Port Adelaide v Richmond: Double 50m penalties from Josh Caddy, Dustin Martin prove costly for Tigers
He was absolutely fuming in the coaches’ box when Josh Caddy gave away a double 50m penalty, but Richmond coach Damien Hardwick had settled after the Tigers’ loss to Port Adelaide, calling on his charges to be more disciplined.
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Richmond might still be the champs, as Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley conceded on Friday, but we officially have a new contender.
Gavin Wanganeen once said finals-bound teams hunt the footy like a wild dog chasing a piece of meat and that’s where Port Adelaide’s intensity was at on Saturday as they confirmed their finals credentials with a 21-point win over the reigning premier Tigers.
The catalyst for the win was their unrelenting pressure. The Power laid 69 tackles, up on their average of 55, and combined with clearance and contested ball domination, was the foundation of their best win of the year.
Even when Richmond put its nose in front at three-quarter-time the Power went bang, bang, bang out of the middle to kick three goals which were a product of their pressure – and a costly double 50m penalty against Josh Caddy.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick could do little to hide his frustration in the coaches’ box, and was clearly seen yelling “Josh, get out the f***ing way” as Caddy ran in front of free-kick recipient Tom Rockliff rather than clearing the area.
The error gifted Rockliff the second 50m penalty and allowed him to slot the goal from the top of the goalsquare.
Dimma was not happy 🤬
— 7AFL (@7AFL) August 8, 2020
(via @afl)
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Power coach Ken Hinkley described his team’s performance to kick away in the final term as “resilient” and said he wasn’t fussed whether the footy world considered them the real deal or not.
“They’ve been challenged a number of times and tonight was another one against a great team, amazing team in Richmond off a four-day break, didn’t have their captain, a lot of credit has to go to the way they played,” Hinkley said.
“We were able to be dominant in the last quarter and maybe we got a reward for some of the work we’d put in for the first three quarters.
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“You asked me to describe the team? Resilient, playing four quarters of footy more often than not.
“We care about performance and being consistent, we haven’t always been able to say that, but I can sit up here now and talk about a pretty consistent team who play for each other.
“We’re 11 games in, we sit on top of the ladder, a game clear with the best percentage in the competition, it takes a lot to earn that and we’ve been able to keep at it.
“We haven’t played perfect footy all year but you get to see how you go for the whole season and we still have six to go, we’ve got to keep going, that’s the challenge to us as a club.”
The Power’s tackling was superb led by Sam Powell-Pepper, Ollie Wines, Tom Rockliff and Travis Boak and even big forwards Peter Ladhams and Mitch Georgiades got involved.
Georgiades hadn’t touched the footy 16 minutes into the second quarter when he chased down Derek Eggmolesse-Smith which resulted in a crucial goal to Robbie Gray.
And they were still going late in the game with Xavier Duursma’s desperate spoil and pack mentality around stoppages.
PORT ‘VERY, VERY GOOD’: HARDWICK
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick praised Mabior Chol’s focus to perform against the Power and said his team had discussed the team song behaviour but there was never any consideration to standing down Nick Vlastuin and Jayden Short.
“It was more about education, end of the day the guys made a mistake, they’re incredibly apologetic about it, Mabior took no offence, it doesn’t make the action right and we understand that and our players won’t do it again,” Hardwick said.
“We had some conversations about it, the look is really poor, the action is poor, and we’ll learn from it, and most importantly hopefully others learn from it as well.
“The guys do a fair bit of work on that (focus) and Mabior included.
“I thought he was terrific, once again he contributes really well, he’ll grow with the performance, he’s got some areas we’d still like him to get better in but he kicked a couple of goals and really dominant in that third (term).
“He’s got some signs and certainly AFL traits.”
Hardwick said his team was beaten convincingly at centre bounce and he explained his frustration at Josh Caddy’s double 50m penalty early in the final term.
“The 50m are disappointing, we ask our guys to play to the line and sometimes they’re going to step over it but they’ll address it as leaders,” he said.
