BRAD EBERT showed he will be a handful up forward and draftees Connor Rozee and Zac Butters impressed in their competitive debuts for the club as Port Adelaide completed its Intra-Club match at Alberton Oval on Friday night.
The squad – missing ten players including late withdrawal Dan Houston who was being managed – was split into a black and a white team with the white side prevailing 44-points after a dominant first half.
The white side set the game up in the first quarter with Willem Drew and Sam Powell-Pepper busy through the centre square.
A strong forward line featuring Paddy Ryder, Todd Marshall, Justin Westhoff, Travis Boak and Brad Ebert was getting plenty of the ball inside 50 with Ryder recording the game’s first goal.
Drew snapped a clever goal and by the seventh minute, when Marshall bounced a left footed shot home from the left forward pocket, the white side led by 20 points.
Marshall marked strongly in front of Dougal Howard, about 20 metres out directly in front, before booting his second and then Ebert repeated the dose.
Ryder wasted another set shot from further out just before the first break but Jack Trengove showed his desperation when he marked going back with the flight into a big pack.
Steven Motlop, Tom Jonas, Karl Amon and Darcy Byrne-Jones toiled hard for the black side but it remained scoreless for the quarter.
A 33-point quarter-time lead became a 39-point lead at the main change as the black team fought manfully to limit the scoring.
SANFL-contracted Sam Davidson booted the black side’s only goal for the half when he was given a free kick 45 metres out from goal.
Ryder had a second major straight after, running into an open goal to keep the blacks at bay.
Connor Rozee showed his agility, poise and clever decision making playing off half forward for the white side, pushing his claims for a berth in the Power’s JLT Community Series team, while Matthew Broadbent, in his first competitive hit-out for some time, showed encouraging signs.
The coaches made a handful of changes at the break with Ryder, Trengove and new signing Scott Lycett among those to leave the white team and Billy Frampton, Peter Ladhams and Hawthorn recruit Ryan Burton leaving the black.
But things continued as they were in the first half with Ebert adding two goals to his tally – including a neat snap from a pack deep inside 50 - to make the most of his new role playing in the forward line.
Frampton was enjoying his change of sides, catching Jonas holding the ball inside 50 and booting his first goal.
And despite Sam Gray’s goal for the black team, the margin extended out to 52-points at the final change.
First-round draftee Zac Butters showed signs of his class in the early stages of the last term as he danced around an opponent but the game remained scoreless until rookie Martin Frederick booted his first for the white side running into an open goal.
Burton was imposing himself on the contest playing in the backline for the white side, while Tom Rockliff and Karl Amon picked up plenty of the ball for the blacks and Broadbent kept improving in his return to the field.
Jake Patmore and Tobin Cox showed positive signs for the black side, closing the margin with set-shot goals after each marking inside 50 – the latter in a strong body contest with SANFL-listed Tom Corcoran.
Final score:
White 11.5 77
Black 5.3 33
Goals:
White: Ebert 3, Ryder, Marshall 2, Drew, Westhoff, Frampton, Frederick
Black: Davidson, S. Gray, Mayes, Patmore, Cox
Match report: Ebert stars in forward role
Positive signs at first competitive hit out for 2019.