A look at some of the important talking points from Port Adelaide's 57-point win over the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night at Adelaide Oval.
- In case we forgot, Robbie Gray reminded us just how much of a star he is. He had 28 disposals with 14 of them contested. Throw in four marks, six clearances, two tackles, four inside
50s and three classy goals and you’ve got pretty much the perfect game. He was well supported by Ollie Wines (35 touches, six marks, six clearances, seven tackles and a goal), Chad Wingard (30 touches, three marks, six clearances, eight tackles, eight inside 50s), Tom Rockliff (25 touches, five marks, seven clearances, six tackles, six inside 50s and three goals) and Jared Polec (19 touches, six marks, two goals) to highlight just how damaging Port Adelaide’s midfielders can be.
- In the absence of Tom Jonas, Port Adelaide’s inexperienced defence stood up. The defensive general might not have been there but Dougal Howard, Jack Hombsch, Tom Clurey, Riley Bonner, Dan Houston and Jasper Pittard were pretty good in his absence. Howard had a game-high 13 one-percenters and six marks, while Dan Houston had 20 touches and seven marks,
two goal assists, and a goal of his own. Coach Ken Hinkley felt his side gave up a couple of easy goals but restricting the Bulldogs to eleven goals in a relatively open and free-flowing game is a decent effort.
- When Port Adelaide wins the contested footy it generally wins the game. After being challenged for being behind the contested ball ledger earlier in the season, the Power has finished ahead in the tally in each of its last five matches. It has won each of them bar the narrow loss to Hawthorn in Round 11. Against the
Bulldogs it was 162-143 in the Power’s favour with Sam Powell-Pepper leading all comers with 19 of his 24 possessions being contested.
- Port Adelaide has some forward firepower. Leading into Thursday night’s game the Power had only passed 100 points on two occasions from 11 attempts. The 132 points scored against the Dogs was the side’s highest return for the season in its biggest win of 2018. Charlie Dixon booted multiple goals for the first time this year and he was one of 12 individual scorers.
- The football community is alright. With young forward Todd Marshall playing his first AFL game since the passing of his father, Port Adelaide supporters showed their support with a rousing round of applause and standing ovation for the teenager in the 13th minute, in recognition of the number 13 he wears on his back. Perhaps the most touching part of it all was that Bulldog Hayden Crozier went over to Marshall and gave him a bit of a pat on the chest in a sign of his support. After the game Ken Hinkley said the only thing that could have topped the night off was if Marshall slotted a goal, saying his teammates were busting for him to do so.
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