Port Adelaide v Fremantle: First-term onslaught downs Dockers, but Power count injury cost
Port’s win over Fremantle has been soured by news star goalkicker Orazio Fantasia pulled up sore and has been sent for surgery.
Port Adelaide’s gun forward recruit Orazio Fantasia has had minor surgery on his left knee after pulling up sore after the side’s 46-point win over Fremantle on Sunday night.
The 25-year-old former Bomber, is likely to miss the next month after Monday’s arthroscopy procedure.
The Power said Fantasia had been managing a minor knee complaint over the past few weeks and missed Round 10’s one-point win over Collingwood with leg soreness.
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He returned to the side for their Round 11 clash with the Dockers and kicked 2.2 and had 11 touches, but reported further soreness after the game.
“It was decided that with the club’s mid-year bye this week, it would be the opportune time to have the procedure to allow him to recover without missing too much football,” a Power statement read.
“He is expected to be back within a month.”
But it’s better news for Power defender Ryan Burton, who was subbed out of Sunday’s game after jarring his knee in the last term.
The club said it looked like he would be available for the team’s Round 13 game against Geelong on Thursday, June 10.
And in further good news for the Power, Port expects speedy mid-forward Zak Butters to start running again later this week following surgery to release pressure on a nerve around his left knee.
POWER FIRST-QUARTER BLITZ WRECKS DOCKERS
Desperate to erase a month of slow starts, Port Adelaide made its intent for its Sir Doug Nicholls clash against Fremantle clear from the first bounce: go hard. And do it early.
The Power’s past four games have seen them manage meagre tallies in their opening quarters: 0.1 against Collingwood, 2.1 against the Western Bulldogs, 2.4 against Adelaide and 1.2 against Brisbane.
No matter how vital that one-point first term against the Magpies was in the overall context of their one-point win last weekend, there was no doubting the Power was determined not to replicate another slow start.
So, when the umpire bounced that first ball, Port’s midfield swarmed the ball and sent it straight inside 50 and Mitch Georgiades had the Power’s first goal in a minute.
Some 30 minutes of high-pressured, disposal-heavy football later and Port had set up its 46-point win.
That they couldn’t quite keep the momentum for the entire match, shouldn’t overshadow what was achieved.
When the quarter-time siren sounded Port were up 7.5 (47) to 0.6 (6), and not only had equalled their 12th highest opening term in club history, but had scored more points than their previous four first quarters combined.
Coach Ken Hinkley would have been pleased with what he saw, as he side registered an excellent 80.8 per cent disposal efficiency, Karl Amon leading the way, picking up the footy at will, on his merry way to a new club record for most disposals in an opening term (16).
Charlie Dixon continued his resurgence with three contested marks, two goals and seven contested possessions (the most of any player on the field in the first term), while Orazio Fantasia returned to the side after overcoming leg soreness to kick the side’s seventh goal.
But it would have been Powell-Pepper’s opening term that had Hinkley smiling, as his midfielder continued to regain form following a rocky start to 2021, sidelined as he worked on his personal wellbeing.
In his fifth game back since his return, Powell-Pepper was “on” from the opening bounce, scoring Port’s second goal of the game having picked up the ball from the back of a pack and kicking truly on the run into the goalsquare.
Moments later he bombed a well-timed, excellently weighted kick from boundary-side into the forward 50 and found Dixon who goaled.
This play worked out so well for the duo that they replicated it 22 minutes later for good measure.
By this time, Powell-Pepper had already scored his second goal of the quarter – and thereby had doubled his goal tally for the year (he finished with 3.1 and 19 touches).
PORT PAIR FACE SCANS AFTER DOWNING DOCKERS
– Jason Phelan
Ken Hinkley showed the world his blueprint for Port Adelaide greatness in Sunday’s 46-point win against Fremantle, a victory that put the finishing touches on a solid foundation for this year’s premiership tilt.
Port cast aside pre-match talk of worrying slow starts to bulldoze the wayward Dockers in a frenzy of free-flowing footy that set up a 40-point quarter-time lead.
Karl Amon had a club record 16 first-quarter touches, Ollie Wines had three of his eight clearances and Aliir Aliir marshalled a defence that kept Fremantle goalless.
At the other end, the three-headed forward monster of Charlie Dixon, Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall terrorised an admittedly understrength backline.
As far as starts go it was near-perfect.
Now all Hinkley has to do is find a way to make it happen more often.
“I think it would be unreasonable to think that we could do that in every quarter, but that would be our blueprint,” Hinkley said.
“If we could play like that in two-and-a-half or three quarters in a game we know that would be mighty powerful and hard to stop.
“It’s enjoyable for our fans to watch and we’d love to play that way every quarter, but there’s some challenges with that.
“It’s a pretty irresistible style of football the way we played the first quarter, but we didn’t get it for four quarters.”
Despite some misfires along the way, the Power have reached the midpoint of the season with an 8-3 record, outside the top four by percentage.
It’s a start that should provide a solid launch pad for a premiership assault that will go up a notch when they emerge from next week’s bye.
