A look at some of the important lessons from Port Adelaide's thrilling five-point win against Adelaide on Saturday evening.
Tackling pressure works. Port Adelaide had nine players with five or more tackles against Adelaide. The Crows had four. While Tom Rockliff had a team-high 9 tackles, the work of small forward Jake Neade (7), Justin Westhoff (6) and Paddy Ryder (5) really stood out and led to more opportunity for the Power midfielders to get on top. Neade might not have booted a goal but after a quiet game against West Coast he responded in impressive fashion, hunting down his opponents and keeping the ball in the Power’s forward half for as long as possible. The Power had 81 tackles to 56 overall and it was key to stopping the Crows run.
Tom Rockliff is back. The Brisbane recruit has been down on form and fitness in the early rounds of the season but two weeks back in the SANFL has given him the confidence he needs to finish the season strong. He managed a game-high 31 disposals (12 of them contested) as well as six clearances, four marks three rebound 50s and two inside 50s. He also had similar statistics in his SANFL games and deserved his recall. Rockliff also had 77% of game time, an improvement on what he had been able to manage in his previous games this season.
Dougal Howard is the one-percenter King! After setting a new AFL record for spoils with 22 in the elimination final in 2017, Howard backed it up by equalling that total in the Round 1 win over Fremantle. He had 15 against the Crows, while teammate Tom Clurey had 10. They were the only players in double figures on the ground. One percenters include knock-ons, spoils, smothers and shepherds – all the things players don’t receive much credit for. Howard is the AFL’s leader in that statistic with 91 – 5 more than Carlton’s Liam Jones. Port’s Tom Jonas is sixth overall with 72.
Port Adelaide can play contested footy. Trailing early on the scoreboard and in the contested possession count, the Power turned the game on its head in the second half by lifting the intensity around the contest. The home side won 43 clearances to 36 and wound up with 20 more contested possessions – reversing a worrying trend in recent weeks. Port’s midfield had lost contested ball six weeks in a row including to West Coast (-42), North Melbourne (-11), Geelong (-14), Essendon (-2), Brisbane (-4) and Sydney (-11). Sam Powell-Pepper and Tom Rockliff were brought in to provide hard-bodied reinforcements around the contest and it worked.
Paddy Ryder was better after a run. After five matches on the sidelines with Achilles soreness, Ryder was a bit slow out of the blocks against West Coast duo Nic Naitanui and Scott Lycett last week, but against his Showdown nemesis Sam Jacobs he made his intent clear early. Ryder was front and centre when a scuffle kicked off prior to the first bounce and he marked early to slot the game’s first goal. He ended up with 39 hit-outs to Jacobs’ 32 while playing less game time than him. What was more impressive was Ryder’s tackling pressure on the ground. He had five tackles to go with three marks, four clearances and two goals to show his importance to the Power’s success.
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