A look at some important lessons from Port Adelaide's 21-point victory over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
Jack Trengove has a lot to offer at AFL level. Having played just seven games since 2013 and not since Round 19 last year, Trengove showed he can still cut it in the AFL. The former Melbourne co-captain joined the Power as a delisted free agent in the 2017 trade period and has been making the most of his second chance in the SANFL before getting his chance at AFL level against the Blues. The 26-year-old had a career-high eight marks playing in an unfamiliar defensive role as well as 21 disposals and four tackles, doing his chances of keeping a spot in the side no harm.
The Power can respond when under the pump. After being held scoreless in the third term and conceding 2.5 to allow the Blues to get to within two points at the final change, Port then rattled off the next four goals to open up a comfortable lead. The Blues had 36 contested possessions to 29 in the third quarter, reversing the first half trend where the Power had 72 to 69. It was a mature performance when Carlton had all of the momentum, with Port assistant coach Brendon Lade suggesting his side may have lost a game like that in previous years.
Justin Westhoff may be the oldest player on Port’s list but he is still a very handy player. At 31, Westhoff shows no signs of slowing down. Against the Blues he booted two important goals from 19 disposals. He also had four tackles and seven hit-outs while allowing ruckman Paddy Ryder to rest.
Port Adelaide can lose the contested possession statistic and still win. For the second week in a row, the Power lost that stat but left with four points. The Blues trailed at half time but had a big turnaround in the second half, finishing with 144 contested possessions to 137. Since Round 8, the Power has won six of its last seven games and won the contested possession tally in each game except the last two. But unlike the win over Melbourne, Port dominated in other areas including inside 50s (64-38), clearances (40-35) and tackles (75-51).
Port can tackle. The Power is the top-ranked team in the league for tackles with a total of 1014 tackles this season, that’s an average of 72.4 per game. The next best is Gold Coast with an average of 71.4. Against the Blues, the Port side had 75. Brad Ebert is Port’s best tackler with 91, ranking him sixth in the competition. The Power is also the best clearance side in the league with a total of 588, or 42 per game – that’s an average of two more clearances per game than the next best GWS Giants. Ollie Wines has 93 clearances to be the Power’s best and the sixth best in the competition. Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell leads with 117.