“We’re certainly satisfied,” Hinkley said.
“I’m ever the optimist and I’d love to be 11-0, but we’ve put ourselves in the upper echelon of the ladder.
“We know we’re chasing a big finish, but at 8-3 you couldn’t be displeased with the way we’ve got there.
“Like every team we’ve dealt with some injuries along the way … hopefully we’ll get some personnel back as the year goes on and that will hold us in good stead.”
Ryan Burton was subbed out against the Dockers with an ongoing knee issue while Hinkley confirmed Orazio Fantasia has also been troubled by a “grumbly” knee.
Both will undergo scans during the break, with the coach flagging the possibility of minor clean-up surgery for Fantasia.
PROBLEM SOLVED: POWER ONSLAUGHT DOWNS DOCKERS
Ken Hinkley has spoken at length about his team’s need to go from good to great since the Power’s round nine loss to the Western Bulldogs and his charges took a step in the right direction.
The coach has expressed supreme confidence that his side is capable of achieving the greatness it craves at some stage later in the season with some hard work.
But that level of excellence was on display earlier than promised as the rampant Power kicked the first seven goals of the match to romp to a 40-point lead at the first change.
Port couldn’t maintain that dominance, resurgent Fremantle slicing the margin to 31 points at halftime and 28 points at the final change, but there was still plenty to like in a performance spearheaded by Ollie Wines, Karl Amon and Travis Boak.
“There was a lot of energy in our start,” Hinkley said.
“As a team we started really strongly, we finished really strongly, clearly there were some bits in the middle we would’ve liked to have been better at, but that’s also not giving credit to the opposition.
“We’re in a position now at 8-3 where we’re pleased about where we sit at the bye.”
Nat Fyfe was the only multiple goalkicker for the wayward Dockers, who had just one less scoring shot than the Power.
“The scoreboard would say that we haven’t improved,” Justin Longmuir said of the inaccuracy that has hampered his side too often this season.
“We need to continue to work away at that.
“We’re creating enough opportunities for ourselves, but today we just weren’t able to catch up because of our inaccuracy.”
WHAT SLOW STARTS?
The Power’s worrisome slow starts were replaced by a blistering beginning against the Dockers. Port’s opening terms had been a talking point after they were outscored in six of 10 first quarters, and three of the previous four, but Amon was instrumental as the fired-up Power put the visitors to the sword.
Amon led the way with a club-record 16 first-quarter possessions – 12 of those coming in the first 12 minutes – while Charlie Dixon was redeployed to the centre circle for the opening bounce where he set the tone with his physicality. The bullocking forward also booted two goals for the term, as did Sam Powell-Pepper.
King Karl started it all and finished it up! #AFLPowerFreopic.twitter.com/WWR3dIjbCb
— AFL (@AFL) May 30, 2021
FREO RETURNS FIRE
With tall bookends Matt Taberner (ankle) and Griffin Logue (calf) missing from the line-up, the Dockers were all at sea in the early going, but Nat Fyfe was the catalyst for a second-quarter fightback.
After Fremantle booted eight behinds to start the game, the skipper slammed through the opening goal of the second quarter, with Adam Cerra and Andrew Brayshaw also important as the visitors kicked the last three goals of the second quarter.
LADHAMS GOES LONG
The Dockers kept coming in the second half, narrowing the gap to 24 points, but Peter Ladhams booted a critical goal to arrest Freo’s momentum. Running through the centre square, the big ruckman sent a long pass forward that cleared Steven Motlop and bounced through for a goal that helped Port to a 28-point break at three-quarter time.
MUNDY MISFIRES
Fyfe kicked the opening goal of the last quarter, but was robbed of the opportunity for a second when he was awarded a free kick 25m out straight in front. Rory Lobb took the advantage and handballed to David Mundy, who blazed his hurried shot wide.
It proved a costly error, as Ladhams marked on the goal line for his second before Miles Bergman, who was subbed on for the injured Ryan Burton in the final term, made the points safe, kicking a goal with his first touch to push the margin out to 33 points.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 7.5 12.5 14.5 18.7 (115)
DOCKERS 0.7 6.10 8.13 9.15 (69)
PHELAN’S BEST
POWER: Wines, Amon, Boak, Houston, Dixon, Powell-Pepper, Gray.
DOCKERS: Cerra, Fyfe, Brayshaw, Aish, Mundy, Ryan.
GOALS
POWER: Dixon 3, Powell-Pepper 3, Fantasia 2, Gray 2, Ladhams 2, Marshall 2, Amon, Georgiades, Farrell, Bergman.
DOCKERS: Fyfe 2, Colyer, Crowden, Walters, Schultz, Mundy, Lobb, Henry.
INJURIES
POWER: Burton (knee). DOCKERS: Switkowski (leg).
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Johanson, Bryce.
VENUE
Adelaide Oval, Crowd: 26,759
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 O. Wines (PA)
2 K. Amon (PA)
1 A. Cerra (Fre)
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