PORT ADELAIDE confirmed a top-four position with a big win over Carlton on Saturday evening.

Port trailed early before piling on 19 unanswered goals to win by a whopping 95 points at Adelaide Oval and spoil Blue Marc Murphy’s 300^th and final AFL game.

Here are some key things we learned from the game.

1) Potent forward mix

Gone are the days when Port Adelaide is too reliant on Charlie Dixon to kick a score. Against Carlton, of the 21 goals scored, Port had 12 different goal scorers - with tall forwards Dixon (four goals), Todd Marshall (two), Mitch Georgiades (two) and Peter Ladhams (one) combining for nine goals, and small forwards Orazio Fantasia (three goals), Robbie Gray (two) and Connor Rozee (one) six. Coach Ken Hinkley said it was a sign of the potency of his line-up but also the side’s flexibility at selection. “It gives us great options going through the next four or five weeks hopefully, and we can pick the side based around the opposition we play and the performance we need,” Hinkley remarked after the game. The 21.14 booted on Saturday was Port’s best score since the 22.13 it kicked against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval in Round 2, 2017.

2) Adelaide Oval Blues

Carlton had a rough trot last week with injury and then having an early flight into Adelaide and being forced to sit around in the indoor nets at Adelaide Oval awaiting the result of a COVID-19 test. Going off their record at Adelaide Oval, it would be fair to imagine the Blues may have preferred to spend as little time at the venue as possible. Saturday’s loss made it four losses from four attempts against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval with an average losing margin of 76 points. Throw in a 55-point loss to Adelaide in Carlton’s only other AFL game at Adelaide Oval in 2018 and it’s definitely not a happy hunting ground. For the record, the 95-point margin on Saturday was Port Adelaide’s biggest winning margin since its 103-point win over the Blues in Round 22, 2014… you guessed it, at Adelaide Oval.

3) 19 straight

Port Adelaide trailed by 23 points in the second quarter and seemed in trouble, as the Blues appeared energised by a luckless week with injury, the pressure on coach David Teague and Murphy’s 300^th game milestone. But from the 16-minute mark of the second quarter things seemed to change as Port’s midfield got on top. The home side piled on an incredible 19 goals in-a-row including nine in the last quarter. It had many reaching for the record books to see whether that had been donxe before. That included 2004 premiership hero Warren Tredrea, who got this response on twitter from statistician @sirswampthing confirming it was not a record.

4) Slow starts could hurt

The final margin would have pleased coach Ken Hinkley as his side built some important percentage heading into the final round of the season but the slow start would have again been a concern for the experienced mentor. As it did last week against Adelaide and on several occasions throughout the season, Port started slowly and gave up a decent lead, which it then had to run down. Hinkley’s mind immediately turned to the Round 9 encounter against the Western Bulldogs, the side his team will face in the final game of the home and away season. On that occasion, Port conceded six goals to two in the first quarter and ended up losing by 19 points. Going into finals, it is something Hinkley is keen to stamp out. “We just can’t afford to let that happen to us against the best teams in the competition,” he said after the win against the Blues.

5) Still no spoon

North Melbourne’s loss to Sydney on Saturday night confirmed the Kangaroos would finish bottom of the ladder and claim the wooden spoon for the 14^th time in VFL/AFL history. It means Port Adelaide remains the only side still yet to receive the unwanted honour. Port Adelaide has finished bottom in the SAFL, the precursor to the SANFL on three occasions in 1886, 1896 and 1900, meaning Australia did not exist as a federation the last time Port finished bottom.