Port Adelaide defeats North Melbourne as Travis Boak stars, but Zak Butters suspended for high hit

Port Adelaide will be without young gun Zak Butters for a fortnight after the MRO came down hard on his high bump that left North Melbourne’s Jy Simpkin concussed.

Liz Walsh and Matt Turner

7 min read

September 6, 2020 - 5:58PM

Travis Boak celebrates after a goal. Picture:Getty Images

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Port Adelaide young gun midfielder Zak Butters has been banned by the AFL’s Match Review Officer for two games for his high bump on North Melbourne’s Jy Simpkin.

Midfielder Simpkin was in possession of the ball in the third term of Saturday’s game when Butters came through with a solid bump that clipped his chin and left him concussed.

MRO determined the incident as careless conduct, high impact and high contact and classified as a two-match sanction.

Kangaroo Jy Simpkin staggers after being hit high by Zak Butters.

Simpkin lies on the Metricon Stadium grass after being concussed. Pictures: Michael Klein

Simpkin was ruled out of the game without even undergoing a concussion test, such was the startling impact of the bump, but Kangaroos coach Rhys Shaw said his midfielder was looking OK in the rooms after the game.

“I think the medical staff just saw the vision, and that was it,” Shaw said of the decision to not put the 22-year-old through a concussion test.

“He seems in good health now, but we’ll go through the proper process as normal.”

The report was a sour footnote to Port’s six-goal win over the Kangaroos at Metricon Stadium on Saturday and the Power now have until Monday afternoon to decide whether they will challenge the ban.

Jy Simpkin got cleaned up by Zak Butters. pic.twitter.com/87X4OAhrLp
— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 5, 2020

Coach Ken Hinkley addressed the Butters bump after the win saying: “As is always the case, it’s not my job to sit there and pass judgment on what was right or wrong.

“All I know is Zak’s a tiny little fellow who goes hard at the footy as best he possibly can, and fair, and you’ve seen not long after that (Jack) Ziebell goes running at him … he just plays it the same way all the time.”

Power assistant coach Michael Voss agreed with Hinkley’s evaluation of Butters saying: “We think he’s joined Ollie (Wines) and Sam Powell-Pepper as one of our ‘bash brothers’ … he’s only wiry, only small, he puts his body on the line we all cringe when he does because we think he’s going to be hurt.

“He has a passion for the contest and when you go at the ball really hard you’ve got to make split-second decisions … he’s putting himself in positions where he just wants to get at the ball and get at the opposition and we just love having him in our team because he brings so much energy.”

Butters celebrates his goal in the first quarter. Picture: Michael Klein

The 19-year-old Butters has been an important piece on the top-of-the-ladder Power’s puzzle all season, and in Saturday’s win over the Kangaroos he had 17 touches, took three marks, laid four tackles and had a goal assist to go along with the goal he kicked.

Meanwhile, defender Ryan Burton will have scans on his injured quad to determine whether he will be back for the start of Port’s finals campaign.

The Kangaroos clash was Burton’s second game back after an earlier quad injury that sidelined him for five weeks. A diagnosis isn’t expected until Tuesday.

IS THIS BEST CLUB SONG RENDITION OF 2020?

– Matt Turner

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is encouraging his top-of-the-table side to celebrate its victories after thumping a drum during its post-game song against North Melbourne.

As the victorious Power players entered the changerooms on Saturday night, development coach Tyson Goldsack started playing a drum he had brought to add “a bit more excitement”.

Skipper Tom Jonas carried the instrument into the circle and vice-captain Hamish Hartlett was tasked with playing it as clubmates sang the song.

“The game’s so hard to play and I’m sure everyone that supports us … enjoy when we have victory and it’s important the players enjoy victory,” Hinkley said after his side’s 12th win from 15 matches this year.

“As a footy club, we’ve been really strong to make sure we celebrate the right moments and I thought that was a moment tonight we should celebrate.

“Let’s hope we get to use it a lot through the next six weeks.”

Hinkley said the compressed season was making it difficult for all teams to play consistently, but his side was “going OK” and deserved top spot.

He was pleased with the performance against North in the first and third terms, before the team fatigued in the last.

“We didn’t have a great second quarter and were our own worst enemies ... but thought we were pretty strong right up until three-quarter time,” he said.

