Round 17 – Port Adelaide v Melbourne: No petty excuses for Port

 

 

 

 

 

Inwardly I was pumped.

 

“This has to be tonight….Port have a great record against Melbourne…home and away and in Queensland,” I said to myself.

 

“When was the last time Melbourne beat my mob?”

 

In fact I was more confident of the Power claiming a big scalp to what I was last Saturday when the Power faced a Shaun Burgoyne-400-game-inspired (or supposedly should have been) Hawthorn Hawks.

 

But…here’s what transpired…

 

…..It was the same old story.

 

Another wonderful chance for Port Adelaide Power to make a statement, at home soil at Adelaide Oval, against a top-eight side.

 

A knee injury to the returning Zak Butters put more of a sour aftertaste to a disappointing evening.

 

Butters will miss a month with a right knee strain after he took an intercept mark.

 

Port were powerless to stop top-two-bound Melbourne Demons as Christian Petracca (three goals), Clayton Oliver, (33 touches), defensive pillars Steven May, Jake Lever and unheralded Harrison Petty, did what they pleased against a wayward home side.

 

Aerobic roaming forward beast Tom McDonald was superb with three goals and Kysaiah Pickett found form with three majors as well as the Dees destroyed Port to win 12.14 (86) to 8.7 (55).

 

While Demon fans dare to dream and with great reason, Port’s faithful, its coaching panel and players are searching for answers as to why the Power cannot crack the top-eight code with wins against such sides.

 

It was an arm-wrestle early but Melbourne’s midfield wore down a tiring Power on-ball brigade.

 

Aside from Ollie Wines (33 possessions) and consistent duo Travis Boak and Karl Amon, others played in spits and spurts.

 

Another positive was the form of Miles Bergman while fellow young gun Mitch Georgiadis continues to impress.

 

His third-quarter hanger, when he used Dees’ ruckman Max Gawn as a step ladder, was a thing of Mark of the Year contention.

 

Petty took young Port Adelaide forward Todd Marshall to the ‘cleaners’ while May was disciplined against Charlie Dixon although the latter did win some one-on-one marking battles.

 

Lever did what he does best and took some key marks when Port tried to rally in the second half.

 

Melbourne rebounded from a lapse four-week stretch to be a serious flag threat.

 

The loss  for Port yet again exposed a weak underbelly and it has just over a handful of minor round matches left to right the many wrongs – and some – if it is to contend against serious opposition such as the Dees.

 

Power coach Ken Hinkley was a frustrated man after a failure against legit teams.

 

“We’ve had a few people who haven’t been at their best form or their most consistent form,” he said.

 

“Clearly we’ve been OK at times because we’re fifth, we’ve won enough games to put ourselves in a position, but to beat the best teams you’ve got to have more numbers in your favour than against.

 

“At the moment we’re probably leaving it to a few too (many players).”

 

 

PORT ADELAIDE          2.2       5.3       7.5       8.7 (55)
MELBOURNE               3.2       8.4       10.9     12.14 (86)

 

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Georgiades 2, Dixon 2, Amon, Wines, Rozee, McKenzie
Melbourne: McDonald 3, Petracca 3, Pickett 3, Jackson, Spargo, Fritsch

 

BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, Amon, Wines, Georgiades, Aliir
Melbourne: Petracca, McDonald, Oliver, Salem, Gawn, May

 

INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Butters (knee), Burton (groin)
Melbourne: Nil

 

SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Frederick (replaced Butters)
Melbourne: Sparrow (unused)

 

 

Read more from Nick Kossatch  HERE

 

 

The Tigers (Covid) Almanac 2020 will be published in 2021. It will have all the usual features – a game by game account of the Tigers season – and will also include some of the best Almanac writing from the Covid winter.  Pre-order HERE

 

 

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