SCG in round 6 yet prevailed by eight points.
An undersized forward line and a league-worst free kick differential hurt the Power’s contested possessions numbers, though sometimes it points to a willingness to crack in.
“It’s disappointing to lose (the match) today but we’ve been playing such good footy since the bye,” Powell-Pepper said.
“One game isn’t going to turn that.
“We know the way we want to play, but it needs the whole team, not just a few.”
While Port Adelaide will keep believing it is capable of making the finals, it remains two wins and a large chunk of percentage adrift with nine games left.
Hinkley said midweek that his side desperately needed a run to get there.
It won six in a row last season and 13 the previous campaign.
The Power’s most so far this year is three.
Sydney made the finals after a 5-8 start in 2023, winning seven and drawing one of its remaining 10 matches.
Given the difficulty of Port’s remaining draw, highlighted by daunting road trips against Brisbane, Geelong and Hawthorn, defeat at home to Carlton on Thursday night probably ends any realistic possibility of the Power doing the same.
Scoreboard
POWER 0.2 2.4 4.6 7.10 (52)
SWANS 1.6 4.10 5.16 9.17 (71)
PHELAN’S BEST POWER: Butters, Powell-Pepper, Rozee, Burgoyne, Richards. SWANS: Heeney, Mills, Blakey, Grundy, Hayward, McInerney, Warner, Roberts.
GOALS POWER: Rioli, Richards, Powell-Pepper, Horne-Francis, Georgiades, Butters, Byrne-Jones. SWANS: Hayward 3, Heeney 2, McLean, McInerney, Campbell, Blakey.
INJURIES POWER: Berry (illness – late withdrawal). SWANS: Nil.
UMPIRES Foot, Fischer, Broadbent, Dore
33,576 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Heeney (Syd)
2 Mills (Syd)
1 Butters (Port)
Originally published as Port Adelaide dealt huge finals blow by a resurgent Sydney in Round 15
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