A tumultuous week in the history of the Port Adelaide Football Club culminated in the side heading north to take on the Brisbane Lions.

With CEO Mark Haysman resigning in the wake of the AFL funding being announced, the Power journeyed to the Sunshine State without warrior Dean Brogan, who announced his retirement during the week. Battling injury, the big fella hopes to return to play his final games for the year soon, before finishing his career in Round 24 in the clash against the Demons at Adelaide Oval.

Moore, Ebert and Dan Stewart began on the bench, with Kane Cornes the substitute for the game.

In a surprise move, Gray started in the midfield with Boak deep forward, while Hartlett went to half-back, presumably to act as the ‘play-maker’ for the day.

It was Gray who opened the scoring too, snapping truly. The Power won the next clearance too, with Gray setting it up for Schulz, who similarly made no mistake.

Hartlett’s influence on the play across half-back was terrific in the opening moments, with his guile and ability across the back flank vital to the Power’s strong start. Schulz received the ball after a nice bit of one-two play from Phillips and Cassisi, taking a strong mark on the lead and kicking truly to give Power a three goal lead in the early moments of the game.

Sheldon broke the Lions’ duck with a goal mid-way through the first term, before some tough work from Stiller in the middle of the ground saw Power get the rewards as the Lions kicked their second for the game.

Brown missed an easy shot inside 50, but when an opportunity arose minutes late from outside 50 he had no such troubles - the Lions were dominant, picking up 49 possessions in the previous 10 minutes to the Power’s meagre 19. Gray levelled the scores with his first shot at goal as he missed a set shot inside 50.

After the ball ricocheted from one half-back flank to the other, it was left to skipper Cassisi to pull in a tough mark sitting under a high ball, and he went back and nailed the goal.

An amazing one-hander by Stewart at the 26 minute mark of the term saw a real highlight for the day, but his kick was inaccurate, missing to the near side. Karnesiz then nailed a fantastic goal from deep in the pocket as the Lions executed fantastic transition football to move the ball forward quickly and get the margin back to a point in an entertaining first quarter.

QUARTER TIME: 4.2.26 to 4.1.25. Goals: Schulz 2, Gray Cassisi. Possessions: Cassisi, Gray, Hartlett and O’Shea all with 8, Thomas 7, Chaplin, Logan and Pearce 6.

Once more Gray was influential, earning a free from the centre scrimmage to roost the ball forward as the Power continued to dominate the clearances from the centre square - they won the first quarter 7 to 1.

Phillips again showed his nose for a goal, snapping truly around the corner inside the forward 50 as the Power’s early dominance of quarters continued.

The Lions worked the ball forward and O’Shea was pinged for deliberately rushing the ball through the points, with Power kicking a goal from the subsequent free.

The Lions’ willingness to run and spread was significantly greater than the Power’s, with the Lions’ uncontested possessions much better than the Power’s, who were instead dominating the contested possessions. Brown gave the Lions the lead after some hard running on the wing, then McGrath kicked another.

Fantastic transition football - after gathering from a kick-in, a long kick by Hartlett saw the ball land with Phillips, who then handed off to see Schulz boot his third for the game.

Schulz again went in hard across half forward as the Power won another centre clearance, narrowly missing his shot on goal. As the ball came back out a fierce bit of football from hard nuts Cassisi and Thomas saw the ball squared up to Rodan, who gave Port back the lead with a nice shot on goal.

The teams traded points, before Westhoff kicked with his opposite foot after a goose-step, dropping the ball with his right hand but kicking it with his left foot, setting up Ebert from a shot on goal - he made no mistake.

HALF TIME: 8.5.53 to 7.3.45. Goals: Schulz 3, Gray, Cassisi, Phillips, Rodan and Ebert. Possessions: Cassisi 16, Hartlett 15, Gray 14, Pearce and Thomas 11, Boak, Lobbe and O'Shea all 10.

Another fine bit of contested football saw the Power win the clearance, with Boak hitting Westhoff across half-forward. His long kick was directed to Ebert at the top of the square, and he goaled to extend the lead to 14. Karnesiz then answered it immediately.

An awesome mark in defence by Lobbe created a swift bit of ball movement straight through the middle, with Moore’s long kick forward landing in Schulz’s lap, as he earned a free for holding on - his kick was true, as he nailed his fourth for the game.

Again the Power won the centre clearance, with another long kick finding Schulz too strong up forward - he was tackled, and confusion ensued as to whether or not the ball had been touched. Eventually Schulz was given a 50 metre penalty, and he kicked his fifth goal from the top of the square.

A lovely kick by McGrath saw the margin return to 14 points.

Moore came off for Kane Cornes, as Retzlaff missed a set shot on goal. The Power streamed forward and Schulz was clearly impeded, and his kick was true, booting his sixth for the game. Sheldon answered it almost immediately.

Amazingly the ball seemingly was in Schulz’s hands within moments, and he booted his seventh of the game to push the lead out once more to around the 20 point margin, matching his 2010 effort against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, when he similarly booted 7 goals in a game.

After a lot of up and down play, a bad error by Ebert with the ball bouncing off his chest allowed Brown to bomb it long from outside 50 for his third goal of the game to tighten the game up towards the end of the term. He then earned a free for being held onto, kicking his fourth to really tighten the game up, with Bewick then goaling to make it a 1 point game in the shadows of the siren.

THREE-QUARTER TIME: 13.6.84 to 13.5.83. Goals: Schulz 7, Ebert 2, Gray, Cassisi, Rodan, Phillips. Possessions: Cassisi 21, Boak and Hartlett 19, Gray 18, Lobbe and Pearce 16, Thomas 14.

The Lions started the final term as they ended the third, with a big shot at goal on goal from McGrath sailing wide and keeping scores level.

Schulz then missed a tough set shot, before O’Shea earned a free from an angle and similarly missed - Polkinghorne reduced it back to a 1 point game almost immediately.

A rove off the top of a pack from Power saw Brisbane take the lead at the 14 minute mark of the final term.

A long kick over the top saw Stiller bomb one long - he was perfectly set up by Black, who had a stellar game. McGrath narrowly missed a set shot, celebrating as he thought it had sailed straight through, then Schulz missed another tough set shot.

Brisbane continued their domination, with O’Brien missing another set shot, but making it a 2 goal game. Rodan missed a snap around the corner after taking a surprise mark, but the game was effectively over, with Brisbane in control as the clock ran down to finish the game, as the Power were held goalless in a disappointing final term.

FINAL SCORE: 13.10.88 to 15.9.99

Goals: Schulz 7, Ebert 2, Gray, Cassisi, Rodan, Phillips.

Possessions: Boak 27, Cassisi and Hartlett 24, Gray 21, Pearce 20, Lobbe and Logan 19, Thomas 17.

Crowd: 17,276