AFL Round 11 Fremantle v Port Adelaide: All the news, analysis and fallout as the Power’s season slips away
Ken Hinkley is refusing to concede his final season as coach of the Power could be going nowhere, as Port come to terms with another horrific loss – this time to Fremantle out west.
Despite a fourth consecutive loss, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has not conceded the season is over.
The Power goes into a round 12 bye with just four wins from 11 games, after a 49-point loss to Fremantle in Perth on Saturday night.
They are 15th on the AFL ladder, already two wins, and a heap of percentage from the top eight.
But Hinkley, remembering that he’ll hand over the reins as coach to Josh Carr at the end of this season, said he will continue to pick a team to try and win every game.
“We’re in the business of trying to win every game,” he said.
“We had eight boys play that are contracted AFL players in our SANFL team today, so there’s not a lot more left.
“So, until we start to get some of them come back in, that will certainly help us a fair bit.
“But the reality is, we’re not in the conceding basket. We’re in the let’s see what we can do to rectify this and give ourselves a chance in whatever the games that are there are available for us for the back half of the year that we challenge ourselves to be better than we have in the first half.”
There’s certainly plenty of room for improvement.
There was a big drop off after they were only eight points down at half-time on Saturday.
They also lost their 11th final term, from 11 games, the Dockers kicking 5.2 to Port’s 2.3 in the fourth quarter.
Port has been outscored by 182 points over 11 final terms this season.
Hinkley said the fade out has certainly been an issue over recent weeks.
“I thought initially we were in the contest for a half, which is probably what we’ve been most of the last three or four weeks,” he said.
“And then when we fall away, we fall away quickly.
“It’s a fair bit of confidence in the way we’re doing things and the way we’re using the ball or not using the ball, and the way we’re defending without the ball.
“I think we’re half a step off because we don’t want to make too many mistakes, and in turn, that’s making us look like making a lot of mistakes.”
Port had one more entry into attack than Fremantle on Saturday night, but had nine fewer scoring shots and kicked eight fewer goals.
They had 21 more entries into attack against Adelaide in round 9 and lost and 14 fewer than St Kilda in round 4 and lost that one too.
The options in attack are a concern.
Mitch Georgiades looked the only player likely to kick a goal for Port in the first half against the Dockers. He finished with three goals.
Willie Rioli chipped in with two.
Hinkley said it’s a personnel issue.
“That’s our season, in lots of ways, is that we’ve had efficiency issues going forward, but, you know, we’ve had our one and two key forwards out for most of the year, which makes it really quite difficult,” he said.
“But the reality is, we got to make do with that, and we have to be better than that.
“We provide enough chances, we’re not able to make enough of those chances, and that then, in turn, reflects back through our ability to keep sticking at it and staying at it and moving the ball.”
TWO GOALS AFTER HALF-TIME – ONE MORE HORROR LOSS
Port Adelaide’s final season under Ken Hinkley is threatening to bring its worst finish since the coach took charge in 2013.
Saturday night’s 49-point loss to Fremantle at Optus Stadium was the Power’s fourth consecutive defeat.
After a strong start, they had no answer for Fremantle, led by ruck Luke Jackson.
The Power managed just two goals after half-time, to Fremantle’s nine.
It’s the third game in four outings it has lost by at least seven goals.
The 15.10 (100) to 7.9 (51) results leaves Fremantle just percentage outside of the top eight. But it has the Power stranded on only four wins from 11 games and in 15th position on the ladder.
Only Richmond, North Melbourne and West Coast are below them.
Port’s worst finish under Ken Hinkley is 11th, which was in 2022, when it won only 10 games.
The Power has the bye next week, before playing away again in round 13, this time against GWS.
Not so clear
The night didn’t start so bad for Port.
Despite Fremantle being the fourth best side in the AFL for centre clearances, Port (13th), dominated this part of the game in the opening term, winning the count 5-1.
The Power led by as much as 10 points during the quarter, but trailed by two points at the first break.
Ollie Wines and Willem Drew did most of the damage, with the pair combining for 21 touches for the quarter.
But in the second term, they had no answer as Jackson took control of the game.
The ruck helped the Dockers level up the centre clearance stats at six apiece by half-time.
The Dockers extended their lead to eight points at half-time, but only because Willie Rioli, in his 100th AFL game, snuck in a goal from the goal square for Port just before the siren.
Lone hand Luke
The conversation about how Fremantle should use ruck pair Jackson and Sean Darcy is not going to go away any time soon.
Darcy did not play against the Power, leaving Jackson to lead the ruck by himself.
He, again, thrived, with 21 disposals, eight clearances and a goal.
It’s the sixth time this season that Jackson has played while Darcy has been sidelined. And the Dockers have won four of those games – against the Giants, West Coast, the Western Bulldogs and now Port.
In the three games Darcy has played without Jackson, the Dockers have won two – against Adelaide and Richmond. The loss Came against Melbourne.
Fremantle has lost both games when both rucks have played – against Collingwood and St Kilda.
Don’t waste your chances
Fremantle’s win came without major contribution on the scoreboard from its main forwards.
Josh Treacy, Jye Amiss and Shai Bolton had kicked 50 goals between them this season, before Saturday night.
There was some rain around, and the ball was slippery at stages.
Amiss and Bolton each kicked one on Saturday night.
The Dockers had one fewer entry inside their attacking area than Port Adelaide.
Yet ended up with 25 scoring shots to 16.
Murphy Reid kicked four goals and Sam Switkowski and Isaiah Dudley two each.
At the other end, Mitch Georgiades looked the only Port player likely to score, kicking three goals in the first half.
Inside 50m entries are no indication of how well the Dockers go though.
Against Collingwood, in round 9, at Optus Stadium, Fremantle went forward 62 times, compared to the Pies 34. Yet the home side lost by 14 points.
Drew the tackle
Drew led all comers for tackling with 10.
It was a terrific response after not laying one a week earlier in a 76-point loss to Geelong.
Over 118 games, that game against the Cats was just the second time Drew has not put on one tackle. And the last time was in 2019, round 4 against Richmond.
He averages better than six tackles a game, his best 16, against Collingwood, in round 19, 2023.
With Jason Horne-Francis missing, Wines did his best to keep the ball moving forward, with 33 possessions and seven clearances.
Scoreboard
FREMANTLE 3.3 6.6 10.8 15.10 (100)
PORT ADELAIDE 3.1 5.4 5.6 7.9 (51)
BEST
Dockers: Jackson, Chapman, Reid, Serong, Johnson, Ryan.
Power: Drew, Wines, Rozee, Atkins, Evans, Bergman.
GOALS
Dockers: Reid 4, Switkowski 2, Dudley 2, Pearce, Johnson, Jackson, Frederick, Voss, Amiss, Bolton.
Power: Georgiades 3, Rioli 2, Finlayson, Bergman.
INJURIES Dockers: Simpson (shoulder). Power: Rozee (shoulder), Byrne-Jones (concussion).
40,466 at Optus Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES
3 Luke Jackson (FRE)
2 Heath Chapman (FRE)
1 Willem Drew (PORT)
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