PORT ADELAIDE has shown off its new recruits and opened its season with a 50-point win over Fremantle at Adelaide Oval.
Jack Watts and Steven Motlop were among the Power’s best as they out-pressured and out-classed their West Australian opponents.
Port was forced to weather the early storm, as the Dockers went inside 50 10 times but recorded just three behinds.
It took 14 minutes for the game’s opening goal as both sides shook off some pre-season rust.
In a scrappy opening, Dockers forward Cam McCarthy and Power recruit Jack Watts each struck the
The Port Adelaide recruiting department would have been smiling when three minutes later Port’s former Geelong flyer Steven Motlop burst into an open forward 50, showing too much pace for Docker Michael Johnson to record his first Power goal.
When former Demon Dom Barry lined up on the run from outside 50, the recruiters were looking like geniuses, but the
The Dockers finally grabbed their first when a clever turn and long pass by Gold Coast recruit Brandon Matera found Ed Langdon who ran into an open goal to cut the margin to five points.
The Power had made a focus in pre-season of improving its efficiency going inside 50 and had marks to Chad Wingard and Captain Travis Boak result in goals to extend the margin out to 17 points at the first break.
The Power showed the Dockers how it was done going forward, booting four goals two from just nine forward entries.
Fremantle’s reigning best and fairest Brad Hill got the Dockers off to the best possible start in the second term when he found space on 50 and strolled in to kick a
The home side responded with four consecutive goals,
Midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper thought he’d booted a fifth, only for his hook around the body to be adjudged to be touched off the boot.
With the Power leading by 38 points, the Dockers went on a run of their own with three late goals to Matt Taberner, Matera and Aaron Sandilands, to close to within 21 points at
Young defender Riley Bonner, playing in place of the injured Jasper Pittard, was impressive off
Port Adelaide’s pressure was relentless in the early stages of the third term and young forward Todd Marshall was the beneficiary.
He booted two goals in the first four minutes before McCarthy put his hand up for a goal of the game nomination when he kicked truly on the run from 50 on the boundary.
The Dockers struggled to find any fluidity, and the sides traded goals through Watts and Michael Walters, the latter after he was awarded a
The Power’s depth in midfield and experience was telling as the quarter continued.
Chad Wingard slotted his second after a juggled mark and Marshall his third after a
But it was Motlop’s second that brought the 38,324 crowd to its feet.
The Power’s tackling pressure saw the ball land in his hands and he burst past a defender inside 50, dribbling the ball home with the outside of his boot from the pocket from 40 metres out.
Ryder was forced to sit out much of the quarter with an Achilles problem, forcing Charlie Dixon and Justin Westhoff to share rucking duties, but it didn’t seem to bother Port as it opened up a 46
Neale continued to rack up the possessions, finishing with a game-high 38, but his efforts weren’t enough against a more polished Power outfit.
With the game all but iced, Marshall chipped in with his fourth after Wingard took a strong contested mark against two opponents and bounded away before finding the teenager over the top.
Watts grabbed his third as players from both sides showed signs of fatigue after a day of
Late goals from Nat Fyfe and Nathan Wilson brought the margin back to
SCOREBOARD
PORT ADELAIDE 4.3 8.7 14.10 16.14 (110)
FREMANTLE 1.4 5.4 7.6 9.6 (60)
Goals
Marshall, Watts 4, Motlop, Wingard 2, Dixon, Ryder, Rockliff, S Gray, Boak
Best
Bonner, Ebert, Wines, Motlop, Howard, Barry, Watts, Marshall
Injuries
Ryder (
Crowd
38,324 at Adelaide Oval
