MAYBE the competition still won't be sold on Port Adelaide as an AFL top-eight finals contender. But there would have to be admiration of how Ken Hinkley's team wants to see out the fight to September to the fullest.
It becomes tougher on the back of this 12-point loss at the MCG to a revived Richmond that moves into the top eight.
But in a season in which Port Adelaide has discovered seemingly endless reserves of resilience there should be no doubt that Hinkley has a team that will not surrender until the door to the AFL top eight is shut.
Port Adelaide falls to 5-7. The equation to stay in the race to September's top-eight now demands at least seven wins from 10 games. While there is life, there is hope.
But there might be questions on how Port Adelaide is playing, in particular why it is forced - or chooses - to work wide and with short football. If Plan A fails, the need for an alternative game is paramount ... but the task of finding better ways to impose Plan A with that direct, running game in the centre channel to the goalfront seems a pressing challenge today.
The quick summary of this game is - Port Adelaide started fast; it faded under the pressure of Richmond's trademark game that traps opponents in their own errors; Port Adelaide responded with a meaningful "Plan B" to regain the lead at the start of the last term; and then it faded again.
The frustration with such inconsistency challenges Port Adelaide to be better.
Port Adelaide's resilience was tested to the limit early in the last term as the injury count mounted. After subbing out Trent Dumont (calf) late in the third quarter, Port Adelaide had captain Tom Jonas and midfielder Zak Butters clash heads while they tried to stop Richmond opponent Liam Baker.
Both returned to the field with bandaging to their heads, but not enough to stop Butters from continuing to bleed from a cheek. Port Adelaide's medical staff insists they were dealing with two players bleeding from cuts to their faces rather than the demands of the concussion protocols that would have kept the pair off the field for 15 minutes at a critical stage of the game.
Both Port Adelaide and Richmond had patches of dominance with their most creative games during the first term. But it was Port Adelaide that adapted to a "Plan B" far better than Richmond until the 2017/19/20 premier simply worked harder and with greater intent for the last 25 minutes.
Port Adelaide delivered a spirited start, built on hard running and control of possession. It built a two-goal surge off Karl Amon and Todd Marshall from set shots in the first six minutes and 26 seconds. And then it all stopped - the running, the repetitive long drives to forward-50 territory and the willingness to put Richmond on the back foot.
The consequence of falling into an indirect and short game - with repeat out-of-bounds when moving wide at the MCG and turnovers on hasty handpasses - was to allow Richmond to rediscover its preferred game of preying on opposition mistakes. The five-goal response - with two goals from the first two kicks of AFL debutant Judson Clarke - gave Richmond a significant 19-point lead at quarter-time, confidence and ominous momentum.
By the time Port Adelaide added to the 2.1 scoreline from the seventh minute of the first term with Marshall's set shot at the top of the goalsquare in the 15th minute of the second quarter, Richmond had put up six goals and had built a 26-point lead.
There was a brake on Richmond's free-flowing score rush - and a starkly contrasting grind for Port Adelaide to work the ball forward, patiently moving the ball from flank to flank seeking the path of least resistance from the Richmond defence before targeting Marshall and fellow key forward Charlie Dixon at the goalsquare.
This method of slow-burn momentum - that gave Port Adelaide 59 possessions more than Richmond during the term - delivered two goals from Marshall and one from Dixon to put the half-time margin at a manageable eight points.
By three quarter-time, Port Adelaide had reduced the match-high deficit of 26 points to just one by outscoring Richmond six goals to two while setting the agenda on how the game was being played. The strength of the Port Adelaide game was still with the intercept and rebound off the half-back line led by Ryan Burton and Dan Houston and the variation of methods to hit targets inside-50. It was Richmond's turn to look static and unsure on how to isolate its forwards for set shots.
Port Adelaide opened the last term with the lead regained - for a very short moment - off Sam Powell-Pepper converting a free kick on a holding-the-ball call on Shai Bolton.
