Despite perfect sunny conditions, it was a gloomy day at Alberton Oval for Port Adelaide as North Adelaide kicked away after quarter time, condemning the Magpies to an 84-point loss.
Returning to Alberton after a nine-day break, Port Adelaide started well and led at quarter time courtesy of a goal after the siren from Ollie Lord, but couldn’t hold on as the Roosters put the Magpies to the sword, kicking the next 16 of 18 goals.
The absence of a recognised ruckman hurt the Magpies, losing the clearance count 21-33 despite having two more hitouts, and they also lost the midfield battle as the Roosters ran away with 27-61 inside 50s.
Coach Hamish Hartlett was extremely disappointed with his side’s performance, saying the usual endeavour and effort wasn’t there today.
“We weren’t playing the type of football we like to play in terms of winning contests and outhunting our opponents”, Hartlett said. “Everyone needs to question their effort, work rate, and intent around the contest.”
The Magpies were also riddled with skill errors and lost the game largely due to the lack of connection between the midfielders and forwards after the first quarter. Despite battling hard, the Rooster’s repeated entries inside 50 were too much for Port Adelaide’s backline as they buckled and leaked goals for the rest of the game.
“We were probably lacking a little bit of connection without our leaders, then we’ve got some guys who haven’t played a lot of footy together”, Hartlett explained.
Hartlett also felt Captain Nick Moore’s absence due to a leg injury was notable, stating that Moore is “irreplaceable” and that he will be hopeful to return after the bye.
“It’s a week-by-week thing with Moore at the moment… we’ll play it by ear. Without him leading the way today with his hardness around the footy, we missed him out there”, said Hartlett.
A positive for the Magpies today was Ollie Lord’s return to football. After suffering bone bruising and an impaction fracture in the preseason, the young key forward shone with two goals in the first quarter and five marks for the game and looked to move around the ground well in his first game back for the year.
“To see [Lord] leading hard at the footy, taking some nice marks, jumping in packs and kicking a couple of goals was really exciting for us”, Hartlett said.
Port Adelaide now look ahead to their next match and hope to win their first match for the season against South Adelaide at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday 25th May at 2:10pm.
Goals: Lord, H Ferrari 2, Anastasopoulos
Best: Lorenz, Clurey, Anastasopoulos, Scully, Byrne
Scoreboard:
PA 3.2 3.4 3.4 5.5 (35)
NA 2.4. 7.6 13.9 18.11 (119)
