Port Adelaide fell to a dominant Adelaide outfit, going down to the Crows by 77-points on a rainy afternoon.
It was a sour start to proceedings at Adelaide Oval as Port Adelaide fell to Adelaide in the Showdown LVI curtain raiser. Facing their cross-town rivals, the Magpies were overrun by the Crows in what was a scrappy contest.
Light rain taunted the Adelaide Oval throughout the match and provided a slippery stage for the SANFL Showdown, leading to unusual skill errors by foot which spoiled Port Adelaide’s recently improved ball movement. The conditions and skill errors combined led to the Magpies eventual 77-point demise and prevented a second straight win after a strong showing last week.
Although Port Adelaide was aided by AFL experience such as Ivan Soldo, Ollie Lord, Josh Sinn and more, the Crows proved too strong and continued their recent dominance over the Magpies, having won every matchup since 2022.
The Magpies struggled moving the ball and couldn’t convert their possession into forward entries, losing the inside 50 count 39-59, while also losing the midfield battle, and suffering a 31-36 loss in the clearance count.
Coach Hamish Hartlett was frustrated with his side’s inability to back up last week’s win, lamenting the fourth straight loss to the Crows.
“A fair bit of our contest stuff in the second quarter was really disappointing, particularly in the back half of the ground,” Hartlett said.
“The Crows were really consistent all game, just reacting quicker from contest to contest, outnumbering, getting the ball going their way and winning contests ahead of the footy.”
Hartlett also commented on the ill-discipline of the side which led to momentum turning in the Crows’ favour.
“Coming into half time, I was a bit disappointed at our lack of reliability, in terms of cough ups, 25-metre penalties really hurt, especially in a game where you need territory.”
“I just thought that that we went away from what we were trying to do as a team, and some guys fell into themselves a little bit too much. And then as the game wore on, it got worse and worse,” Hartlett explained.
While best performers were hard to come by, youngster Will Lorenz had 27 disposals and nine clearances in a strong performance, receiving extensive praise from the coach.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Hartlett said.
“Really, really good. He's had a brilliant year for a first-year player, he's moved into the midfield more so than a wing over the last five or six weeks, and he's really grown week after week with his reliability in there and his contest. So for a young kid in his first year of senior footy, he was outstanding today for us.” Hartlett praised.
Port Adelaide will end its 2024 SANFL campaign next week and hope to finish on a high against Central District at X Convenience Oval on Saturday August 24th at 2:10pm.
SCOREBOARD
Port Adelaide: 3.3 3.6 4.8 6.11 (47)
Adelaide: 2.4 7.6 13.8 19.10 (124)
Best: Lorenz, Sinn, Szust, Anastasopoulos, Scully
Goals: Scully 2, Szust, Lord, Calvett, Soldo