Richmond's immediate two-goal response - from a contentious free kick on the goal-line against Burton to defender-cum-forward Josh Gibcus and Dustin Martin after pushing out Riley Bonner in a marking contest - gave the home team a lead it never again conceded ... although the door was left ajar by Shai Bolton repeatedly missing seemingly simple shots.
Port Adelaide midfielder Connor Rozee danced through the Richmond defence at the top of the 50-metre arc to score his team's 10th and last goal with 5:09 to play to have the margin at four points.
With preferred lead ruckman Scott Lycett absent by a shoulder injury and novice ruckman Sam Hayes kept in Adelaide, Port Adelaide improvised with its ruck battery against Richmond pair Toby Nankervis and Ivan Soldo.
Port Adelaide worked Jeremy Finlayson as the prime ruckman with the Greater Western Sydney recruit winning the first centre ruck contest with the hit-out to Travis Boak - and finishing the first inside-50 sortie with a behind.
Dixon was the support act in a ruck battery that was constantly interchanging - and working to equally revolving midfield rotations that won the critical clearance numbers. Port Adelaide lost the hit-outs 18-41 but won the centre clearances (13-9) and all clearances (25-22).
And that much-quoted barometer of contested possessions finished square - 146 each.
Richmond's grand luxury to allow Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin to slip from the midfield to torment defences put Port Adelaide captain, defender Jonas, first on "Dusty watch" followed by Burton who savoured the contest to win the ball against one of the AFL's most-dangerous players.
Burton had 19 disposals at half-time, a game-high shared with teammate Houston. Such figures underline how so much work was being done on Port Adelaide's half-back line.
Martin, who was repeatedly checked by the Richmond medical staff, was soundly checked by Jonas and Burton who conceded just 13 disposals. Martin's two goals were scored away from either Jonas or Burton in classic examples of how the Richmond champion knows how to make the most of his opportunities, even when they are well checked and limited.
Port Adelaide key defender Tom Clurey took the other major match-up in the defensive 50 by manning Richmond's 736-goal forward Jack Riewoldt who preferred to play closer to the top of the 50-metre arc than the goalsquare. All-Australian defender Aliir Aliir patrolled the defensive goalsquare against the stand-in tall Noah Balta who was re-assigned to the Richmond attack to cover the absence of prime goalscorer Tom Lynch.
At half-time, Clurey and Aliir had not conceded a goal. Riewoldt and Balta responded with the first three set shots on goal of the third term (for two goals and Riewoldt putting the third shot out-of-bounds on the full). The final count was 2.1; Riewoldt 1.1 and Balta 1.0 - less than what was scored by the Port Adelaide key forwards (Marshall 3.1, Dixon 1.0 and Finlayson 1.1).
Ultimately, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick decided if Balta was not to be a menacing threat in attack then he should deal with Port Adelaide's major goalkicker, Marshall who had beaten Gibcus. It was a late move that paid off, even if with the assistance of a contentious free kick at the goalfront.
Port Adelaide returns to Adelaide Oval next week for Saturday afternoon football with another test against a team noted for contested, one-on-one football: Sydney.
RICHMOND v PORT ADELAIDE
PORT ADELAIDE 2.1 5.2 8.4 11.11 (77)
RICHMOND 5.2 6.4 8.5 10.5 (65)
BEST - Port Adelaide: Burton, Houston, Boak, Marshall, Amon, Rozee.
GOALS - Port Adelaide: Marshall 3, Amon, Dixon, Farell, Finlayson, Powell-Pepper, Rozee, Wines.
INJURY - Motlop (dislocated finger); Dumont (right calf, subbed out late in third term); Tom Jonas (head knock); Zak Butters (head knock).
MEDICAL SUBSTITUTE: Martin Frederick (subbed in for Dumont late in third term).
CROWD: 21,757 at the MCG
NEXT: Sydney at Adelaide Oval, next Saturday with 1.15pm start
