Port storm home to beat West Coast by 26 points after early scare

A blistering performance from Zak Butters helped spare Port Adelaide’s blushes against the Eagles, but there’s concerns over the other superstar at the Power.

A blistering performance from Zak Butters helped spare Port Adelaide’s blushes on Sunday, the Power made to work extremely hard to avoid a shock loss to one-win West Coast at Adelaide Oval.

After trailing by as much as 25 points, the Power finished full of running, kicking the only five goals of the final term to register a 26-point win that kept its mathematical finals chances alive.

The home side reclaimed the lead for the first time since the opening minutes of the game when Darcy Byrne-Jones booted his second major five minutes into the final term.

Butters was outstanding throughout, the superstar onballer with 22 possessions in the first half, finishing with a game-high 38.

After a poor start, Port slowly worked into the game but kicked inaccurately at goal, booting 5.10 to 3.3 across the second and third quarters before putting the pedal to the metal in the last quarter.

Port’s cause wasn’t helped by an injury to Connor Rozee that saw the skipper subbed out in the third quarter.

“He’s got a sore hand, I think a dislocated finger, and then it was like, ‘well, we’re not quite sure how this is looking’,” Ken Hinkley said.

“We’ll take some necessary action here and take him out of the game based on that he’s too important to us for not just today, but for the long term and we’ll look after him.

“We weren’t flying, so we probably would have loved to have kept him out there, but the right thing to do was take him out.

“We’ll get a scan ... whether there’s a crack or not in the hand, we won’t know until we get that scanned.”

The result improved the Power’s win-loss record to 8-9, while West Coast slipped to a 1-16 record with a seventh loss in a row.

The last-placed Eagles were rocked by the late withdrawals of without Liam Ryan (soreness) and Jack Graham (suspended), but Andrew McQualter’s men bravely took the challenge right up to the home side, with Liam Baker and Harley Reid leading the charge.

The Power was left with an injury concern to skipper Connor Rozee, who was subbed out of the game in the third quarter with a finger injury.

Jason Horne-Francis of the Power with Zak Butters after kicking a goal against the Eagles. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

SCRIPT FLIPPED

The game looked set to follow the expected script when Mitch Georgiades goaled just over a minute in, but Port fans looking for their team to take their frustrations out on the likely wooden-spooners were quickly disappointed.

The Eagles ranked dead last in the competition for marks, averaging just under 73 per game, heading into the clash but in a clear change of tactics McQualter’s men had 33 to the Power’s 14 in an impressive first quarter.

Six of those marks were inside attacking 50, where Port’s defence wilted under the pressure of the lopsided 17-8 inside 50 count, with several turnovers leading directly to West Coast goals.

Despite the efforts of Butters, who had a game-high 14 first-quarter possessions, and a 15-5 ascendancy in clearances by the home side, the Liam Baker-inspired Eagles controlled the tempo of the contest and charged to a surprise 25-point lead at the first break.

STAND UP!

A typically energetic Reid theatrically cupped his ear to the dismayed home fans after his superbly snapped goal in the opening term and he embraced his role as the pantomime villain in the second quarter.

The 20-year-old earned jeers from the stands when he went to ground a little too easily after he was pushed following a running miss from long range.

“Harley stand up, Harley stand up … do not stage like that,” an umpired can be heard saying on the Fox Footy broadcast.

“When you stage for a free like that the umpires aren’t going to give you too much next time,” AFL Hall of Famer Mark Ricciuto warned shortly after on the broadcast.

Reid had a team-high 16 disposals in the first half, but didn’t have quite the same influence after the main break thanks largely to the efforts of Willem Drew.

Harley Reid is tackled by Jason Horne-Francis – the two clashed repeatedly on Sunday. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

HORNET FIRES UP

Jason Horne-Francis had just two possessions in the first quarter, but the star midfielder fired up after the first break to help turn the momentum in his side’s favour.

Horne-Francis had 10 possessions in the second quarter, had two score assists and went inside attacking 50 six times.

With Butters still lighting up Adelaide Oval, the Power brought the margin back to 11 points at half-time with a three-goals-to-one second term, with Horne-Francis kicking the first goal of the second half to help set the tone for the comeback.

Originally published as Port storm home to beat West Coast by 26 points after early scare