Bewildered Port Adelaide told controversial calls in thrilling win over Sydney were correct

The AFL has told a bewildered Port Adelaide that two controversial calls against Sydney involving a rushed behind and score review were correct.

Tom Jonas of Port Adelaide leads his teammates off the field.

The AFL has told a bewildered Port Adelaide that two controversial calls in the Power’s thrilling win over Sydney were correct.

The Power claimed a stunning win over the Swans at the SCG despite two big calls going against them.

Dan Houston was left stunned when he was pinged for deliberately rushing the ball behind in the first quarter, which led to Logan McDonald kicking an easy goal.

In the second quarter Jackson Mead was denied a goal after a lengthy score review despite the vision suggesting that a Sydney defender did not get a touch on the ball.

Following the game Power senior coach Ken Hinkley said he was concerned by that one because there was a “technical failure”.

Jeremy Finlayson celebrates the goal that put Port Adelaide in front. Picture: Getty Images

On Monday Port Adelaide’s general manager of football Chris Davies said he had been informed by the AFL that both decisions were correct in its opinion.

“We have got some feedback from the AFL, that they believe that the Houston rushed behind penalty was correct,” he said.

“So they believe that it is going to be something that is called consistently if it hasn’t been from here on.

“And the understanding with regards to the score review was that the AFL got it right.

“So that’s great for the AFL, they are getting a lot right.”

Davies said the AFL had confirmed that there was a communication issue when Mead’s shot at goal was being reviewed.

“There was and the AFL has also suggested that the communication either within broadcast, I’m not sure if it was to the umpire or not, that there was a failure at that point in time,” he said.

“But on the basis they got it right, we will move on.”

Port Adelaide came back to win the match. Picture: Getty Images

Hinkley said regarding the Houston rush behind call he had “seen that 100 times and not be paid” and clarification was required.

Davies said the Power players and coaches now needed to be aware of an AFL crackdown.

“At the end of the day the players and coaches will need to work with what parameters are in place,” he said.

“Whether it is that rule or every rule, so if that is the benchmark as to what the AFL thinks is unacceptable we will just have to go with that.

“Clearly on the weekend Dan thought that was going to be OK. It has now been shown that it wasn’t so we will all have to adjust.”

INSIDE PORT MAYHEM OF FINAL-SIREN THRILLER

Xavier Duursma was on the ground shortly after the final siren on Saturday night, disappointed – and unaware at what had happened with Ollie Florent’s set shot.

“I had my head in my hands – I thought we’d lost,” the Port Adelaide wingman told News Corp.

“I saw it go straight over my head and it looked like a good kick.

“The wind was a little bit against him and I knew it’d be a tough kick regardless but he made pretty good contact with it.

“I didn’t even realise that we’d won the game until after five or six seconds, I looked around and was a bit confused.

“I saw all of us celebrating and eventually figured out that we must’ve got a touch or spoil.”

While Duursma was on the turf, several Port Adelaide players rushed to hug Ken Hinkley, who had coached from the boundary in a minor-round game for the first time.

Hinkley had been under enormous scrutiny all week, particularly from club great Warren Tredrea, and footage showed him clearly ecstatic when the Power responded with a two-point win over Sydney at the SCG.

Tredrea had called the coach’s situation in the final year of his contract “untenable”, on the back of two poor defeats.

Hinkley said it showed the character of his team.

Power players embrace Ken Hinkley after the stirring comeback. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

“Footy is good, it does all sorts of things to you,” he said.

“It sends you to all sort of places and ultimately you have to be willing to go to those places.

“As a footy club this week and as a team we had to go to some of those places to come up here and play against a highly respected opponent in a hostile environment with things not going that great for us for a fair bit of the game.

“To hang in there and come back from 20 points twice. This team has a fair bit of character.

“It was a normal week in footy but the difficulty is some weeks there is more commentary around winning and losing.

“That has always been part of it. Scrutiny happens and when you lose you leave yourself open.”

Duursma said the team did not discuss the “outside noise” leading into the match, focusing instead on being resilient and staying in the contest.

“He’s been really good with us this week,” said Duursma, who gave Hinkley a hug as soon as he saw him post-match.

“We had our challenges through the week but at the same time we’ve really been sticking together.

“We’re not focusing on any of the outside stuff, we’ve just been focusing on what we can control and that’s probably been the theme of the week.

“We had our backs against the wall.

“We know we had a disappointing loss but we know we’re a really good team and we have to get back to playing our way.”

Although Tredrea’s comments were a big talking point in the football world, Duursma said he did not hear them.

“I try to drown out as much as I can and don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” he said.

Duursma was aware of some criticism of his own form after being subbed off while the Showdown was in the balance.

The 22-year-old was frustrated, having felt he started well in last week’s game against the Crows and, as “one of the fittest players in the team”, could have been an offensive and defensive asset late in the contest.

Duursma had a big performance in the wake of a Showdown substitution last week. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Duursma would not reveal details of what happened in the wake of his substitution, but said he used coming off as motivation ahead of the Swans clash.

He bounced back superbly, finishing with 22 disposals and as one of the Power’s best players.

“Sometimes that’s footy,” he said of getting subbed off against Adelaide.

“You’d be lying if you said you didn’t hear some of the outside noise but I’m pretty resilient myself.

“I really just understand that things are always going to be said but I back myself.

“I felt like I impacted the game really well tonight.

“I don’t want to be subbed off again, that’s for sure.

“There’s not too much stuff I can talk about in terms of what happened, but … as long as I keep playing like I did tonight, having a crack, I don’t think it’ll happen again.”

The Power conceded the first four majors on Saturday night and was held goalless in the opening term.

They did not drop their heads, knowing Sydney had the scoring end.

That proved the case both times Port found itself more than three goals behind in the game.

“We knew we’d get our crack at that end and could really put the burners on,” Duursma said.

Sydney's Oliver Florent celebrates what he thought was going through for the winning goal. Photo by Phil Hillyard

During the topsy-turvy final term, he hyper-extended his knee after landing awkwardly.

Jeremy Finlayson put the Power two points ahead in the closing stages of the last quarter, only for the Swans to switch the ball from their defensive 50 to an unmanned Florent in the final 40 seconds.

“We tracked corridor and expected them to kick it long down the line, but they lowered their eyes … and had two really good kicks,” Duursma said.

After the hectic final moments and the initial celebrations that followed, Hinkley barely had a voice left to deliver much of a post-game message to his team.

“He was obviously very excited for us and vice versa,” Duursma said.

Having been dealt a tough opening draw, facing three of last year’s four preliminary finalists in the opening four weeks, as well as a Showdown, Duursma believed his team was well placed at 2-2 for the remainder of the season.

Originally published as Bewildered Port Adelaide told controversial calls in thrilling win over Sydney were correct