PORT Adelaide has conceded nine final term goals to go down to Carlton by 54 points in front of 27,221 fans at AAMI Stadium.

The Blues trailed by 16 points late in the first quarter, but piled on six goals-to-one in the second term to set-up a handy half-time break.

The Power clawed back within seven points at the start of the final term, but the visitors kicked nine goals to secure their biggest interstate win in 10 years.

Brendan Fevola (six goals) dined on silver service from Bryce Gibbs (32 possessions and two goals), Marc Murphy (33 possessions and three goals) and Heath Scotland (30 possessions), while Dennis Armfield did the job on Danyle Pearce (14 touches).

For Port Adelaide, Shaun Burgoyne (25 possessions) and Travis Boak (27 possessions) battled hard and Kane Cornes and Matt Thomas combined to restrict Chris Judd to just 19 touches and a goal.

Warren Tredrea, Robbie Gray and Dean Brogan all chipped in with two goals each.

The calendar indicated an on week for the Power back in front of their home crowd and the first quarter followed that script. 

Port Adelaide, which conceded seven goals in the opening term last week to Fremantle, came out firing and had a goal on the board to Justin Westhoff within a minute.

The Power found the intensity they forgot to take on the trip to Fremantle and the Blues struggled to hit their targets.

Veteran Josh Carr failed to pick-up a possession before going off with an ankle injury in his 200th game, but his smother at half-back set-up another quick goal to Matt Thomas.

Thomas (10 first-quarter possessions), Travis Boak (12) and Shaun Burgoyne (nine) helped the home side gain the ascendancy at the stoppages and the Power could’ve been further in front if not for some inaccurate kicking at goal.

An easy mark to Fevola in the goal square gifted Carlton its first major, but a courageous spoil from the heavily-bandaged Dom Cassisi saw the Power respond with a goal to Warren Tredrea.

Judd was up to the task at the other end and his late goal cut the margin to eight points at quarter time.

Port Adelaide, in a reflection of its frustratingly inconsistent season, completely fell away in the second quarter.

Carlton ramped up its work rate and Power fans watched on in disbelief as the visitors turned an eight-point deficit into a four-goal half-time lead.

The Blues’ star trio of Murphy, Gibbs and Walker started to get on top on the middle and also pushed forward to hurt Port Adelaide on the scoreboard.

The skilful threesome combined for four of Carlton’s six second-quarter goals.

Brendon Lade gave his side hope with a goal against the flow, but the Power still trailed by 25 points at the main change.

The game underwent another almighty momentum shift in the third term.

The Power reverted back to their first-quarter form and dominated general play, but again failed to fully capitalise on the scoreboard.

The older heads of Shaun (seven third-quarter possessions) and Peter (six) Burgoyne combined with Lade and Brogan to win the clearances (12-6) and Tredrea looked dangerous up forward.

The former skipper took six marks for the term and had three scoring shots, but managed just one goal.

Fevola out-pointed Alipate Carlile in the square to record Carlton’s only goal of the term, but two classy goals to Gray saw the Power get back within seven points at the final change.

Port Adelaide fired a shot early in the last quarter, but a diving save on the line from Bret Thornton denied the home side a much-needed goal and spelled the end of the Power’s surge.

Two more goals to Fevola and a brilliant running goal from Andrew Carrazzo secured Carlton’s sixth win from seven starts.

The Power will now sweat on results of other games to see if they hold their spot in the top eight, while the Blues will be eyeing-off a place in the four.


Port Adelaide 3.6 4.7 8.10 9.13 (67)
Carlton        2.4 8.8 9.11 18.13 (121)

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Tredrea, Gray, Brogan 2, Westhoff, Thomas, Lade
Carlton: Fevola 6, Murphy 3, Gibbs, Betts 2, Judd, Walker, Carrazzo, Robinson, Stevens

BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, S Burgoyne, K Cornes, Thomas, Gray, Tredrea
Carlton: Murphy, Gibbs, Fevola, Walker, Houlihan, Scotland, Armfield

INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Carr (ankle), Surjan replaced in selected side by Stewart.
Carlton: Hampson replaced in selected side by Cloke.

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Kennedy, McLaren, Kamolins
Official crowd: 27, 221 at AAMI Stadium

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.

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