Hinkley did not want to judge Zak Butters’ bump that led to Jy Simpkin not finishing the game, saying only “he’s a tiny little fella who goes hard at the footy as best he possibly can – and fair”.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is a happy man at the moment, with his side flying in 2020. Picture: Sarah Reed

The eighth-year coach said Dan Houston was strong in his return from his two-game suspension for breaching return-to-play protocols.

But Hinkley stopped short of guaranteeing Peter Ladhams would come straight back into the side from his three-match ban against Essendon next Saturday.

“We won’t make any commitmemts now but we like the idea of having a tall in the front half if we can and that’s certainly an option for us with Pete and Westy (Justin Westhoff) was out of the team this week, so we’ll work through that,” he said.

Hinkley said it was too early to know how long Ryan Burton would again be sidelined with a quad injury.

SHAW PLEASED WITH ROOS’ RESPONSE

North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw was pleased with his players’ response to last week’s 63-point shellacking by Gold Coast, saying they competed hard for most of the match.

“There was obviously a period in the third quarter where they … blew us away a little bit but the fight to come back (was great),” Shaw said.

“It was obviously a tough week, but we put that behind us pretty quickly and we wanted to make sure we were really focused on Port as early as we possibly could.

“We played the type of footy we know we can play.

“It’s still disappointing because we want to win every game ... but there’s some good signs there for us to build on.”

Luke Davies-Uniacke gave Kangaroos fans something to smile about.

Two of North’s most impressive performers were youngsters Luke Davies-Uniacke and Ben McKay.

Shaw said Davies-Uniacke was gaining more confidence every game, while McKay was excited to be given the job on Charlie Dixon and he nullified the Port spearhead.

“He’s starting to take some big scalps now,” he said of McKay.

Jared Polec returned from being dropped since last playing in Round 11 and Shaw said the wingman did a “reasonable job”.

“It was just a coach expecting more from his player, that’s why he got dropped and he worked hard and got back into the side,” he said.

The first-year coach said Jy Simpkin seemed in good health but would need to go through the proper concussion tests before the next game.

BOAK SPARKS POWER

After consecutive arm-wrestles against a pair of struggling sides, Port Adelaide has found a bit more of its mojo and moved closer to cementing a top-two spot thanks to a 36-point win over North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

The game between the ladder leaders and second-bottom was tight at halftime and the Power were goalless during the second term, as North restricted their space and looked like making a contest of it.

But a five-goal burst in the third quarter pushed the lead out to 46 points and there was no way back from there for the Kangaroos.

Kangaroos coach Rhyce Shaw called for a response from the team’s humiliating 63-point loss to Gold Coast last week and there were promising signs, including the displays of youngsters Luke Davies-Uniacke and Ben McKay.

It just did not have enough firepower.

Travis Boak hunts the footy with Cam Zurhaar hot on his tail. Picture: Michael Klein

Port dominated the clearances 38-24 and finished with 70 more possessions, as Travis Boak starred but a host of other players impressed.

The Power moves to a 12-3 record ahead of games against top-eight contenders Essendon and Collingwood that will ultimately determine whether it will start the finals at home or on the road.

MORE BOAK BRILLIANCE

Lachie Neale is a warm favourite to win the Brownlow Medal but Travis Boak is sure to be in contention.

The former Power captain put in another outstanding performance, registering a game-high 34 disposals and nine clearances, as well as a goal.

It was the third time this season he’d had more than 30 possessions and you should expect him to get three votes from this match on Brownlow night.

RISING STAR

Luke Davies-Uniacke is continuing his emergence as a footballer, finishing as North’s best player with 23 disposals.

He was able to win his own ball and impress through the midfield, where he battled hard to even the lopsided clearance ledger.

Davies-Uniacke is starting to show why North took him at pick No. 4 in the 2017 national draft.

DIXON V MCKAY

Youngster Ben McKay won his battle against Power spearhead Charlie Dixon, in an encouraging sign for the Kangaroos.

Dixon kicked Port’s first major of the game after getting isolated one-on-one in the goalsquare nine minutes in, but the fifth-year defender battled hard to restrict him to just one more for the night.

McKay finished with four marks while restricting his opponent to two.

Shaw could have gone with the experienced Robbie Tarrant on Dixon but it ended up being more than just a learning experience for McKay, the match-up was a win for the Roos.