“Free kicks against were always relatively poor and a lot of it is the way we play but we’ve got to tighten up a bit from a discipline point of view.
“That’s a disappointing one (Caddy), hopefully Josh learns from it, it was just poor.
“I thought we tried our hardest but centre bounce is so important here, we know it’s an easy ground to defend if you get the ball in your front half, and the weight of numbers told in the end.
“We were happy with our effort and intent, just our execution at centre bounce and getting the ball out of our back half, but I didn’t detect our energy levels (off a four-day break) went down, I thought they were very good, very, very good, Port.
“I can only go on what I’ve seen and I love the way they play, they attack the game, and I look at sides I’d pay money to watch, they’d be one of those sides.”
The Power’s tackling was superb led by Sam Powell-Pepper, Ollie Wines, Tom Rockliff and Travis Boak and even big forwards Peter Ladhams and Mitch Georgiades got involved.
Georgiades hadn’t touched the footy 16 minutes into the second quarter when he chased down Derek Eggmolesse-Smith which resulted in a crucial goal to Robbie Gray.
And they were still going late in the game with Xavier Duursma’s desperate spoil and pack mentality around stoppages.
TWO RUCKS
Are better than one. This was the first time the Power played Scott Lycett and Peter Ladhams in the same team and it won’t be the last.
Lycett started in the ruck and Ladhams deep forward as he kicked an outrageous snap with his left foot for the first goal of the game.
His follow-up work was again elite for a big man, catching Shai Bolton holding the ball which resulted in a goal to Robbie Gray and he took four contested marks.
With Charlie Dixon taking the hit-outs inside 50m, Ladhams and Lycett worked in tandem against Ivan Soldo and Mabior Chol in the middle and the Power won clearances 41-22.
Ladhams copped a stray knee to the head at a stoppage midway through the third quarter and went straight to the bench but returned to play out the game.
CHOL THE HERO – ALMOST
For all the off-field distractions like day spa Covid breaches and the unsavoury team song controversy, Richmond remains right in the hunt and for a while on Saturday the man in the headlines Mabior Chol looked like being the hero.
All eyes were on Chol after the Tigers publicly apologised for players touching him inappropriately during their team song.
He said he was fine and the way he played on Saturday backed that up. His first disposal came 11 minutes in when he came off the bench and into the ruck to win a clearance.
Then just before quarter time he beat one Power defender on the wing, beat a second, tapped it in front of himself to beat a third, took possession and handballed while being tackled to Jack Riewoldt who kicked a goal.
Chol then kicked two goals in a row – both from set shots – in the third quarter as Richmond went from 15 points down to one point up at the final break.
But without captain Trent Cotchin who was rested, the Tigers’ midfield was well beaten by the Power and they couldn’t finish the job.
DANGEROUS SMALLS
The Power has found another one. Boyd Woodcock was in the same draft year as Connor Rozee – who was a late withdrawal with a heel injury on Saturday – Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma and played in North Adelaide’s premiership with Rozee.
He had to wait for his chance but his last two games have shown he’s got what it takes. Smarts, poise, skills and a roving goal against Richmond on Saturday.
He has two pretty good role models in Robbie Gray and Zak Butters alongside him. Gray might have won the game against Carlton in Round 7 with freak skill but Saturday was the most complete game of his season while Butters had 19 disposals in a typically lively performance and his goal assist to Gray to start the final term was pure class.
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 4.4 8.6 10.11 13.15 (93)
RICHMOND 3.3 7.3 11.6 11.6 (72)
BEST
Port Adelaide: Wines, Boak, Gray, Ladhams, Jonas, Rockliff, Powell-Pepper, Butters. Richmond: Bolton, Vlastuin, Chol, McIntosh, Short.
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Gray 3, Ladhams, Dixon 2, Butters, Woodcock, Amon, Wines, Houston, Rockliff. Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Chol, Aarts 2, Lynch, Lambert, Martin, Stack.
At Adelaide Oval
VOTES
3: Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide)
2: Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
1: Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide)
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