AFL Round 12 – Port Adelaide v St. Kilda: Saints over powered by Port
Port Adelaide v St. Kilda: Adelaide Oval: 4.10 PM Saturday 7 June
By Braham Dabscheck
This has the hallmark of being a terrible year for the Saints. This away game to Port Adelaide resulted in a 70 point loss. The Saints again failed to kick 10 goals for the match. Since the meritorious win against the Bombers, the Saints appear to be at their most vulnerable when they claw their way back into a game. This is a signal for opponents to put the foot down and power away.
This is what happened in the game against Port. As per usual, the Saints conceded a goal in the first minute. Port controlled the rest of the first quarter and added three more. With a few minutes of the quarter to go, Nick Riewoldt then kicked two quick goals; the first following a 50 meter penalty for a thump in the head after a mark, and the second from where he just willed his way into a pack and marked on his chest. With these two goals he had increased his career tally to 599, and given the Saints a glimmer of hope.
Most of the second quarter was a comedy of errors. Both teams appeared to be intent on who could commit the most turnovers, with hardly any entries into forward 50s at either end of the ground. The Saints then managed to get two goals, with an intercept mark by Josh Saunders from a kick out following a point, and a bouncing snap by Terry Milera. The scores were level with three minutes to go before half time. The Saints had held Port goal less for the quarter. Was a miracle about to happen for the Saints in the City of Churches? No, Satan reared his ugly head. Port changed gears and kicked three before half time. Game over!
After the break Port put on a clinic. Chad Wingard took a screamer at the start of the third quarter; a mark which took one’s breath away. It was reminiscent of that grab of Ian Cooper’s at the MCG against Melbourne, way back in 1965. Wingard has the hallmarks of being one of the great players of the game. The only real interest in the second half for Saints’ fans was Nick Riewoldt bagging his 600th career goal in the third quarter. The footy gods smiled on him in the last quarter, when a forward kick which, to all intents and purposes, looked to be covered by a Port player bounced Nick’s way and enabled him to kick his fourth. He deserved a break. On a quiet day he still managed to kick four goals! A problem for the Saints is that there has been no other player who has managed to kick more than two goals in a match all season.
Alan Richardson experimented with having an extra big man up forward (Tom Simpkin) and having a smaller, quicker player (Jack Steven in the first and Terry Milera in the second) as a spare at the back. With Simpkin receiving a knock in the first quarter, which saw him having a spell in the change room under the concussion surveillance rule, only the use of Steven at the back seemed to work. The Saints have the continuing problem of having too many players back, so that when they manage to get it forward they turn it over to an opponent all by himself who launches an easy, uncontested attack. The Saints need to trust themselves that having more players to kick to up forward is the way to success. Crowding the backline is not working. The Saints tried hard all day; they are to be commended one and all for not giving up; they were simply over powered by a better team on the day.
Port Adelaide 4.3 7.6 13.10 19.15 (129)
St. Kilda 2.2 4.5 5.5 9.5 (59)
Goals
Port Adelaide: Gray 4, Wingard 3, Schulz 3, Polec, Lobbe, Trengove, Hartlett, Impey, Westhoff, Pittard, Cassisi, Ebert.
St. Kilda: Riewoldt 4, Saunders 2, Milera, Hayes, Dunstan.
Best
Port Adelaide: Wingard, Gray, Hartlett, Lobbe, Pittard.
St. Kilda: Hayes, Steven, Riewoldt, Saunders, Jones.
Umpires: Dalgleish, Donlon, Leppard. Crowd: 43,374
Our Votes: Wingard 3 (Port), Gray 2 (Port), Hartlett 1 (Port).
Hello again, am loving your match reports. You have everything. I am so enjoying your work on the site. Another weekly mad Sainter. Another story. I now look forward to it.
Go Saints
Yvette