Game by game: Does Port Adelaide have a path to the 2021 AFL premiership?
Port Adelaide finished just short of a grand final berth in 2020. But is the Power’s run to the flag easier next season?
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What can we expect from Port Adelaide in 2021 given the draw it has been handed?
The Power is coming off a 14-3 campaign and a preliminary final exit.
Can it have another premiership tilt or is it set to slide?
The Advertiser has assessed each of the club’s matches for next season following the release of the AFL fixture and predicted where it will finish.
GAMES PORT ADELAIDE IS EXPECTED TO WIN?
North Melbourne away (Round 1), Essendon home (Round 2), Carlton away (Round 5), Adelaide home (Round 8), Fremantle home (Round 11), Gold Coast away (Round 14), Sydney home (Round 15), Hawthorn away (Round 16), Melbourne home (Round 17), Collingwood home (Round 19), GWS away (Round 20), Adelaide away (Round 21), Carlton home (Round 22)
There are no certainties in the AFL but after losing just three minor-round games this year on its way to a preliminary final, Port Adelaide will be hoping to notch victories in these 13 matches. Carlton away and Collingwood at home loom as the most droppable clashes.
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THE 50/50 MATCHES?
St Kilda home (Round 6), Western Bulldogs home (Round 9), Collingwood away (Round 10), Geelong home (Round 13), Western Bulldogs away (Round 23)
St Kilda is coming off a win over the Power at Adelaide Oval this season, while Geelong has a 3-3 record against Ken Hinkley’s side at the city ground, so both will enter their games with confidence. Port Adelaide boasts a 6-5 record against the Magpies at the MCG but its most recent result against them there is a 51-point loss in 2018. The Bulldogs are dangerous at home or on the road and will fondly recall their 25-point win in the wet at Adelaide Oval last year.
MATCHES THAT COULD FALL THE WRONG WAY?
West Coast away (Round 3), Richmond home (Round 4), Brisbane away (Round 7),
St Kilda away (Round 18)
Playing the Eagles in Perth is never easy and they will be expecting to bounce back after an average season and first-round finals exit. The Power will be hoping to make it consecutive wins at the new WA ground. The Tigers’ six-point preliminary final loss will still sting at Alberton, while Brisbane has won its past three against the Power, including two at the Gabba. St Kilda is expected to be a top-four contender next season and Port Adelaide has lost four of its past six matches at Marvel against all opposition, so the Saints will fancy themselves in that one.
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MATCHES YOU MUST PENCIL INTO THE DIARY?
Adelaide home (Round 8), Richmond home (Round 4), Geelong home (Round 13) Collingwood home (Round 19), Adelaide away (Round 21)
No matter where the sides are on the ladder, Showdowns remain among the best rivalries in the league and are always prone to upsets, so the Crows will be hoping to win one of their two meetings next year. Richmond and Geelong will bring back 2020 finals memories – both bad and good – for Power fans. Collingwood at home will be a chance for Port Adelaide supporters to don the club’s traditional prison-bar guernsey in a game that may have serious finals implications for both sides.
MATCHES WORTH A PLANE TICKET?
West Coast away (Round 3), Carlton away (Round 5), Brisbane away (Round 7), Collingwood away (Round 10)
All four of these matches should be tense contests, worthy of an interstate trip. The new Perth stadium is a modern cauldron for spectators. The last Power-Blues game away from Adelaide Oval ended with a winning goal after the siren. Port Adelaide fans who want to see their side face another premiership contender – or those supporters with a penchant for early-2000s rivalries – need to consider going to the Gabba for the clash with the Lions. Collingwood at the MCG is always a big game for the Power.
PREDICTED WIN/LOSS RATIO FOR THE SEASON?
15-7
Port Adelaide will be hoping for better than that but it is hard to compare playing teams in Queensland hubs to on their home decks. A dicier run with injuries could also jeopardise the Power’s chances of a 17-5 or 18-4 finish, but their stability, improvement via the trade and draft periods, and desperation to make a grand final with this group should get them to 15 wins.
OUR CONCLUSION
The Power will obviously be aiming for a top-two finish so it can earn two home finals again. With a 15-7 record, the club would likely have to settle for between third and fifth.
SUMMARY OF PORT ADELAIDE’S SEASON AHEAD
Port Adelaide fans will be marking one date in their 2021 calendars: April 9.
It’s when 2020’s minor premiers, Port, will be looking for revenge for its preliminary final defeat at the hands of Richmond, when they take on the Tigers in Round 4, at Adelaide Oval in a blockbuster Friday night game.
It’s one of a number of marquee games handed to the Power by the AFL in the opening six rounds of the 2021 season, including a night game against St Kilda at home on Anzac Day.
Meanwhile, the Power’s new recruit, Orazio Fantasia has learnt he won’t have to wait long to face his old side, with the Port to take on Essendon at Adelaide Oval in Round 2, on March 27.
As the AFL revealed its entire 2021 fixture – but the times and dates locked in only for the first six rounds – Port Adelaide’s chief executive Matthew Richardson said the club was happy with what lay ahead.
“To have the first six rounds locked in, with a really good mix for our members with some great games at Adelaide Oval, Round 2 against Essendon on a Saturday night, into Richmond on a Friday night will be huge,” he said.
“Our No. 1 request each year, is generally ANZAC Day, it’s a really important game culturally for our football club and to be able to play St Kilda on ANZAC Day is an enormous privilege not only for our football club, but for a lot of South Australians … it will be an amazing occasion.”
But the AFL has not scheduled a game for the Power in China, after this year’s game was cancelled, but Richardson said this did not derail the club’s interest in the region.
“It’s common sense with everything going on, we appreciate and fully understand the AFL’s decision on it,” he said.
“As we’ve said consistently, the China strategy for us is not reliant on playing a game, we’ve got some strong partnerships there still and play will maintain those and at some point in the future the opportunity (to play in China) might come again.”
The biggest games on the SA AFL calendar – the Showdowns – will take place in Round 8 (Port at home) and Round 21 (away).
Richardson said Port would ask the AFL for the right to wear its historic Prison Bars jumper in Round 8.
“Anything we can be doing to strengthen the connection that our members and supporters have with their clubs, we should be doing and that’s what the Prison Bars are all about, it’s our people’s guernsey,” he said
Among Port’s other big matches, it will host Collingwood in Round 19 (commencing July 23) and end its minor rounds at Marvel Stadium against the Western Bulldogs.
Port will travel to Perth once, twice to Queensland, once to Canberra and six times to Melbourne, including two games at the MCG and will play St Kilda, Collingwood, Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Adelaide twice.
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