A look at the five main talking points from Port Adelaide's 22-point loss to Greater Western Sydney on Sunday evening.

  1. The Giants have the wood on Port in recent years. After winning the first encounter between the sides in 2012, the Giants then lost four in a row to the Power but since Round 4 2016 they have now won four in a row. Their average winning margin is 39.5 points and they now hold an overall record of five wins from their nine games against Port Adelaide.

  2. Port Adelaide was touched up in the clearances but still holds the mantle as the best clearance side in the competition, only just. The Giants dominated at the stoppages with 40 clearances to 21 but in the centre were only just ahead with 12 to 9. Despite the 22-clearance disparity, the Power holds onto its title as the best clearance side in the AFL by just one clearance with the Giants breathing very heavily down its neck.

  3. They don’t always get noticed but Port Adelaide is leading the competition for one-percenters. That includes unselfish acts like knock-ons, spoils, smothers and shepherds. Defender Dougal Howard leads the competition in this statistic with 195 – 37 more than anyone else – but his backline colleagues Tom Jonas and Tom Clurey also feature in the top 16. The club also leads the league for tackles with 1222, 69 more than the next best Giants.

  4. Charlie Dixon is one of the Power’s most important players. The big man hasn’t kicked anywhere near as many goals this year but his worth to the side goes beyond scoring. He played much of the first half in the ruck, having 10 hit-outs, before moving back to his more customary role in the forward line where he helped turn the tide in Port’s favour. He booted three goals and showed his strength to take four important marks and hassle at the ground level as well with two tackles.

  5. Port Adelaide needs better avenues to goal and more of them. For the second straight week the Power has failed to kick more than 60 points. The 50 against Fremantle in Round 17 was a season-low for the Power and 58 against the Giants wasn’t a whole heap better. Robbie Gray leads Port’s goal-scoring with 27 for the season with Charlie Dixon and Sam Gray the next best with 20, but the latter has kicked just three goals in his last five games. Only three others have scored more than 15 goals. The Power’s delivery inside forward 50 has also left a bit to be desired, while general foot skills have been down in recent weeks as well.

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