AFL: Gold Coast Suns reduced to spectators as Port Adelaide lays the smackdown
The AFL had banned spectators from attending matches due to concerns over the coronavirus, but that didn’t stop 18 of them turning up to watch Port Adelaide carry out a training drill at Metricon Stadium, Greg Davis writes.
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Spectators encroached on Metricon Stadium either side of the quarter-time break in the clash between Port Adelaide and the Gold Coast.
There were 18 of them. And they were all in red Suns jumpers.
These on-field ‘fans’ had a close-up view of the relentless Power setting up a comprehensive 10.16 (76) to 4.5 (29) victory in front of no crowd, due to the AFL’s ban on spectators because of the COVID-19 virus.
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Port played the final term with some walking wounded but were largely too big, too strong and too skilful for the Suns, who were powerless to stop the visitors, allowing them to kick six unanswered goals after Gold Coast forward Ben King booted the first major of the match.
The Power led by 19 points at quarter-time and extended their buffer to 40 by the main break after a five-goal blitz in the second term.
Turnovers and sloppy defence killed any momentum the Suns hoped to create.
Port dominated centre clearances (10-3), total clearances (24-12), contested possessions (73-63) and inside 50 entries (32-20) at halftime to emphatically stamp their authority on the contest.
Hamish Hartlett left the field in the third term with a quad injury and played no further part in the match, while Brad Ebert (knee) and Sam Powell-Pepper (shoulder) soldiered on in the last quarter.
After their two genuinely impressive outings in the pre-season, the Gold Coast fell back into bad habits to stumble to their 19th-straight loss in the AFL, while the ambitious Power will face much tougher challenges ahead — they have the talent to meet them head-on.
Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew did not sugar-coat the loss saying the Suns were “really disappointing” and were “very lucky” the final margin was not greater, given Port kicked 1.10 after halftime.
He also took aim at the club’s senior players for being shown up by debutants.
“First of all, I think we dodged a bullet margin-wise,’’ Dew said.
“Given where we’ve been playing and where we’ve been training, the space we’ve been in particularly with our contest work and our workrate…we don’t think that was a true reflection of the work we’ve put in and we have to wear that tonight.
“Some of our more senior players were not combative enough.
“We’ll have a look at that and make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“At different times, there were some passages where guys in their first game were putting their head over the ball and showing the way.
“But we are not going to win games of footy if we are relying on that.”
Rays of hope for the Gold Coast were the performances of their top two draft picks with Matt Rowell (19 disposals) and Noah Anderson (12 disposals) showing they are already up to AFL level, while Ben Ainsworth and defender Sam Collins were the best for the home side.
They just need some help from their teammates, who gave Port far too much time and space when they had the ball in hand.
The Suns started well enough and spent the opening salvos camped in their attacking half of the ground — but they were unable to hit targets until Touk Miller found King.
It was all the Power after that, with Travis Boak, Connor Rozee, Robbie Gray and Ebert among the best.
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Debutant Mitch Georgiades kicked the first goal for Port and Steve Motlop split the sticks soon after, Port easily winning two centre clearances and moved the Sherrin down the field like a training drill.
Todd Marshall and Ebert cashed in with goals for the rampant Power before the quarter-time siren mercifully sounded for the Suns.
It was an all-too-brief respite for the Gold Coast who crumbled under the defensive pressure from Port.
The Power marched on through Zak Butters and Marshall, before Sean Lemmens and co-captain David Swallow hit the scoreboard for the Suns.
Normal transmission resumed soon enough, with Motlop’s second goal and majors to the very slick Rozee and Hartlett completing the first-half rout.
With the destination of the four premiership points a foregone conclusion, the intensity and skill level dropped off in the scrappy and sometimes spiteful second half.
Port coach Ken Hinkley said his side built on their work in the Marsh Community Series when they beat both Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs.
“We played really good footy. We played really good footy through the pre-season and it was good for the boys to back it,” he said.
“I was really confident about what we’d done through the pre-season and the group have got quite a bit of belief in themselves the way they’ve gone about it.
“It was a pretty good performance, albeit our completion in the second half, we’ve got a bit to work on.”
Hinkley said Ebert’s knee will be assessed and monitored in the build-up to the Showdown next weekend while Hartlett was “more likely miss than play” due to his quad injury.
SCOREBOARD
GOLD COAST 1.1 3.2 4.5 4.5 (29)
def by
PORT ADELAIDE 4.2 9.6 9.9 10.16 (76)
GOALS
Suns: B Ainsworth B King D Swallow S Lemmens
Power: M Georgiades 2 S Motlop 2 T Marshall 2 B Ebert C Rozee H Hartlett Z Butters
GREG DAVIS’ BEST
Suns: Ainsworth, Collins, Miller, Greenwood, Rowell, Swallow
Power: Boak, Rozee, Gray, Motlop, Rockliff, Byrne-Jones
GREG DAVIS’ VOTES
3 — Travis Boak (PtA)
2 — Connor Rozee (PtA)
1 — Robbie Gray (PtA)
INJURIES
Suns: Nil
Power: Bonner (quad, replaced in selected side by Lienert), Hartlett (quad), Powell-Pepper (shoulder), Ebert (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Eleni Glouftsis, Andre Gianfagna.
Venue: Metricon Stadium.
Originally published as AFL: Gold Coast Suns reduced to spectators as Port Adelaide lays the smackdown