PORT ADELAIDE has bolstered its SANFL finals credentials with a hard-fought win against Sturt at Alberton Oval.
The 19-point victory makes it four consecutive wins for Tyson Goldsack’s side, and with the Showdown next week and Glenelg to follow, the Magpies look to be hitting their stride at the right time.
It was a back and forward tussle against the Double Blues, with scores level at quarter time, and only three points between the traditional rivals at the main break. Despite Port Adelaide’s advantage on the scoreboard, Goldsack knew Sturt’s control off half-back and its swift ball movement to leading forwards was dangerous.
“I reckon we were a bit off in the first half especially,” Goldsack said. “Whether or not we’re starting to set a higher standard for ourselves and we didn’t live up to it, that might be the case more than playing poor football.
“Their ball movement troubled us a little bit so forcing them to kick long made a big difference. Our contest work in the air from our defenders was strong and our boys on the ground were clean and we were able to just get repeat inside 50s.
“Eventually we knew the floodgates would open and we’d get our shots on goal, and we did. It was a pleasing way to finish the game off.”
The coach took advantage of the ability to reset at half time, allowing his side to regain control out of the middle, and dictate terms with a dominant second half display.
“We came out in the second half with a better attitude and did what we intended to do from the start,” he explained.
“We were able to implement that in the third, and the last was something pretty special. That was dominant football and the football we’ve come to enjoy over the last month.”
When it came to game-changing moments, Goldsack pointed to one key effort in the third quarter that signified the shift in the Magpies' favour.
“There was one in the third when Quinton Narkle chased down Marty Frederick,” he said.
“I just thought that was a real turning point for us and everyone started to buy in. Then the last quarter was one-way traffic and the intensity was really high from the standard we set for ourselves last week against North, especially here at Alberton to make it really uncomfortable for other teams to come here.”
The inclusion of ruckman Brynn Teakle alongside other young talls Ollie Lord, Sam Hayes, Dante Visentini and Tom Scully saw the Magpies playing taller than in previous weeks, providing Goldsack an opportunity to develop both their aerial skills and balance around the ground.
And he was complimentary of the way they contributed both on the scoreboard and around the ground.
“(Having so many young tall players) was something we had to manage at the start of the year, then we were a bit lean on for tall guys the last couple of weeks, but now we’re back to full strength from our tall guys so it’s something we’ll keep playing around with and just make sure we get the balance right on where we play them and how to play them, to make sure we get more development in them,” Goldsack said.
“They gave us great contest in the air and then our smalls were able to turn up and put the pressure on and hit the scoreboard.”
A key talking point from the game happened before the bounce, with forward Orazio Fantasia being ruled out with quad tightness and being replaced by the previously omitted Cody Szust.
Despite the change, the Magpies managed to impact the scoreboard more efficiently than their opponents, kicking 10.13 to Sturt’s 7.12. Lord, Nick Moore, Scully and Szust each had two goals, with Narkle and Jackson Mead rounding out the scorers for the home side.
When asked about his standout players for the match, Goldsack struggled to separate what was a consistent spread of contributors. Riley Bonner was amongst the long list, collecting 22 disposals and 10 marks, while Jase Burgoyne was impressive with 23 disposals of his own.
The win solidifies Port Adelaide’s position in the top five, setting up what is bound to be a must-watch Showdown next Saturday against an Adelaide outfit that has won its last three games.
“We’ll just keep trying to win,” Goldsack said of the way the season is panning out.
“North last week, Sturt this week and then we go into Adelaide and Glenelg so this four-week period of footy is really important for us and we’ve started it in pretty good fashion knocking off the Roosters last week and Double Blues this week.
“We’ll move onto the Showdown, which is always a big game and see what we can do there.”
The game against the Crows will be played at Adelaide Oval from 3:30pm on Saturday 29 July.
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 2.2 5.4 7.7 10.13 (73)
STURT 2.2 4.7 4.11 7.12 (54)
Goals: Lord, Moore, Scully, Szust 2, Mead, Narkle
Best: Burgoyne, Mead, Jonas, Lord, Montgomery
