Much had been made of Port’s sluggish starts prior to the game – allowing West Coast to run away with its Round 5 game early, the Crows to gain a five goal lead in Round 3 and last week’s 33-point first term deficit to North Melbourne.
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But the Power did itself no favours in remedying that fact against an energised Richmond outfit, with the Tigers storming out of the blocks to open a massive 37-point lead by quarter time.
Things didn’t sort themselves out by the second quarter and although the Power was able to score goals through Angus Monfries and Andrew Moore, it didn’t look nearly as threatening as it had done for the first six rounds of the year.
Few of its players could put their hands up for contributing in the first half.
Only skipper Travis Boak and livewire forward Robbie Gray looked consistently dedicated throughout the early parts of the match.
Port Adelaide started it’s second half well though.
Jay Schulz took a mark in the opening minutes and kicked a strong, long-range goal.
His typical fist pump heralded a spark in his teammates, with Robbie Gray working the ball around his body in the next sequence of play to line Schulz up with a second shot at goal.
Closing the gap to 30 points midway through the third term, the Power’s midfield began having an impact in the clearances and switching the ball through the middle effectively, but Richmond was able to respond to every Port challenge and went into the final change with a 50-point lead.
Port again started its final term positively with classy goals to Chad Wingard and Matthew Broadbent, but it was too little, too late as Richmond held on to seal its fourth win of the year - having effective answers to every response Port Adelaide tried to muster.
RICHMOND 8.2 11.5 15.6 18.6 (114)
PORT ADELAIDE 2.1 4.5 6.10 10.13 (73)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 5, King 3, Grigg 2, Newman 2, Tuck 1, Nahas 1, Vlaustin 1, Knights 1, Martin 1, McGuane 1
Port Adelaide: Schulz 3, Mitchell 2, Gray 1, Monfries 1, Moore 1, Wingard 1, Broadbent 1
BEST
Richmond: Deledio, Martin, Riewoldt, Stephenson, Ellis, Newman
Port Adelaide: Boak, Schulz, Wingard, Mitchell, Carlile Redden
INJURIES
Richmond: Knights (knee) 2nd quarter, Tuck (shoulder) 3rd quarter
Port Adelaide: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Nathan Foley replaced Chris Knights in the second quarter
Port Adelaide: Kane Mitchell replaced Campbell Heath at half time
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, Findlay, Pannell
Official crowd: 25,372 at AAMI Stadium
