Round 5 – Carlton v Port Adelaide: Second half surge just a tease for Port faithful
Carlton v Port Adelaide
1:40pm, Sunday April 17
MCG
At 0-4, one would think that the Port Adelaide Football Club’s AFL team would produce some fight and counter-attack against a resurgent Carlton Blues at the MCG on a sunny Easter Sunday.
It was exactly the opposite, in the first half anyway, as the Blues romped to a 50-point half-time lead courtesy of the brilliance of midfielder Sam Walsh and the ‘Royal Blue Duo’ of Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow who both combined for a match-winning eight goals.
What was to occur in the final hour was beyond imagination as Port Adelaide rallied and added youngsters, albeit in their 50-plus AFL games, Connor Rozee and Zak Butters inside the centre square.
Carlton held on to win a classic clash by three points 14.10 (94) to 13.13 (91).
Veteran Robbie Gray slotted a goal to give the Power more than a chance of daylight robbery before Curnow marked against returning but out-of-sorts Aliir Aliir for his fifth major.
Port’s Mitch Georgiades, a shining light as a lead-up forward throughout the game, curled home to get the Power again within a kick.
After one final flurry with an unrealistic attempt at goal by Karl Amon, big beacon McKay clunked a Sam Docherty kick after a Port behind and it was game over.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley believes his team may have turned the corner despite a limp first half.
‘I’m going to continue to believe that and I’m going to continue to work towards that,’ Hinkley said.
‘It’s enormously challenging, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m not going to give up and the team won’t give up.
‘We’ll keep to task and we’ll keep going and you never know, we might get on a (winning) run just as big.’
The Power are at Adelaide Oval to take on fellow strugglers but nemisis all the same West Coast Eagles on Saturday in a twilight match.
Here is my take on the game.
Positives:
How awesome was Zak Butters in the middle in second half? He’s all class and makes things happen by ‘left-of-the-middle’ creativeness. He could be and should be Port’s version of Sam Walsh – who is probably now the best player in the AFL.
Mitch Georgiadis’ game was terrific as a target lead-up forward. He’s getting better and better.
Connor Rozee stepped up big time in second half but he had many mates. All class when he’s on song. Let’s hope this effort is a stepping stone.
Ryan Burton and Dan Houston both terrific. Halfback/mids add a different dimension to Port’s midfield.
Thought Jackson Mead and Sam Hayes showed a bit. The latter won some big taps late against Marc Pittonet. Sam just needs to develop a bigger engine.
Sam Powell-Pepper. All heart and he’s starting to show poise when he gets the ball. Would love him to play the Dustin Martin/Jordan De Goey mid-forward role.
Evergreen champions Robbie Gray and Travis Boak terrific. Hope something can be salvaged this year to send them off in their likely final year in 2023.
Jeremy Finlayson. Showed a fair bit and could’ve had a couple more marks if not for ‘rubber chest’ moments. Would love him to impose himself more like his old teammate Jeremy Cameron does at Geelong.
Negatives:
No intent or purpose in the first half.
And showing more poise when with the ball in dying stages of the game that should have put Port in a position of actually nailing the win.
CARLTON 6.4 12.6 13.8 14.10 (94)
PORT ADELAIDE 2.3 4.5 10.9 13.13 (91)
GOALS
Carlton: Curnow 5, McKay 3, Martin, Fisher 2, Silvagni, Durdin
Port Adelaide: Gray 3, Georgiades, Burton, Powell-Pepper 2, Boak, Finlayson, Butters, Rozee
BEST
Carlton: Walsh, Hewett, McKay, Curnow, Cerra
Port Adelaide: Burton, Rozee, Powell-Pepper, Houston, Butters
Crowd: 33,433
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About Nicholas Kossatch
Tall and intelligent and athletically built who calls a spade a spade. Love sports writing and sending letters and texts to the editor about AFL and the Port Adelaide Power - win, lose or draw. I do not sit on the fence. Soon to be 40! I play basketball and over 35's supers football. Have played amateur footy and a bit of cricket and basketball when living in Adelaide. Do some writing for the Murray Pioneer,
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A good summary from the Port perspective. Kind of mirror image of my Carltonic view! We got off to a great start with a goal in the first minute and six to quarter time for a 4 goal lead. It was more of the same in q2 with another 6 goals to 2 and a 49 point lead at half time. Port got their act together in the second half and Carlton lost their way scoring only 1.2 for the 3rd quarter to Port’s 6.4. In q4 we again could add only 1.2 to Port’s 4.4 to cling on by 3 points. That’s the second 2nd half fade in 3 weeks (interspersed with the fadeout from mid way through the first quarter against Gold Coast last week!) but we have been lucky to hang on for a win both times. When we’re good we’re very good and when the pressure comes on we seem to go to pieces. Perhaps not surprising with a young group who should keep getting better but better for my heart if we can play a four quarter game!
On an aesthetic note, hated Port’s away grey strip. I guess it’s better than white but not by much! Appropriate for Robbie Gray…
Now that teal is such a hot button electoral colour, perhaps they could re-embrace that. I know they’d really like their prison bars, but this time it was Carlton who got out of jail!
Carlton have been making it a habit of being first out of the blocks, playing some irresistible footy, leaving the Power in its wake. After half time you could be excused for thinking the teams had exchanged jumpers. Now, with all the momentum, It appeared it would only be a matter of time before the Blues completely succumbed to the run and carry of the visitors. However, when the chips were down, Port Adelaide, despite many opportunities, could not finish the job, mainly due to woeful goal kicking. Both coaches should be worried. Voss and Hinkley for giving Carlton so big an start and then choking when they couldn’t put the nail in the coffin for running out of petrol when the game should have been done and dusted. Now with the Power standing at 0 – 5 the job is in front of Port to make the finals.
Have seen Sam Hayes a fair bit with the Magpies and he certainly needs a bigger engine. Can tap, mark and kick well, but running hard seems not to be in the repertoire at present. Have to disagree re J. Mead, do not think he does nearly enough, also looks like just another bloke who is just too small. We need to recruit bigger framed blokes.