AHEAD of Sunday afternoon’s clash between Port Adelaide and Woodville-West Torrens at Alberton Oval, portadelaidefc.com.au takes a look back at the famous 1994 SANFL Grand Final between the two sides.
Port Adelaide had won four of the previous six premierships in the lead up to the 1994 decider, but it was the Eagles – who were the reigning premiers - who took the favouritism tag into the game.
The two sides had met a fortnight earlier in the semi final, with WWT smashing the Magpies by 73 points to progress through to the grand final.
The Eagles had also finished the home-and-away season on top of the table, having won 18 of the 22 games, while the Magpies finished second with a 15-7 record.
At the 25-minute mark of the opening term in the grand final, it appeared the favourites would storm to victory, with the Eagles opening up a 35-point lead, before two late goals to Port stemmed the tide.
The second quarter was evenly matched, with both sides kicking 2.3, handing the Eagles a 22-point lead at the main break to leave the contest nicely poised.
A wasteful Magpies outfit started to make their move in the premiership quarter, but inaccuracy looked like it may cost them, only managing 2.6 from their eight opportunities in front of goal.
Woodville-West Torrens added just eight points to their tally from three shots in the third term, taking a 12-point advantage into the final quarter.
Having regained the momentum of the game in the third quarter, the Magpies launched early in the final term, kicking three goals inside the opening 10 minutes to take the lead.
From that point on, Port kicked six goals to one, to run out 37-point winners in front of 40,598 people at Football Park.
Magpies full forward Scott Hodges booted five goals in the last quarter, to finish with six for the game, while centre half back Darryl Wakelin was awarded the Jack Oatey Medal for his best-on-ground performance.
It was Port Adelaide’s 32nd premiership in the SANFL, while the loss was the first time Woodville-West Torrens had finished runners-up.
SCOREBOARD
WOODVILLE-WEST TORRENS 6.2 8.5 9.7 10.9 (69)
PORT ADELAIDE 2.4 4.7 6.13 15.16 (106)
GOALS
WOODVILLE-WEST TORRENS
Morphett 4, Taylor 2, Nichol, Pesch, Sziller, Walker
PORT ADELAIDE
Hodges 6, McLeod, Ginever, Williams 2, Malakellis, Pedler, Borlase
