ACTING senior coach Alan Richardson agrees with what many Port Adelaide fans have concluded from Saturday’s loss to North Melbourne in Hobart – the Power needs to improve its starts.
The Kangaroos skipped away to a 33-point lead at quarter time, piling on seven goals after Jake Neade provided the Power’s solitary moment of scoreboard impact in the opening minutes.
An improved second quarter effort saw the Power claw back the margin to 15 points at half time, but the Kangaroos maintained their lead for the remainder of the game.
After disappointing first halves against West Coast last week and Adelaide in Round 3, the Power once again allowed its opponent to gain an early lead, which this time it was unable to overcome.
Richardson made particular mention of the contested possession count, where the Kangaroos dominated 159 to 128.
Captain Travis Boak led the Power’s contested possessions with 15, and ended up with a game high of 30 disposals and 12 clearances.
Kane Cornes was right behind him, with 29 disposals at an efficiency rate of 79%, maintaining his consistent start to the season.
On the Dream Team front, you’d be happy to have both of those boys in your line up, Kane racking up 108 points and Travis 104.
The Kangaroos out-marked the Power 75 to 58 and dominated the ruck contests with North’s Todd Goldstein himself wining 37 contests – more than Port’s combined total of 31.
Port Adelaide could hang its hat on its defensive pressure though, with 12 more tackles by the end of the day.
Despite the Power players showing they were true to absent senior coach Ken Hinkley’s mantra of “never giving up”, the boys were not able to bring home their third come-from-behind win for 2013.
The club’s attention now turns to this Saturday’s game against Damien Hardwick’s Richmond, currently sitting ninth with three wins and three losses.
Saturday’s loss drops the Power to third on the ladder, behind unbeaten Essendon and Geelong.
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Scoreboard Port Adelaide 1.5 6.7 7.9 12.11 (83)
North Melbourne 7.2 9.4 12.7 14.9 (93)
Goals: Schulz 3, Wingard 2, Neade, Renouf, Broadbent, Gray, Monfries, Wines, Lobbe
Leader board
Disposals: Travis Boak (30)
Marks: Jay Schulz, Dominic Cassisi (7)
Tackles: Kane Cornes, Campbell Heath (7)
Clearances: Travis Boak (12)
Hitouts: Matthew Lobbe (17)
Score leader: Jay Schulz (18)
Dream Team Leader: Kane Cornes (108)
Head to Head
Kicks: Power 159 – 200 North Melbourne
Handballs: Power 148 – 136 North Melbourne
Disposals: Power 307 – 336 North Melbourne
Marks: Power 58 – 75 North Melbourne
Average Efficiency: Power 70.75% - 67.39% North Melbourne
Clangers: Power 52 – 39 North Melbourne
Clearances: Power 36 – 42 North Melbourne
Hitouts: Power 31 – 50 North Melbourne
Tackles: Power 78 – 66 North Melbourne
Rebound 50s: Power 34 – 29 North Melbourne
Inside 50s: Power 43 – 54 North Melbourne
Fantasy: Power 1271 – 1496 North Melbourne
